Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Expansion and Normalization of Police Militarization in Canada

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Despite extensive analysis of police militarization in the United States (US), the case in Canada has been overlooked. Building on Kraska’s (in Policing 1(4):501–513, 2007) framework of police militarization indicators, this paper examines militarization within Canadian police forces between 2007 and 2016. Drawing from data on deployments disclosed under freedom of information law, our research shows deployment of special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams have escalated in many major Canadian cities and are even higher in some cases than those reported by Kraska on militarization of US public police. We show how SWAT teams are increasingly used by public police for routine police activities such as warrant work, traffic enforcement, community policing, and even responding to mental health crises and domestic disturbances. We also analyze data on SWAT team growth, and benchmarking between police service SWAT units. We conclude by reflecting on the implications for public policing in Canada and avenues for future research on police militarization and police violence in Canada and other countries.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. A subsequent FOI request revealed that the CPS Tactical Unit deployed about 620 times total in 2016, though it was impossible to determine how many of the additional revealed deployments were planned or unplanned. While these additional deployments are excluded from our analysis, it is unlikely that their inclusion would significantly alter our findings.

  2. The crime rate in Ottawa increased slightly in 2016 over 2015, although the violent crime rate continued to drop (Ottawa Police Service 2017). Even with this increase the 2016 crime rate remained significantly lower than in previous years.

  3. Based on comparisons that were made between ‘on-view’ and ‘caller-initiated’ deployments, and several references suggesting that ‘on-view’ deployments are officer-initiated, ‘on-view’ deployments in this data most likely represents the number of deployments initiated by the TST itself, either proactively or in response to directly witnessing an activity. See Griffiths and Pollard (2013: 250, 264, 268).

  4. TST’s deployments in 2016 represented about 1.6% of the WPS’ total incidents responded to (Winnipeg Police Service 2017: 19), but the TST executed about 10% of all warrants in Manitoba, and was involved in about 15% (Access Request #16-10-911; Access Request #17-4-295; Levasseur and Nicholson 2017). The total proportion of the WPS’ warrants that the TST executed is unknown, though it would obviously be higher. This is concerning given that a recent study of warrants issued in Manitoba found that 1 in 7 did not meet the legal requirements to be issued in the first place (Levasseur and Nicholson 2017).

References

  • Alvaro, S. (2000). Tactical law enforcement in Canada: An exploratory survey of canadian police agencies. MA Thesis. Ottawa: Carleton University.

  • Brownlee, J., & Walby, K. (Eds.). (2015). Access to information and social justice. In Access to information and social justice: Critical research strategies for journalists, scholars and activists (pp. 1–20). Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing (ARP) Books.

  • Burczycka, M. (2013). Police Resources in Canada, 2012. Report 85-225-X. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

  • Calgary Police Service. (n.d.). About our Tactical Unit. Retrieved January 8, 2017, from http://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Specialty-teams/About-our-Tactical-Unit.aspx.

  • Carmichael, J. T., & Kent, S. L. (2015). Structural determinants of municipal police force size in large cities across Canada assessing the applicability of ethnic threat theories in the Canadian Context. International Criminal Justice Review, 25(3), 263–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CBC News. (2008). Winnipeg police launch full-time SWAT-type unit. CBC News, Manitoba. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-police-launch-full-time-swat-type-unit-1.725400.

  • Chappell, A. T., & Lanza-Kaduce, L. (2010). Police academy socialization: Understanding the lessons learned in a paramilitary bureaucratic organization. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 39(2), 187–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cotter, A. (2015). Canada’s crime rate: Two decades of decline. Canadian Megatrends. No. 2015001. January. Statistics Canada Catalogue No. 11-630-X. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015001-eng.htm (accessed Jan. 10, 2017).

