The Political Economy of the New Era of Police Reform in Canada.

• In Event: Police Efficiency: Domestic and International Applications

Abstract

Public policing in Canada is entering a new era of economically and politically structured reform. As part of the neo-liberal fiscal politics of re-forming Canada’s expensive and extensive public services, spiraling policing cost have brought governments, police and academia together in an effort to rationalize the escalating cost of public policing and make the police a more effective and efficient modern institution. While recent police reform has focused on external
( community) or strategic ( intelligence led) policing , the new reforms are challenging more fundamental internal issues such as the police, role, core functions, organization, culture, education and the generalist model. This paper analyzes: the political economy of this new reform, distinguishes its core concepts and goals, describes the influence of UK and US reform models, explains the return of research, explores similarities and differences from previous reforms and speculates on probable outcomes. While this reform era may turn out to be more rhetorical than reformative, it has the potential to fundamentally transform Canadian public policing. The author is a long time police reform skeptic and advocate.

Author

• Christopher James Murphy, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada