Family Trauma, Media and Police Interactions

Police interactions with the public have always been a highly conversed issue. Recently, due to events in the United States, there has been an increase scrutiny in regards to police interactions with the public. The media and the general public have been quick to glorify the notion that police are under-trained and not equipped to effectively deal with the public. One negative interaction with the public can ultimately affect the public’s perception of a police service.

Recently in the Region of Peel (region directly west of Toronto, Canada) officers have been scrutinized for their interaction with D’Andre Campbell, a 26 year old man. Officers responded to a home for the report of a domestic incident. This incident then escalated to the point where two officer’s tasered Campbell, this was then followed by one of the officers discharging his firearm multiple times. Campbell was pronounced dead at the scene. (CBC News, 2020).

Immediately after this incident, Campbell’s family called for more mental health training:

“According to the family, D’Andre Campbell was the one who called police to the home Monday. They said he had mental health issues and that police have been to the home numerous times in the past, so they should have known they were dealing with a mental health patient.” (Tong, 2020).

This statement led to immense media coverage on the issue, and the family appeared devastated and traumatized due to the interaction. The investigation is still on going and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU, civilian police oversight agency) has not yet released a report on their findings. The Toronto Star had been faulted for releasing a news article which stated Campbell as “unarmed.” (Yun, 2020). This news source attempted to scrutinize the officer’s for their interaction with a black man, and had to post a correction notice to their news article.

It is understandable for the public and family to be upset in regards to what has happened. However, it is unacceptable for media outlets to attempt to capitalize on the trauma that a family has experienced, and sway public opinion towards statements which are contradictory to facts. For example, in the City of Toronto, Toronto Police responded to approximately 1.8 million calls for service in 2016. Officers made approximately 9,000 mental health act apprehensions and 28,000 arrests. The SIU investigated 1 incident for every 27,729 contacts that police had with the public, and use of force was only required in a total of 3.9% of the services total arrests. (Vigilis, 2017). This shows that despite how the media wants to portray incidents, police are doing a relatively good job in deescalating situations and peacefully resolving incidents.

References:

CBC News. (2020, April 8). Man fatally shot by Peel police in Brampton identified as D’Andre Campbell. CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/brampton-shooting-d-andre-campbell-1.5527245

Tong, T. (2020, April 7). ‘He was already on the floor’: Family looks for answers after Ontario man shot dead by police. CTV News. Retrieved from https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/he-was-already-on-the-floor-family-looks-for-answers-after-ontario-man-shot-dead-by-police-1.4886751

Vigilis, S. (2017). Corporate Risk Management Annual Report. Retrieved from http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/reports/crm2016annualreport.pdf

Yun, T. (2020, April 9). Peel police chief offers condolences after man fatally shot by police, acknowledges ‘issues of trust in policing.’ Toronto Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/04/09/peel-police-chief-offers-condolences-after-man-fatally-shot-by-police-acknowledges-issues-of-trust-in-policing.html

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