RCMP Commissioner’s Patronage in Final Days “An Insult to Taxpayers”

 Carleton University Criminologist and Professor Darryl Davies has written to Ralph Goodale, the Minister of Public safety and Emergency Preparedness  and is calling on him to rescind a flurry of patronage appointments and cash payments Paulsen has authorized in his final days as Commissioner of the RCMP. Paulsen’s controversial tenure

Breaking News: Based On New Evidence, Group Calls for Judicial Inquiry Into Mayerthorpe

 En français The Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada (MPPAC), a Professor of Criminology from Carleton University and the Publisher and Managing Editor of Ottawa Life Magazine are calling for a judicial inquiry to review the conduct and decision making of the RCMP’s senior leadership before, during and after the

Failing Grade for Ottawa Police

 By Darryl T Davies, Instructor in criminology and criminal justice Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University If you Google the Ottawa Police Service you will note that they have posted Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of Policing on their website.  Sir Robert Peel served twice as the Prime Minister of the

How to Reign in the Excessive Costs of Policing

 Photo by Darryl T. Davies. While it’s a good thing that the major players involved in policing in this city have agreed to work out their internal problems there are important issues that need to be addressed.  First and foremost is the question of who exactly rules the police?  In

The Ottawa Police: A Police Service in Crisis

 The recent death of Abdirahman Abdi by two Ottawa Police officers is a huge stain on the City of Ottawa. Why is it that the Ottawa Police were not able to arrest an unarmed man without killing him?  There is no logical or rational explanation to account for this man’s

It’s Not Just the Law That’s an Ass Mr. Dickens

 Charles Dickens at his writing desk.  The 19th century novelist and author Charles Dickens, who is famous for such great books as David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, once wrote that the ‘Law is an Ass’.  Dickens had a valid reason for saying this because in

What We Need to Learn from the Death of Sammy Yatim

 As long as there is something we can learn from the shooting death of Sammy Yatim by a Toronto Police Officer, than the 18-year-old's passing will not have been in vain.  If you follow the innumerable examples of wrongdoing by police, not just in this province but across Canada, one

Why Police Fear Evidence-Based Research

 While almost every sector of society in the 21st century recognizes the importance of evidence-based decision making, police organizations are caught up in outdated policing approaches that are devoid of empirical evidence.  The major reason police are so resistant to the new regulations on carding announced by the provincial government

Opinion: Something is Rotten in the State of Ottawa

 It has been said that the reason nothing changes in the criminal justice system is due to the ‘four horsemen’ of political inaction: inertia, ignorance, apathy and cost. When it comes to the Ottawa Police Services Board and their lackadaisical attitude to the issue of carding, it appears all four

The Chaos that is the RCMP

 I have read in various media reports that the RCMP officers in Moncton who responded to the call of an individual walking down a street brandishing a firearm were only equipped with pistols and shotguns. I was very shocked and dismayed to read these reports because in 2009 I was

‘The Time for Smart Policing in Canada’

 As the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics indicates that crime is at a twenty year low in Canada, now is the time for rethinking the role of police in Canadian society.  A recent report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute points out, that police organizations are pricing themselves out of business.  It’s