  • De Lint, W. (2005). Public order policing: A tough act to follow? International Journal of the Sociology of Law, 33(4), 179–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Den Heyer, G. (2014). Mayberry revisited: A review of the influence of police paramilitary units on policing. Policing and Society, 24(3), 346–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delehanty, C., Mewwhirther, J., Welch, R., & Wilks, J. (2017). Militarization and police violence: The case of the 1033 program. Research and Politics, 4(2), 1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, M., Valcore, L., & Klinger, D. (2010). Maintaining separate spheres in policing: Women on SWAT teams. Women & Criminal Justice, 20(3), 218–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunton, C., & Kitchen, V. (2014). Paradiplomatic policing and relocating Canadian foreign policy. International Journal, 69(2), 183–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gamal, F. (2016). The racial politics of protection: A critical race examination of police militarization. California Law Review, 104, 979–1008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodmark, L. (2015). Hands up at home: Militarized masculinity and police officers who commit intimate partner abuse. Brigham Young University Law Review, 5, 1181–1246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, C. T., & Pollard, N. (2013). Policing in Winnipeg: An operational review. Retrieved from http://curtgriffiths.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/WPS-operational-review.pdf.

  • Hill, S., & Beger, R. (2009). A paramilitary policing juggernaut. Social Justice, 36(1), 25–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, S. M., Beger, R. R., & Zanettii, J. M., II. (2007). Plugging the security gap or springing a leak: Questioning the growth of paramilitary policing in US domestic and foreign policy. Democracy and Security, 3(3), 301–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hills, A. (1995). Militant Tendencies: Paramilitarism in the British Police. British Journal of Criminology, 35(3), 450–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, D. (1998). The determinants of deadly force: A structural analysis of police violence. American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 837–862.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, M. (1997). Policing and public order issues in Canada: Trends for change. Policing and Society, 8(1), 47–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kitchen, V., & Rygiel, K. (2014). Privatizing security, securitizing policing: The case of the G20 in Toronto, Canada. International Political Sociology, 8(2), 201–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraska, P. B. (2007). Militarization and policing—Its relevance to 21st century police. Policing, 1(4), 501–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraska, P. B., & Cubellis, L. J. (1997). Militarizing Mayberry and beyond: Making sense of American paramilitary policing. Justice Quarterly, 14(4), 607–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraska, P. B., & Kapperler, V. E. (1997). Militarizing American police: The rise and normalization of paramilitary units. Social Problems, 44(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leichtman, E. (2008). Complex harmony: The military and professional models of policing. Critical Criminology, 16(1), 53–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levasseur, J., & Nicholson, K. (2017). 1 in 7 Manitoba search warrants in study has serious flaws. CBC News, Manitoba. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/search-warrants-manitoba-1.4284574.

  • Luscombe, A., & Walby, K. (2015). High policing and access to information. Police Practice and Research, 16(6), 485–498.

  • Matrix Consulting Group. (2013). Operational review of the police service. Retrieved from http://www.winnipeg.ca/cao/media/imageLinks/OperationalReview_WPSFinalReport.pdf.

  • McCulloch, J. (2001). Blue army: Paramilitary policing in Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, C. (2017). Pacification and police: A critique of the police militarization thesis. Capital & Class, 41(1), 115–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McQuoid, A. and J. Haynes. (2017). The Thin (Red) Blue Line: Police Militarization and Violent Crime. United States Naval Academy Department of Economics Working Paper 2017-56.

  • Meyer, J., & O’Malley, P. (2005). Missing the punitive turn? Canadian criminal justice, ‘Balance’ and penal modernism. In J. Pratt, D. Brown, M. Brown, S. Halsworth, & W. Morrison (Eds.), The new punitiveness: Trends, theories and perspectives (pp. 201–217). Willan: UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, J. (2005). Policing terrorism: A threat to community policing or just a shift in priorities? Police Practice and Research, 6(4), 347–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ontario Provincial Police. (2016). Canine Unit. Retrieved October 1, 2017, from https://www.opp.ca/index.php?id=115&entryid=56e083458f94ac916f0d8b35.

  • Ottawa Police Service. (n.d.). Tactical Unit. Retrieved January 8, 2017, from https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/about-us/tactical-unit.asp.

  • Ottawa Police Service. (2009). 2007–2008 Crime trends for the City of Ottawa (Ottawa Police Service, Author). Retrieved from http://app06.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/opsb/2009/05-25/item9att2.pdf.

  • Ottawa Police Service. (2011). Crime, police, and traffic statistics report (Ottawa Police Service, Author). Retrieved from http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/opsb/2011/05-30/item7atta.pdf.

  • Ottawa Police Service. (2014). 2012–2013 Crime Trends: City of Ottawa (Ottawa Police Service, Author). Retrieved from https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/annual-report/resources/2012-2013_Crime_Trends_for_City.pdf.

