Describing police in 1 word?
- Asmakaya (Coquitlam RCMP): Exciting due to sudden shifts in levels of activity & unpredictability
- Scurrah (VPD): Dichotomous b/c expectations of police are very high & often contradictory
- Pope (North Van RCMP): Astounding; can feel detached due to nature of the job
Main reason for becoming police officer amongst panelists?
2 of the 3 (Pope & Scurrah) wanted to be cops since childhood; Asmakaya wanted to do CBSA/policing and joined the army reserves straight out of high school
Family & friends’ reactions?
- Asmakaya: Family = supportive; became more worried after he had been on the job for a while
- Scurrah: Father was not supportive of job but supportive of son’s desire to do whatever he wanted; mother was extremely worried
- Pope: Did not tell friends right away due to fear of rxns; mom = displeased, father = supportive; lost some friends after revealing application
Opinions on patrol work?
Each agreed that responding to criminal in-progress calls = most exciting/’fun’; rewarding when task is done
Challenges of patrol work?
- Pope: Very little support for mental health + substance abuse; resources don’t exist as politicians divert funds towards housing; feels as if constables don’t have a voice
- Scurrah: Changing gears b/t crimes is difficult (i.e. having to deal with a suicide and a purse theft within the same hour)
- Asmakaya: Post-COVID, the mentioned challenges have worsened; short-staffing problems; increases in violent crime
Most common calls for service?
- Asmakaya: Complaints about homeless people & mentally ill people
- Scurrah: Thefts; unwanted people loitering
- Pope: Property crime, much of which stems from addiction & mental health
How do social issues manifest in police work?
- Pope: Lack of government support for mental health and addiction resources (i.e. Riverview Hospital being shut down, therefore patients were pushed out)
- Scurrah: Market in DTES is essentially black market where ppl can sell stolen goods
- Asmakaya: Large homeless shelter in Coquitlam still leads to a lot of crime (i.e. stealing, loitering)
% of calls related to mental health & addiction (not related to crime)?
- Pope: 77%
- Scurrah: Official VPD figure = 33%; personal estimate = 85%
- Asmakaya: 80-90%
Misconceptions of police?
- Scurrah: Ppl expect police can solve all societal problems, when in reality they are not equipped to deal with all those issues
- Asmakaya: Public thinks police don’t consider mental health & addiction issues and only resort to use of force
- Pope: Media pushes certain rhetoric regarding police; incidents where officers aid in positive, non-violent manners are not sensationalized/talked about
Managing fear of risk on the job?
Officers stated that they have to swallow fear on the job as they cannot afford to freeze; much of processing fear comes after work or after encounters have already played out
