Will politicians ever learn? Alberta has the most police shootings and it's only going to get worse

The Colossally Irrational Report on why the UCP keeps ignoring that more cops won't make us "feel safe"

My Scottish/Irish ancestors arrived on the east coast of so-called “Canada” in the late 1700’s or early 1800’s and were part of several waves of genocidal colonization of the Indigenous people who were already here. We arrived on the traditional unceded territory of the Wəlastəkewiyik (Maliseet) whose ancestors along with the Mi’Kmaq / Mi’kmaw and Passamaquoddy / Peskotomuhkati Tribes / Nations signed Peace and Friendship Treaties with the British Crown in the 1700s. I like to start every new post by explaining my family’s history and keeping this foremost in my mind (and my writing) at all times. I know I have benefited as a result of colonization, and I find the history deeply troubling. It is what motivates me to understand the true history and advocate for real reconciliation. As a child in the 1970’s, I moved west with my family and am grateful to be writing this newsletter now in Moh’kinsstis, and the traditional Treaty 7 territory of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. This territory is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland.I recognize that the land I now work and live on was stolen from these nations (truth) and I support giving the land back as an act of reconciliation.

This past month I had the uncomfortable task of watching the movie “LA Confidential” for my family film club. The movie is about police corruption, won two Oscars and was a huge success at the box office in 1997. 

The thing is, this film is about as racist and misogynistic as you can get in a 1990’s movie. It’s so vile and creepy - especially the scenes with a police detective played by Kevin Spacey taking part in an entrapment scene involving a closeted politician, knowing what we know now about Spacey.

But the worst part of the whole thing was the glorification of guns, sexual violence, more guns, and the film’s moral ambiguity around police corruption. Did I mention how much gun violence there was?

“I admire you as a policeman - particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job.” (Police captain Dudley Smith, played by James Cromwell)

The only female character with more than a line or two in the whole two-hour movie is Kim Basinger who is beaten by her cop-lover and still retires from her lucrative sex work to nurse him back to health after he’s been shot. And he was one of the “good” cops.

The movie received critical acclaim and was added to the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2015. This says a lot about America, I guess.

Here in Alberta, our UCP government has its own fascination with policing and this month, they made a lot of noise about adding funding for extra police in Calgary and Edmonton.

More boots on the ground and more police shootings per capita than anywhere in Canada

The province announced initial funding of $10 million to be split between the City of Calgary and the City of Edmonton for 50 additional cops in each city.

“Albertans have a right to use public transit and walk the streets without fear. We are working with our partners to develop a clear plan to take our cities back from those who seek to cause harm,” said Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services in the second release about this in the space of two weeks, a re-announcement of the same thing (this is a feature, not a bug of the UCP media strategy.)

Meanwhile, CTV News reported that according to data gathered by the Canadian Press, Alberta leads the country for police shootings, with 21 last year, the highest per capita in Canada.

Screen capture from video of CTV News report.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), the agency that investigates deaths involving the police, is also bogged down by a backlog of cases from as long as six years ago. It seems they can’t keep up with the number of cops causing deaths. 

Chased to his death for not having a bike light

Recently, ASIRT concluded its investigation into police in Edmonton who last month chased a man on foot and with their helicopter for not having a light while riding his bike at night. Yes, you read that right.

The cyclist was so terrified he ran onto the ice of the North Saskatchewan River and drowned. His body has never been found but he is presumed drowned.

ASIRT’s conclusion: “Given there was no use of force, and no officers were near when the male ran onto the river ice, ASIRT’s mandate is fulfilled, and our investigation is concluded.”

That feeling of safety when you are chased by a police helicopter for not having a bike light is…quite something. 

Why hiring more police won’t make you feel safer

If you long for a feeling of public safety, protected from crime, and free from fear of being victimized, don’t give the police bigger budgets to hire more cops. 

One thing that police forces consistently prioritize is public relations. Police departments love churning out news releases. 

Police will issue daily news releases, even sometimes several times per day. Add to that, their activity on social media - Facebook, Instagram, the hell site, and more.

The media reads those releases and writes follow-up stories - multiple media outlets cover the same crime. Crime is a pretty reliable source of public interest. People have a hard time looking away from it. 

These are not “good news” stories. In one month of releases, you are likely to see headlines like this:

“Police warn of recent break and enters…”

“Two men charged, weapons and drugs seized…”

“Remains of woman found…”

“Police investigate assault involving firearm…

“Police investigate death…

“Police investigate shooting…

(And that was just one police department in Alberta, a sample from the first two weeks in April.)

How many times do you find yourself just clicking through to a news story about a crime, and then wishing you hadn’t? We can’t help it.

It’s like rubbernecking traffic accidents, it’s hard to look away

So, when police get bigger budgets and more cops, the inevitable happens. They need to demonstrate their worth and one effective way to do that is to talk more about what they do - investigate crime.

Police don’t prevent crime. And their public relations would rarely share news about it, if they did. It’s a lot more difficult to prove they were responsible for something that “didn’t happen.”

This is why police public relations highlights catching criminals, finding evidence of crimes, and investigating anybody who may or may not be doing criminal things. And the bigger the crime, the more police like to talk about it. So, you are hearing about the worst of the worst crimes. Police don’t have time to care about minor things when there are major criminals to catch.

A break-in at your condo building? Good luck even getting the police to care enough to ask what was stolen. Your car broken into or stolen? Don’t expect much. It doesn’t make for compelling news releases, in any case.

Feels like a crime wave, baby

So, more police will mean more news releases, more media coverage, and more social media posts about what will then seem like a crime wave in your city, town or neighbourhood. 

This will then require even more money added to the police budget for more cops, or the latest Alberta flavor of guys in uniforms (they are mostly men) - sheriffs.

Then, expect more public relations to justify why your tax dollars are being spent on police budgets and the neverending cycle of “feeling unsafe” continues. 

We are haunted by stories of mysterious deaths, violent sexual assaults, and almost daily missing persons. We never hear how many of these result in convictions either since that is outside of police jurisdiction. There’s no resolution, just an endless stream of crime stories fed to us daily.

Politicians never seem to get this. Or maybe they do, and they don’t care as long as they’re seen as doing something - even if it is making us feel less safe.

When do we start feeling safer?

So, when concerns arise about public safety, what do politicians inevitably do? The exact opposite of what they should, of course. Add more money to police budgets and hire more cops.

Cue the next round of news releases…

“Police charge man in fraud investigation…”

“Police looking for homicide suspect…”

“Police investigate death of toddler…”

“Speed a factor in serious-injury collision…”

“Police investigate fatal collision involving pedestrian…”

More cops won’t make you feel safer.

Until we realize that efforts to reduce crime won’t be led by police, we will continue to feel less safe. A feeling of safety will come from people who are not in law enforcement, And as many of our local activists, especially those from the Black and Indigenous communities keep saying, we keep our communities safe by taking care of each other.

Let’s focus on social issues like healthcare, education, and inequality and stop kidding ourselves about cops and police budgets.

It is politicians making us feel less safe by not doing enough to fix social issues. 

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While we’re on the topic, here’s a good documentary video to watch that was produced by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights in Edmonton. Thanks to City of Edmonton papastew Ward Councillor Michael Janz for sharing this with me. I had all the feelings watching this and I’m sure you will too.

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Bonus: Please enjoy these stunning photos of the eclipse taken by my cousin Ian MacPherson in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Shared with permission.