While many communities in North America are demanding changes to their police services, residents of Moose Jaw appear to be mostly supportive of police efforts here.
Two polls conducted recently show that residents hold favourable views of the Moose Jaw Police Service. One poll was conducted in late 2019 before riots and protests broke out over the mistreatment of minorities by police. A second poll occurred in early June during the continued protests of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Website poll
MooseJawToday.com featured a poll on June 8 and asked, “Do you trust the police?” The poll received 742 responses, with 416 people (56.06 per cent) saying yes, 203 people (27.36 per cent) saying no, 110 people (14.82 per cent) saying it depends, and 13 people (1.75 per cent) saying I’m not sure.
By combining the “yes” results with the “it depends” results, the poll shows that 70.88 per cent of total respondents hold favourable views of police here.
Reaction to website poll
The Moose Jaw Police Service’s (MJPS) work is not truly finished until the public’s trust in the organization is 100 per cent, Police Chief Rick Bourassa said in response to the online poll.
“What (the poll overall) says is we have to continue our work because it’s of absolutely fundamental importance that we have the trust of the people in our community, that we earn their respect, and that we have their consent to continue policing them,” he said.
“Those numbers are a bit troublesome for me. What that says is I have more work to do because this all comes to me.”
Police poll
The MJPS had a telephone survey conducted last October that determined how much trust residents have in the organization. The police service released the results this past March.
Of the 325 residents who responded:
- 81.9 per cent ranked the MJPS’s overall quality of service as very good or excellent
- 85.3 per cent somewhat agreed or strongly agreed that the MJPS is an organization with integrity and honesty
- 82.4 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the organization demonstrates professionalism in its work
- 71.9 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that the MJPS understands the issues affecting the community
- 81.3 per cent of respondents ranked their overall satisfaction with the MJPS as very good or excellent
- 87.8 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that they have confidence in calling 911 in emergencies, while roughly 75 per cent of people who had called 911 in the previous two years rated the MJPS response to their calls as very good or excellent
- Of the 43.5 per cent of respondents who had contact with police during the previous year, 72.7 per cent reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the level of service received
Reaction to poll
While these results are positive, the survey also revealed that respondents want the MJPS to do a better job of communicating with issues such as crime prevention, Bourassa pointed out. The organization knows it has to — and is working to — increase that communication, transparency and openness, so the situation improves.
“We just haven’t been as diligent in that daily communication,” he continued.
The ways to communicate have expanded, from relying on the traditional media to now having many social media outlets. The challenge in harnessing social media is the need for more human resources, which makes this topic a budget issue. Yet, Bourassa noted he has a plan he intends to implement to increase communications.
Positive attributes of the MJPS
Based on the comments of community partners, Bourassa has heard that his officers are responsive to residents’ needs and they have the desire to help solve problems. Furthermore, those partners also say the organization works collaboratively with other local and provincial agencies.
The police chief praised the efforts of MJPS’s Police and Crisis Team (PACT) unit, which is composed of officers and mental health workers who divert specific calls away from the justice system. Bourassa was thankful for the funding the province had provided for this unit.
“This is absolutely the type of thing we need to do more of moving forward,” he added.
How the public sees police
With the problems facing policing in the United States, how the public views police is a good conversation to have, especially since society has reached a tipping point, Bourassa said. However, this conversation has been happening in Canada for much longer based on events such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry.
“All of those keep saying that our (justice) system has inherent biases built into it … . And we all acknowledge that, that the structure of the system at large needs to change,” he said.
While policing does need to change — Bourassa would welcome changes that have a defined end goal — the question is how those changes should look and how agencies should implement them.
“Sometimes, it takes moments of crisis to propel those changes forward. It’s been a trickle and now it’s become a deluge … ,” he added. “I’m not surprised it’s come to this crisis point. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”
Building relationships
Bourassa still believes Moose Jaw residents hold a favourable view of the MJPS but knows the organization can always do better.
Based on available information, there is both a level of trust and distrust in policing in general, which can also be applied to Moose Jaw. This is one reason why the MJPS needs to continue to listen to the community and its governance oversight bodies.
It requires considerable effort to build good relationships, Bourassa said. It takes a lifetime to build trust and only seconds to see it crumble; one negative interaction with a police officer can undo decades of positive engagements. This is why officers need to hold themselves to the highest standards of accountability.
Using body cameras
It’s acceptable to wear body cameras, it’s good public policy to wear the devices, and the public is demanding that officers use them, said Bourassa. Wearing body cameras would also keep police services accountable, transparent and engender more trust.
Using body cameras would become a budget and resources issue, although the retention, disclosure and privacy of the recordings would be a more significant concern than purchasing the technology, he continued. That is why the MJPS would have to work with other policing and privacy organizations to answer questions in this area.
Bourassa does not have a timeline or date established yet of when he wants to have the body cameras purchased. However, he wants to purchase these devices in the next one to two years.
