Julie*, Manon*’s neighbor dialed 911 in the evening. She was afraid. Fear that Manon will hurt someone or herself. In freefall for a few weeks, Manon verbally attacks others. Unpredictable and untimely, she makes insulting and disturbing remarks. No open threats yet, but alarming behavior and comments. A difficult break-up seems to have precipitated the downfall, fueled by an abuse of psychoactive consumption. Manon has become an emotional and behavioral volcano that spits its hot lava. This evening, she had been shouting her anger on the sidewalk for more than an hour, at random in her distress. Julie has made up her mind: she calls the police.
Patrolling as a duo, Constables Santos* and Tremblay* were dispatched to the scene. They found Manon sitting on the outside staircase, in tears, agitated, shouting at the two policewomen to sack their camp. Despite this hostility, the two police officers did what they were trained to do: meet the security needs of their population. Protect and serve. Protecting Julie’s sense of security, serving Manon’s security needs. They took the time to establish a bond of trust, trying to understand this disarray, driving the psychological and emotional vortex making those around them fearful.
The “real police”?
What are “the real police”? Crime rates fluctuate, but overall downward trends have been observed for decades, although an increase in some crimes suggests otherwise. Conversely, the visibility of multiple psychosocial problems is increasing. The socio-community fabric of our communities is changing. We now refuse to look away. Like Julie, we want to point out a problem that confronts our sense of security, fearing that a tragedy will occur. We call 911 because we don’t know what to do to help or be helped. A majority of these calls, theoretically non-criminal, are now qualified as being of a social nature. Consequently, the daily police mission is transformed.
But it is not because there is no crime that there is no public safety issue. On the contrary.
Protect and serve, what does that mean? Through their professionalism and humanity, the officers dispatched skilfully de-escalate the crisis and convince Manon to agree to be referred to a specialized resource, transported to medical services or directed towards a multidisciplinary team that will see to accompanying him towards a better tomorrow.
Let’s be clear: if Manon is aggressive, disorganized or threatening as Julie described to the 911 dispatcher, it will be the police who will show up on the scene. For a very simple reason, that of the security issues inherent in the situation. They are trained to face the threat, secure an environment and protect the people present, threatening as threatened. This is the very nature of their mandate. No social or medical worker, however qualified he may be in his field of expertise, will replace the competence of the police officer in the face of a threat to the safety of persons. Society gives them extraordinary powers of constraint, precisely for the purpose of protecting life.
Time and support to better protect and serve
Protecting and serving is a broad mission. This spectrum includes the degraded condition of Manon, raiding for sexual solicitation near a school, a situation of intra-family violence, the disorganized emergence of gangs and the increase in break-ins in your neighborhood. What the police need is not to compartmentalize the types of intervention according to a nostalgic vision of the police realities of another era. They need support and time. Time to build a bond with Manon or Peter*, both before and after the call to 911, to listen and gather information (which may become criminal intelligence) to reassure, direct to a resource, prevent or put in of arrest. Time to contact a specialized resource, the street worker or the investigator on duty (they also lack time). Time to go back to hear from Manon or Julie, to get out of the patrol car and go chat with the young people in the park or visit the neighborhood merchants. These different facets of their daily lives are not opposed. The police are highly trained for all of these actions. They are very effective if we give them the means by trusting them.
The “real police” are agents Santos and Tremblay who served and protected Manon like Julie, worrying about the risk that this human distress could turn into another form of drama.
Protecting and serving her community means preventing Manon’s volcano from erupting in her face, Julie’s… or yours.
*Names are fictitious