By Dr. Suresh Kurl
I spent a significant portion of my life with the provincial and federal governments, serving public performing different jobs in different positions and places. In order to perform my duties effectively and according to the laws, I had opportunities and reasons to seek assistance of the city police and the RCMP and attend training programs and workshops with them to further my knowledge and performance.
The most memorable time I recall I ever spent with them was when I attended a Juvenile Officers Program at the Justice Institute of British Columbia in 1981. It lasted three weeks. In every instance; working and learning with those police officers, who had come from all over the country, was not only a great learning experience and professionally helpful, it was a great pleasure as well. It made me feel as though I was a part of them.
At the end of the session they elected me — a brown skinned East Indian — as we used to be called during that era, their Valedictorian to deliver a graduation speech, which I delivered to those seasoned “Sweat Hogs” with my brown touch proportionately mixed with their white humour.
As life moved out of my work circle, I noticed certain instances of their performance deeply disturbing, and saddening. They were extremely lacking in professional courtesy and void of compassion, totally. I would say they were the text book examples of brutality resulting in the deaths of the individuals they were called to help, such as Frank Paul.
Some of us still remember Frank Paul’s case, but those who do not, please allow me to tell his story.
It happened on the 5th of December of 1998. At about 8 p.m. Mr. Frank Paul, an Aboriginal homeless individual, was arrested, for the second time that day, for being intoxicated in a public place.
At approximately 8:20 p.m., a probationary constable drove him to the Vancouver Police Department and delivered him to the jail. The sergeant in charge of the jail refused Mr. Paul entry. The constable took Mr. Paul away and at about 9 p.m. left him in the south lane of the 300 block of East 1st. Vancouver.
The next morning, Mr. Paul’s lifeless body was found at approximately 3 a.m. The forensic pathologist attributed his death to acute alcohol intoxication and hypothermia.
The circumstances of Mr. Paul’s death raised a question of whether any of the officers who dealt with him committed a criminal offence, and specifically, whether his death was a culpable homicide.
There were three relevant offences: failing to provide the necessaries of life; criminal negligence causing death; and manslaughter by criminal negligence.
The sergeant in charge of the jail, who had refused Mr. Paul entry could have kept him in the jail over night and saved him from hypothermia.
“The sad truth is that, even now, we know very little about Frank Paul – his hopes and dreams, his talents, and the traumatising experience that led eventually to his living rough on the harsh streets of Vancouver,” writes William H. Davies, Q.C., the author of – A Lone and Cold; An Interim Report of The Davies Commission; submitted; February 12, 2009.
The death of the 18-year-old Sammy Yatim occurred on July 27, 2013. It occurred because he was armed with a pocket knife; because he threatened other passengers travelling with him on the same city bus he was on, and because he exposed himself.
The police officer shot him nine times. If this young man was so out of control, the officer could have tasered him once, only. He did not have to pump nine bullets into his body. If Const. Ken Lam, who single-handedly took down the suspect in the Toronto van attack, were handling Sammy, he would still be alive.
The February 20, 2015 death of the Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who had come to Canada to be with his aging mother, has made a permanent nest in my heart. Ever since then, the thought of injecting policing with some compassion, with some social-work techniques, has taken deeper roots in my mind and heart. I will never forget this date, because Feb 20 is the date of my wedding anniversary as well.
While attempting to locate his mother, Robert Dziekanski met his end, the same day he landed at the YVR. If the attending RCMP Officers; even one of them; had a heart to offer that newly landed, tired, frustrated, lost and culturally confused monolingual immigrant, a glass of cold water or a cup of hot coffee, he would have calmed down and would be living with his mother, still to this day. Instead, the officers chose to taser him multiple times, causing his death.
On January 6, 2015, Jimmy Cloutier, a homeless individual, shared his fears with his mother.
“I’m going to be killed by the police.” Two years latter, on Jan. 6, 2017, his prediction became his reality. He was killed near Montreal’s Old Brewery Mission after an incident with a knife. He was the fourth homeless person killed by Montreal police in a short period of six-years.
It is true that individuals with mental health issues do not walk around flashing warnings lights, signalling their mental health issue. Yet a low-keyed-ice-breaking-opening-conversation succeeds building trust, calming down anxiety and fear. Two opening kind words do not cost a penny, but have the potential to save lives. The following story fills my heart with compassion.
On AUGUST 21, 2018, a police officer, patrolling a local children’s hospital in Argentina, heard the sound of a crying baby. She knew it was a call she needed to answer. Officer Jaqueline Ayala had recently given birth to a baby. She could tell from the wails the infant needed food. So, she sat down on a chair outside the hospital ward — and breastfed him. –Local children’s hospital, Argentina; Andrea Diaz; CNN.
That said there is no denying that policing is a serious and a risky public service. The August 10, 2018 Global News posts, “At least 865 law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty in Canada.” It is a big loss to the families of these officers and the country. We de have to think clearly and work hard to come up with ways to mitigate such losses.
Dr. Suresh Kurl is a former University Professor retired Registrar of the BC Benefits Appeal Board (Govt. of B.C.) a former-Member of the National Parole Board (Govt. of Canada), a writer, a public speaker and a Member of the Provincial Committee on Diversity and Policing.
