Const. Khoa Hoang
The health of our community involves many considerations that are not always related to physical health. Our community has been greatly impacted by repeated, negative exposure of its police service which may or may not be justifiable. Trust is not only an essential element of policing, but it is the single most important tool in an officer's arsenal. When you have public trust, doors open, witnesses come forward, and evidence to build strong cases become much easier to obtain.
Now let’s make something very clear before I thrust myself into the political hole of no return. I am a community member first that has the responsibilities of a police officer. Your concerns as a part of the community directly become my concern as an officer.
The concept of community policing was developed by Sir Robert Peel, who many consider to be the father of modern-day policing. Peel was the prime minister of the United Kingdom, who during the mid- 1800s successfully argued for the implementation of an effective police service at a time when crime was believed to be rising sharply. Trust in government was in jeopardy; consequently, recommendations aimed at preventing further damage gave rise to action.
But that was then. Although there are still areas that concern me about policing today, we have come a very long way. In my short career, I have had the opportunity to serve with the Hamilton Police Service, the RCMP, and now back home in Ottawa. I am extremely proud of the uniform I wear and the oath I took, because I honour the community that raised me by giving back. The day we no longer represent the good people of Ottawa is the day that I will resign . . . That day has not come!
Policing in any environment is about one thing, the people. And our effectiveness as officers can be directly correlated to our understanding of the communities we serve. Each community can be vastly different one from the other, with its population defining the local culture. No matter where I travel, I spend most of my time listening and observing the local population. I always seem to learn something about myself along the way.
But explaining personal beliefs and police policies may not be enough to ease the emotional concerns today. So let me extend my hand to each of you and invite you to actively participate with your police service in building a brighter future. At the dawn of a new day there lies an opportunity to be better than we were in the darkest of nights.
The Ottawa Police Service actively participates with community members on a number of committees and groups that help steer your police service. Groups such as COMPAC (Community and Police Action Committee), CI-CS (Critical Incident-Critical Situation) Team, Neighbourhood Watch, and our Police Services Board comprised of community leaders. They are all a valuable part of directing the police.
In closing, let me leave you with the principles which Sir Robert Peel believed should inform and would create an effective police service, which is to say one that is able to integrate its community members into the police culture.
1) The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
2) The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon the public approval of police actions.
3) Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observation of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
4) The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity for the use of physical force.
5) Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to the law.
6) Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice, and warning is found to be insufficient.
7) Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that, in reality, reflects the historic tradition that recognizes that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police are only members of the public who are paid to give fulltime attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
8) Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions, and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
9) The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.