Critique and critical analysis methods

Criminal Justice

Critique on Policing

The various polices about getting tough on crime that are most reflective of the government's commitment to toughening up criminal laws are the bail reform law for gun offenses and the mandatory prison sentences. There are also policies already in force on impaired driving and street racing that target specific problem areas of the law, and attempt to make the streets safer, which appeals to the public at large. These policies send a message to criminals that their actions and continued crimes will not be tolerated, and they send a message to the public that the legislature is listening and is extremely serious about controlling crime in Canada. This is extremely important but it also has to work. If these bills are created and implemented, and crime still increases, then clearly the public will be dissatisfied, and they may even demand stronger, tougher measures on crime, and this could directly affect policing all across the country.

These policies directly affect policing in Canada because they will create the need for more police officers to enforce the laws and more prisons to help carry out sentences. More courts could be required, as well, to handle the bail reform and sentencing requirements. In addition, more court and prison related personnel would also be required if these laws create as many new felons as they seem to suggest. One has to wonder where all these personnel will come from, and if the criminal justice system can grow to accommodate everyone that might fall under these guidelines. Especially, how quickly can it grow, and how can it manage with the existing structures and infrastructure currently in place? These are questions that need to be answered, and that are not addressed in these documents. It is fine to get tough on crime, but the legislature also has to recognize that to do that, the infrastructure must change, and change quickly, and that does not seem to be the case here.

The RCMP has developed intelligence-led policing since 2000. This has realigned the mission of the RCMP and led to some resistance by at least some of the RCMP officers to the new adoption of ideas and policing methods. In addition, training has been inadequate in some areas, which has led to friction and as the author calls them "misalignments" in the focus of management and the officers.

These types of policing styles include heavy interaction and reliance on the community, and interaction between officers and community members in a variety of ways. This may be one reason some RMCP officers are resistant to the new systems, and their training in the new systems has been extremely limited in many areas. This tends to show that the executive branch of the RMCP may be authoritarian and out of touch with reality. It is still running its organization following military guidelines, which are outmoded and do not yield the best results in community policing models. This means the executive branch is resistant to change, and that mentality is trickling down through the ranks to the officers, who have become extremely resistant to change as well. This also indicates that policy implementation, to be successful, has to be well planned and backed from the top down, not from the bottom up.

This study indicates that introducing new policing methods can be extremely problematic, (at least in the RCMP organization), and that it can lead to dissention in departments and even in executive areas. It also shows a shift in overall thinking and governance to a more liberal outlook, both on crime and in the public, and it seems this shift is likely to continue. This seems to be a result of an overall shift in the public's awareness and needs in policing, and it should continue in the future. This seems to be continued in the public outcry and legislative response introducing legislation to get tougher on crime, as well.

Finally, the final article expresses the views of Canadians on three key issues: sentencing severity, the purposes of sentencing, and mandatory sentences of imprisonment. Canadians over the past 30 years have felt these issues are too lenient, and this continues, even though there have been legislative efforts to create harsher sentencing laws for many different crimes, including gun crimes and perpetual criminals. Mandatory sentencing is popular in many nations, especially when the criminal is a repeat offender, or it has to do with gun offenses.