To be presented to the Toronto Police Services Board on April 25, 2002

Toronto Police Accountability Coalition  http://www.tpac.ca  <info@tpac.ca>

Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 12:11:47 -0500 (EST)
From: Paul Copeland
Subject: Fwd: police and demos
To: bobolsen@interlog.com

Toronto Police Accountability Coalition has been working for some months on a draft policy regarding police behaviour at demonstrations, for presentation to the Toronto Police Services Board. This is the fifth draft, and it has taken into account the responses made to a draft posted on our web site (www.tpac.ca) in January and widely distributed.

We are now asking for feedback on this draft (send to info@tpac.ca) in the hope we can finalize our position by the end of March, and file our brief with the Police Board in the first week of April for presentation at the Board on the afternoon of April 25. As well as your comments, we ask for your support. We would like to ensure that at least half a dozen groups and individuals make presentations to the Board on the 25th. The brief will be much more effective if there are a number of speakers in support. Please let us know at info@tpac.ca if you will be able to make a presentation.

Thanks. TPAC <info@tpac.ca>

 ***

Police Behaviour at Demonstrations: fifth draft, March 10, 2002.

Police now assume most of those who attend political demonstrations are criminals, and that demonstrations are a criminal activity where marchers must be searched and confronted at virtually every turn. This is wrong.

We need new rules for police behaviour at demonstrations to ensure that members of the public can attend these events without fear of consequences for their personal safety because of police action.

Better rules are also needed for police managers. Because of current police policies, demonstrations now eat up an inordinate amount of police time and resources, producing no positive output. This is a poor expenditure of police resources and is as a general rule unnecessary.

As well, a more relaxed and sensible approach by police, where demonstrators would not be provoked by massive police presence and the use of intimidating equipment, would reveal that the majority of demonstrations were self-policing.

For these reasons, it is time to have a better set of guidelines for police behaviour at demonstrations, guidelines that are appropriate for the vast bulk of demonstrations in Toronto. Our suggestions are as follows:

 1. The greatest police concern should be to ensure that the rights and freedoms of citizens are upheld, including the right to political dissent, and the freedoms of speech and assembly. Police should be familiar with court decisions regarding the rights of citizens in this area (including rulings on preventative searches and arrests, strip searches, reasonable proximity to protest sites, and the proper laying of charges, and act in accordance with them at all times.

2. Police should assume that the demonstration will be peaceful.

3. Police language and behaviour must be respectful of demonstrators, and neither demeaning nor threatening. Police statements should be free of foul language.

4. All police officers should be clearly identified, wearing police badges and numbers, and wearing regular police uniforms. Undercover officers should not be deployed.

5. Good communication on the part of the police is critical. This will only be possible if, from the beginning, police communicate in a non-hostile and co-operative manner. Police officers in charge should introduce themselves to demonstration organizers and inform them of police intentions at every step of the demonstration.

6. Police presence and behaviour should be limited and as unobtrusive as possible.

7. `Preventative' detentions, arrests, and searches of demonstrators are contrary to the law and must not be done.

8. Street Medics should be treated as a positive resource by police at demonstrations, and should be treated with respect. Police should not confiscate their supplies.

9. Police should neither videotape nor photograph demonstrations or demonstrators.

10.Neither horses nor dogs should be deployed at demonstrations. They are highly intimidating and can risk or cause serious injury to themselves or others.

11. Pepper spray and tear gas should not be used.

12. Guns should not be pointed at individuals.

13. Police armaments should not be on display.

14. Helicopters should not be used, as their main impact is to intimidate.

 We request that the Toronto Police Services Board adopt these guidelines for police behaviour at demonstrations in the city. In cases where the Chief feels these guidelines are not appropriate for a specific demonstration, board approval should be sought to set aside these guidelines in favour of others which the Chief clearly formulates for Board approval.

*
Please send comments to <info@tpac.ca>, and please indicate whether you will be able to be present and speak at the Police Services Board in support of this approach on the afternoon of April 25.