  • Ottawa Police Service. (2017). Ottawa Police Service 2016 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/annual-report-2016/resources/2016/OPS_17-067_AR_2017_EN_v6.pdf.

  • Peak, B. (2015). Militarization of school police: One route on the school-to-prison pipeline. Arkansas Law Review, 68, 195–229.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, S. W. (2016). Myths, militarism and the police patrol rifle. Policing and Society, 26(2), 185–196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radil, S., Dezzani, R., & McAden, L. (2017). Geographies of U.S. Police Militarization and the Role of the 1033 Program. The Professional Geographer, 69(2), 203–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivera, G. (2015). Armed not militarized: Achieving real police militarization. Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law, 20(2), 227–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, J. I. (1995). Violence by municipal police in Canada: 1977–1992. In J. I. Ross (Ed.), Violence in Canada: Socio-political perspectives. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, J. I. (1992). The outcomes of public police violence: A neglected research agenda. Police Studies, 15(1), 163–183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roziere, B., & Walby, K. (forthcoming). Police militarization in Canada: Media rhetoric and operational realities. Policing: a Journal of Policy and Practice.

  • Salter, M. (2014). Toys for the boys? Drones, pleasure and popular culture in the militarization of policing. Critical Criminology, 22(2), 163–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saskatoon Police Service. (n.d.). Tactical support unit. Retrieved January 8, 2017, from http://saskatoonpolice.ca/tsu/.

  • Shantz, J. (2016). They have always been military: On so-called militarized policing in Canada. Journal of Social Justice, 6, 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vancouver Police Department. (2016). Vancouver Police Department crime incident and crime rate statistics. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/police/Planning/StatsCrimeRate/2010-2015R.pdf.

  • Vancouver Police Department. (2017). Vancouver Police Department crime incident and crime rate statistics. Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/police/Planning/StatsCrimeRate/2011-2016R.pdf.

  • Walby, K., & Larsen, M. (2012). Access to information and freedom of information requests: Neglected means of data production in the social sciences. Qualitative Inquiry, 18(1), 31–42.

  • Weiss, T. (2011). The blurring border between the police and the military: A debate without foundations. Cooperation and Conflict, 46(3), 396–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winnipeg Free Press. (2016). Free Press has top readership. Winnipeg Free Press, City, p. 2. Retrieved from Canadian Reference Centre database. (Accession No. 7BS2253628032).

  • Winnipeg Police Service. (2016). Winnipeg Police Service announces downtown safety strategy (Press release). Retrieved from http://www.winnipeg.ca/police/press/2016/12dec/2016_12_15.aspx.

  • Winnipeg Police Service. (2017). Winnipeg Police Service 2016 annual statistical report. Retrieved from http://www.winnipeg.ca/police/AnnualReports/2016/2016_wps_annual_report_english.pdf.

  • Wood, D. (2016). Calgary cops shopping for new armoured vehicle. Calgary Sun. Retrieved from http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/08/02/calgary-cops-shopping-for-new-armoured-vehicle.

  • Wood, L. (2014). Crisis and control: The Militarization of protest policing. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

Access to Information Requests

  • Access Request #16-10-911. (2016). Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Winnipeg Police Service.

  • Access Request #16-2974A. (2016). Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Vancouver Police Department.

  • Access Request #16-867. (2016). Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Ottawa Police Service.

  • Access Request #16-G-1467. (2016). Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Calgary Police Service.

  • Access Request #17-4-295. (2017). Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Winnipeg Police Service.

  • Access Request #17-G-0582. (2017). Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Calgary Police Service.

  • Access Request #CSCS-A-2016-04906. (2016). Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act request to Ontario Provincial Police.

Legislation

  • Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. F-25, s. 20(1)(c), 20(1)(k).

  • Mental Health Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M-7, s. 17.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Brendan Roziere

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg, Centennial Hall, 3rd Floor, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2E9, Canada

    Kevin Walby

Authors
  1. Brendan Roziere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kevin Walby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kevin Walby.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roziere, B., Walby, K. The Expansion and Normalization of Police Militarization in Canada. Crit Crim 26, 29–48 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9378-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-017-9378-3

Search

Navigation