We are the police and the police are us - Michael's essay

In 1829, the British Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel pushed a bill called the Metropolitan Police Act through the House of Commons. When enacted, the bill created the world's first organized, integrated, tightly administered urban police force. The London cops soon became known as Bobbies or Peelers.

During the debate on the bill, Peel referred to what he called the nine principles of policing. In essence, he was initiating the practice of policing by consent, that is the consent of the people. The police, he said, were citizens in uniform. Peel's Principle Number Two reads: "THE ABILITY OF THE POLICE TO PERFORM THEIR DUTIES IS DEPENDENT UPON PUBLIC SUPPORT OF POLICE ACTIONS."

Even a scant reading of the news of the past four or five months would suggest that public support for police in this country has taken a major hit. Cops in both large and small urban centres have been accused variously of racism, sexism, using excessive violence, lying under oath, fraud, extortion and a host of various departmental violations such as drinking and driving on duty and sexual harassment. The concerns and allegations of wrongdoing even extend to the national police, the RCMP.

Two national polls this week by the CBC and The Toronto Star indicate that while overall public support for the cops is not collapsing, it is sliding precipitously. In the CBC poll, nearly 80 per cent of respondents said that police were treated differently than ordinary citizens in the justice system. The Toronto Star poll reported that support for police had fallen from 78 per cent in early January to 63 per cent by the end of the month. 

All in all, it has been a bad year for cops, especially in and around Toronto. Shortly after an officer was found guilty of attempted murder, four cops were charged with perjury and obstructing justice. A discipline charge was brought against another officer who fired at least 14 bullets into the hood of a stopped car. All told in Ontario, in the past five years, about 350 police officers have been disciplined  for what their departments call serious misconduct.

The importance of police in our society is underscored by the extraordinary powers we bestow on them. In return for those powers, we demand, among other things, adherence to law, fair treatment of suspects, honest evaluation of evidence and open and honest rendering of the facts.

It is more than highly probable that most policemen and women are honest, diligent, and measured in their conduct. But if they too lose public support, the law enforcement system we treasure will come unstuck.

As Sir Robert's bobbies demonstrated nearly two centuries ago, we are the police and the police are us.