Witnessing differences

As a resident of Ottawa for the last 10 years I have had a few interactions with the police service and while they have been mostly positive I know my white skin has a lot to do with that. I know this because I have witnessed acts of racially motivated policing in Ottawa. It looks like black youths being arrested for loitering in the Byward Market while white adults prowl around absolutely out of it on drugs. It looks like my brown-skinned friend being given a jaywalking ticket on the street I jaywalk nearly every day. It looks like excessive violence to restrain a Black man at Bluesfest while I couldn’t get an officer to remove the drunk white boy threatening to rape my friend from the same festival. It looks like police entering my boutique workplace in full gear and watching my BIPOC customers visibly clench—even when the officers themselves are not white. It looks like unissued uniform enhancements like brass knuckles and punching a man in cuffs in cardiac arrest. It looks like women calling in domestic incidents and being told, ”he’s just heartbroken”, and then being killed by that ”heartbroken” man. It looks like fear.

We give Police officers too broad a job description, they can’t properly do everything and be everything for everyone. We need to dismantle and rebuild in a way that ensures the responders to each situation are THE MOST qualified people to handle the job. Guns and weapons are not what should determine your ability to handle the job presented to you. More social workers, therapists, mental health professionals in the field and on the streets would be an excellent first step. A board of citizens to be accountable to would also be great.