All Together Now: Community Safety Through Policing Partnerships

• In Event: Future Directions in Canadian Policing

Abstract

In Canada, police services are experiencing downloading of responsibility, as the cost of policing increases, social service budgets are cut and alternative government supports wither away (Lepreucht, 2014; Council of Canadian Academies, 2014). Yet, the police in Canada often do not have the training or experience to properly deal with the complex social issues they are now expected to control (Coleman & Cotton, 2010). As a result, police services are partnering with local community agencies. These agencies can sometimes provide complimentary expertise and skills to reduce and prevent crime and respond to the community needs (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014). However, these partnerships can also further download crime control responsibility to community residents. Research literature on partnerships largely examines two main themes, the success or failure of partnerships and the neoliberal downloading of responsibility. Both are important. Neither acknowledge the role of human agency or the specific steps of social change. The study takes a qualitative, action-based research approach and is designed to explore the process of community safety partnerships between the police and the community agencies in Canada, by examining the development, implementation and maintenance of these partnerships within the current political and social context.

Authors

• Tarah Hodgkinson, Simon Fraser University

• Tullio Caputo, Carleton University

• Michael McIntyre, Carleton University