If anyone remembers, I mentioned an article I had been looking for, well this week I found the article. The article was about setting up an aboriginal police force with the intent that their community would trust this police force and set a strong relationship with them and by extension the RCMP in general as well. This is a response to the high crime rates among that community.
Though the intent is both logical, and good, it also follows a set way of thought. First, it can be seen as the RCMP abandoning doing their duty there personally. Though this task force is apart of the RCMP, they are must respond to the aboriginal counsel and community rather than the RCMP themselves. Though the RCMP is going to be invovled in the Community Consultive Group that the Unit responds to, how involved they are going to be is another question entirely. The second thing that they are doing is by abandoning their role there, they are showing a lack of concern as they are handing the role of policing over to another inexperienced force.
Thus, this is one of society's responses to hooliganism. To wash their hands of the individuals and communities and let them fend for themselves. Hoping to hide from the problems that select communities generate by having them police themselves. Though once again they are involved in the CCG, the article does not specify the extent of their involvement and therefore that could mean there is little to no involvement, or hopefully they will be heavily involved in the Units movements. But either way I see this as a negative thing, as its a step towards cutting off a section of society, as they isolate them from the rest of society.
Here is the article for anyone interested.
http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/story.html?id=c63e2508-3220-4fb5-99c7-171139bed60c&k=58739&p=2
2 comments:
"I have to disagree with this writer's all-or-nothing approach toward law enforcement.
In my opinion, in dealing with closed ethnic communities, an integrated police force is the way to go, or rather, the way in.
I admit that there is a risk to this approach but I am pragmatic enough to say that if one approach is working, we need to look at another."
I agree, it is a negative solution and does not address any real problems or issues sournding why or how crime rates are higher among aboriginals (or why media is quick to point out and highlight this information).
I think the problem is in our inherent social structure and way of thinking (how we have been taught to think via institutions and media, for example). As long as white culture as been the dominate hegemonic culture aboriginals have alwasy been compared as the extreme "other." The situation is similar in the US with the relashionship between "blacks" and "whites".
Also, the problem of having seperate policing of and for Aboriginals further marginlizes the group and makes it clear that they will never be apart of the dominate white culture, they will always be the "other." The situation sounds very Jim Crow...seperate but eaqual (?)...
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