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Luis Alberto D'Elîa's presentation NOTES
not for publication -for Internal use only
1-Introduction: How I came to volunteer-work with Amnesty International Canada
2-My research on human rights violations by police & security forces
3-My work in Amnesty Canada: Canadian police & human rights
4-Police & Public Protest - Main questions for discussion :
a) Are Canadian police officers educated to defend the establishment and consequently biased against protestors? And,
b) What may influence the police attitudes to respect the right of dissenters to protest?
5-Concluding remarks
1- Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for inviting me. I am very happy to be here and I am enthusiastic to contribute to this University with my presentation today.
Thank you to Dr Amparo Jiménez Ivars from this Department of Translation and Comunications of this lovely Universitat Jaume I.
2- My name is L A D'E, I am a professor at the University of Alberta in Canada.
However, I am originally from Argentina. So that... how I ended up in Canada?
Long time ago, in 1966, I was in Argentina, South America, and as a Clinical Biochemist I was working in a hospital when the Argentinean militaries--who had seized power in a coup d'etat early that year—detained me and my wife and took us both to a secret detention camp, along with many other young people. They took us secretly to a concentration camp in Argentina.
They separated me from my wife, I was placed in solitary confinement and then transfer to a prison. The same happened to my wife. Fortunately we survived and in 1978 we were accepted and welcomed in Canada.
It is not hard to imagine that in Canada we started to volunteer to work defending human rights. And consequently, besides my academic work, I started to volunteer in Amnesty International Canada.
3- what is Amnesty International? Some of you may be familiar with it and some may even belong to the AI Campus group here at the UJI
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement that works impartially to prevent
violations of people’s fundamental civil and political human rights by governments and opposition groups.
We campaign to free all prisoners of conscience: people detained anywhere for their beliefs or because of their ethnic origin, sex, colour, language, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or other status, provided they have not used or advocated violence; we ensure fair and prompt trials for political prisoners and more...
In AI I worked first on human rights violations in Latin America -(mention UJI's AI group).....
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4- Police & Public Protest -
Main questions for discussion :
a) Are Canadian police officers educated to defend the establishment and consequently biased against protestors? And,
b) What may influence the police attitudes to respect the right of dissenters to protest?
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In my research I have to thanks to
-my wife and family
-international police training consultants: international police trainer Chris Braiden (Cda), Ralph Crawshaw (London Met Police, UK), Frans Vijlbrie (The Netherlands), Bernward Boden (German police), Colin Roberts (UK), Graham Dossett and others
-to my University of A - Faculty of Education and to Amnesty International in Europe and in Canada
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The Context - Let's us start by looking at the present situation for policing in the North.
The paradox–specially after Sept 11-- is that, while police officers are mandated to keep the peace, to protect the human rights of their citizens and to enforce the law of the State, many Western States have taken legislative steps and law enforcement policies, which, in many cases, have undermined basic human rights in those countries (Amnesty International [AI] 2002b; AI Canada [AIC] 2003; Human Rights Watch [HRW], 2002). Furthermore, historically, the use of security legislation and security--especially in cases where there has been a ‘war’ against political opponents--has led to human rights violations (AI; AIC; HRW). How are police officers to respond to these conflicting situations? How prepared are they to respond without violating basic rights of their citizens?
My studies are not neutral: I have personal reasons for engaging in this study. As a survivor of police and military brutality in my country of origin, Argentina, I have a special interest and a long-term commitment to contribute to the study of police education and to help prevent human rights violations by security forces.
For this reason, I am determined to examine my own assumptions and to document my eventual process of change (Mertens, 1998).
My Proposal
In searching for responses to the questions presented above, I propose to look critically at program design aspects of particular Canadian police education and training that are important in shaping the police conduct in managing protesting crowds. I also look at possible improvements to the design of a specific police professional development program to make it more appropriate in preparing officers for policing public protest. The long-term goal is to contribute to new and creative models of the police-community relationship dynamics.
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SECURITY DISCOURSE AND POLICE RESPONSES
The Security Context and Police Power
After September 11, 2001 the new security legislation in Canada gives its police1 new powers (AI, 2002b; AIC, 2003; Mitrovica, 2003). As a result of those new powers, police are in the position, for example, to deny people access to certain areas and restrict freedom of movement at large intergovernmental meetings
(such as international summits, e.g., APEC in Vancouver, Quebec’s
Summit of the Americas and the G8 meeting in Kananaskis).
However, as demonstrated in the policing of some of these meetings, police have used some of their discretionary powers in making crucial decisions that have had social implications. The political (governmental) interference with police professional operations in addition to the police judgments based on own perceptions about demonstrators (Alberta Indymedia, 2002; CBC, 2001; RCMP & Calgary Police Service, 2002) translate into particular police actions as in the case of the 2001’ Québec City’s Summit of the Americas (CBC).
At that intergovernmental meeting there were confirmed reports of the police’s excessive use of tear gas on peaceful protesters, the use of plastic bullets in unjustified situations where safety was not a concern, abuses of the rights of the detainees and other (AI, 2001a). By contrast, the reported police respect of peaceful demonstrators in Calgary around the G8 meeting, speaks about the capacity of police to act more professionally in relating to protesting crowds and upholding the demonstrators’ rights to peaceful protest.
Ad hoc decisions made by police field supervisors at those demonstrations (Inspector M. Reily2, personal communication, June 15, 2002) must have been influenced by complex elements but certainly shaped by the officers’ training and education (C. Roberts3, personal communication, March 14 & 15, 2002).
