Can we start talking about reasonable police reform again?
No more "defund the police." Our communities deserve serious ideas.
We all love a good comeback story, don’t we?
A few weeks ago, I shared the story of Toronto’s first black police chief, Mark Saunders, who resigned from the police service in 2020. Well, he’s back in the spotlight this week after deciding to enter politics and run for elected office in Ontario.
I don’t know what Saunders intends to accomplish in this next part of his journey. But his comeback story could be incredible, if he’s able to take up the mantle of reasonable police reform.
Reasonable police reform pursues a set of policies that address flaws in law enforcement and also respect the critical role of police officers in keeping neighbourhoods safe. Key to this approach is increasing accountability measures while simultaneously ensuring police departments have the resources needed for officers to effectively and safely do their jobs.
There is no shortage of ideas that would fit such a framework. One of the most respected jurists in Canada, Ontario Court of Appeal judge Michael Tulloch, authored a report in 2018 that could still serve as a blueprint for police departments around the world. The report—an “Independent Police Oversight Review” commissioned by the Government of Ontario—offered a series of well-researched recommendations, such as:
increase public reporting from civilian oversight bodies
expand the accessibility of the public complaints process
introduce a College of Policing to train officers and set high professional standards
Unfortunately, Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General has not followed through on many of Justice Tulloch’s recommendations. The report is not even featured on the Government of Ontario website. It has been archived.
Saunders back in the spotlight could mean ignored recommendations will soon receive new life. As chief in Toronto, Saunders showed a willingness to challenge the status quo. He brought in body-worn cameras, which are helpful tools to increase accountability. Saunders also advocated for a modernization strategy that promised to save tens of millions of dollars in the city’s police budget.
Ontario is not the only jurisdiction that needs a revival of reasonable police reform efforts. As we approach the two-year mark since Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd, relatively little has been accomplished to improve policing in most parts of North America, in large part because momentum for change was squandered by “defund the police” activists.
In the United States, a bipartisan deal to introduce police reform legislation once looked promising. This legislation had some constructive components like banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and collecting data on disciplinary actions against officers. According to Republican Senator Tim Scott, the deal fell apart in 2021 due to Democrats wanting to take resources away from police departments and Republicans refusing to agree to those stipulations.
Still, we can’t let politicians of any stripe off the hook. Leaders shouldn’t use the absurdity of far-left policy proposals as an excuse to do as little as possible. There are good arguments across the political spectrum to support reasonable police reform.
Red State’s Jeff Charles, whose podcast I recently appeared on, believes conservatives should have a unique stake in police reform because of their commitment to limited government. Following the 2021 killing of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Charles argued, “There is nothing conservative about defending government officials who have been granted the authority to violate our rights when they deem it appropriate… If we truly treasure the idea of limited government, we cannot afford to be hesitant about condemning police officers who engage in misconduct.”
Police reform is a legitimate cause regardless of what’s trending on social media. If a reasonable agenda is put on the backburner for too long, far-left activists will continue exploiting tragedies to further mainstream their reckless, destabilizing agenda. We need leaders who will proactively pursue a better path.
Again with the Americanization of Canadian news. I realize you spent some time in the US, but there is no need to keep lumping the countries issues together. Canada is not the US by any stretch and you should keep the analysis separate.
Unfortunately Saunders is running for the Ford PC's, and as we have seen in the last 2 years, they have fully embraced the woke ideologies. That means the good cop will have to fall in line, and if he does, he will be handsomely rewarded for doing so. The MO of every tyrant is to make the good men an offer they cannot refuse.
Useful police reform starts and finishes with rebuilding respect in the community. To do that, the public must know that if they raise their hand to the cops, the punishment will be severe, and when the cops cross the line they will be punished even more severely. For example, if you try to punch a cop in the face in a drunken rage, then you must pay the price. That price will likely be eating some dirt and a rough experience on the way to the slammer. But when the cops cross the line, for example if they unload 50 rounds into a knife-brandishing psychologically unstable kid on an empty street car, those cops have to go to jail. That way they know they have to avoid lethal force. One shot to the leg would have been enough. But they killed that young man, were brought up in front a fake court and predictably got off.
Street cops need to be able to handle themselves. That means they all need to be in shape and regularly training in marshal arts. So when you take a swing at a cop in your drunken rage, they see it coming from a mile aware, parry it, and you end up eating some pavement. These rules have to apply to women too. It's fine to have women on the front lines, but they have to be able to take down a big angry man with ease. This is possible. I'm in marshal arts, and I'm not too bad if I may say so my self, but when I go up against a well trained woman, they will put me on my face if I don't watch it. Even when I do watch it sometimes they are just better than me or they find an opening. They don't have to be black belts. They just have to train regularly so they know how to engage in physical combat with another human.
Additionally, when all the cops are training regularly they need to be teaching their skills in gyms and stuff. That way the kids coming up get to know and respect a cop from a young age. These cops are doing good in the community all the time. It's not easy, but that is how you build a civil society. It is an ongoing process that is not easy. It takes proactivity and hard work to gain respect, and if goes on and on.
But all this is wasted words. If he wins, Saunders will fall in line with the woke ideology or he will be purged.