What To Do About the Police
Just a few spots left in this course. Go to the bottom of this page to enrol.
The police come across today as a bunch of fat, overpaid, racist, homophobic and misogynistic cowards. They wait outside while children are being slaughtered inside. They routinely murder people when they perceive the slightest risk to their own safety or even their own authority. In recent decades, police in many places have become militarized, brandishing weapons and armour normally seen on the battlefield. Is this characterization too harsh? Of course it is, but there is little doubt that police behaviour and accountability are a problem almost everywhere. In Toronto, the average police constable makes $132,000. Police seem to hold governments hostage to extract increased budgets. Police unions clearly have lots of power. Too much power?
It’s not just in the U.S. and Canada that serious questions are being asked by the public and civil society about police. It’s in the U.K., France and South Africa amongst many countries. What can be done about this? Do we just have to accept it as the price of being kept “safe”? Is reform possible? Where are police under greater civilian control, and where are the police seen as a force for the good? What policing models work effectively with public support? We’ll explore all this in our course.
Moderator: John Simke
Date and Time: Fridays September 8 to 29 (4 sessions), 2-4 PM
Location: In person at Victoria College, University of Toronto, Room 211
Cost: $40
Enrolment is now open. See below.
See enrolment terms here
The police come across today as a bunch of fat, overpaid, racist, homophobic and misogynistic cowards. They wait outside while children are being slaughtered inside. They routinely murder people when they perceive the slightest risk to their own safety or even their own authority. In recent decades, police in many places have become militarized, brandishing weapons and armour normally seen on the battlefield. Is this characterization too harsh? Of course it is, but there is little doubt that police behaviour and accountability are a problem almost everywhere. In Toronto, the average police constable makes $132,000. Police seem to hold governments hostage to extract increased budgets. Police unions clearly have lots of power. Too much power?
It’s not just in the U.S. and Canada that serious questions are being asked by the public and civil society about police. It’s in the U.K., France and South Africa amongst many countries. What can be done about this? Do we just have to accept it as the price of being kept “safe”? Is reform possible? Where are police under greater civilian control, and where are the police seen as a force for the good? What policing models work effectively with public support? We’ll explore all this in our course.
Moderator: John Simke
Date and Time: Fridays September 8 to 29 (4 sessions), 2-4 PM
Location: In person at Victoria College, University of Toronto, Room 211
Cost: $40
Enrolment is now open. See below.
See enrolment terms here