Canadian police training and education in general differ significantly from other non-North American police programs (i.e., police from Western Europe). In the particular Canadian case critiqued by the author, the difference will have an impact in the way the trained police officers interact with the community and consequently with political demonstrators and dissenters. In a qualitative study done in January-April, 2002, I analyzed a Canadian police-training program and compared it to recognized program planning models and contrasted it to researched European police models (D’Elia, 2002).
After Sept 11-2001, discourse of security, new powers:issues of legitimacy, authority, accountability, equality, access and inclusion in different security governance arrangements (LC------bwithin new security context: public police prepared for public protest?----Police discretionary powers-----influenced of training on discretionary powers ----power abused = police de-professionalization, disacreditation & State breach of regional & international policing treaies
Are our police officers educated to defend the establishment and consequently biased against protestors? And, What may influence the police attitudes to respect the right of dissenters to protest?
Points for discussion :
how police have used some of their discretionary powers in making crucial decisions that have had social implications using the examples of the 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vancouver, the 2000’s Quebec City-Summit of the Americas, and the recent
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demonstrations around the G8 meeting in Kananaskis.
Our presentation will also discuss contextual issues related to police training:
how police professional development is influenced by the push from the private industry (as part of the global neo-liberal predominant paradigm) to increase the role of private security in policing particularly in North America and in Australia.
how international and national educational policy-setting organizations are considering the private financing of lifelong learning as a reality to be acknowledged and integrated in the educational process.
These two educational trends provide an important context for our discussion on the kind of professional development education that our police officers are receiving.
Arriving to the Conclusion
At this point I should discuss the research data and analysis, but for this presentation we will jump to a quick review of the European police training and then finish with the conclusions and recommendations.
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FINDINGS in European police
Some of the European Union police program plannings that I looked into were in
Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and The Netherlands.
Very briefly,
My Findings for those European Police programs:
1- the use of a consistent model of program planning that distributes power to stakeholders,
2- a preoccupation for democratizing the educational process and educational accountability system
3- the democratization of the edu process appears to respond to the different European intergovernmental bodies requiring certain police standards from each country (e.g., European Union committees)
CONCLUSIONS:
The case of police professional development program studied in Canada has many positive attributes of a professional police program and attempts to prepare officers for a serious and responsible role in the community it serves, aiming at respecting civil rights, yet it is likely to fall short of accomplishing the community servicing goals and the full respect for rights promised.
Our data shows that the educational strategies used by the police service are not the most adequate for developing a human rights, community-based policing that will respect the right to dissent even under political pressure and the influence of the security discourse.
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CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS for IMPROVEMENT
In the context of great narrative of security in the present times …Our study attempted to
determine whether Canadian public police educational program designs are appropriate to prepare officers to respond to their protesting public…
How prepared are our police officers today to police public demonstrations?
I have come to realize a paradox that “law enforcers” face: As police officers engage in keeping the peace, protecting the human rights of their citizens, and enforcing the law of the State, new security legislation and law enforcement policies have undermined, in many Western countries, basic human rights of citizens that police are supposed to protect.
The Canadian police internal training program studied:
has institutional and planning constraints that limit its ability to deliver the community servicing goals
does little to promote the need of the modern police to understand and uphold the rights of peaceful dissenters.
-RECOMMENDATION: The police institution (APS) can benefit by democratizing the police educational system and by adopting an alternative, more experiential and flexible way of educational planning. (Alternative, more democratic and participatory approaches to planning have been suggested in our study)
- RECOMMENDATION: Important power asymmetries among the institutional players have to be addressed for the APS internal training to have genuine opportunities to design the edu programs professionally.
-RECOMMENDATION: APS police professional development programs should implement mechanisms for officers to take more responsibility on evaluating their own behaviour against high ethical and human rights standards, specially for those police officers who engage in public demonstrations and interact with dissenters.
5 - Concluding Remarks:
Positive actions like the ones discussed in here will give the police service planners and trainers more realistic opportunities to commit the law enforcers to community needs and to uphold the right of the community to dissent without fear of police.
Final: Invitation to participate in a human rights organization such as Amnesty International (Campus group)
Thank you - Luis Alberto D’Elia
Title: PEPPER SPRAYING DISSENT: CANADIAN POLICE & PROTESTERS
Language: English
Presenter: Luis Alberto D’Elia. 3852 110 St., Edmonton, AB, T6J 1E4. Ph: 438-0635. E-mail:
Organizations: UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA & AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Presentation medium: Power Point presentation/Flip chart
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Brief:
Given
·the importance of the great narrative of security and the serious social implications of the new additional Canadian police powers under the post 9-11 security legislation, andthesignificance of the rights of the peoples in the North and in the South to protest oppression and injustices without fear of police,
our (interactive) presentation will focus on popular public demonstrations in Canada where the protesters met different responses from the police. Why demonstrations at the G8/G6B in Calgary (2002) had such a different police response than demonstrations at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec city?. We will gather experiences on demonstrations from the workshop participants and we will ask questions such as: What form of education do police receive to respond to public protests? Can police defend the rights of protesters to protest and go against possible political interference or their own social reproductive function?.
We will present data from a recent research study done on Canadian police programs and their appropriateness to educate police to face public dissent.
The context
As police officers engage in keeping the peace, protecting the human rights of their citizens, and enforcing the law of the State, they face a paradox: the new security legislation and law enforcement policies that they are expected to enforce have undermined, in many Western countries, basic human rights of citizens that police are supposed to protect. As a result of new security powers, moreover, Canadian police, in particular, are in a position to deny people access to certain areas and restrict freedom of movement at large intergovernmental meetings, among other.
We will discuss:
· how police have used some of their discretionary powers in making crucial decisions that have had social implications using the examples of the 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vancouver, the 2000’s Quebec City-Summit of the Americas, and the recent demonstrations around the G8 meeting in Kananaskis.