Canadian Police Officer Suspension System

Police Officers. Today, police forces screen candidates who want to be police officers based on their level of education (Goff, 2014, p. 204). Police forces also often more training on the job and greater specialized training on the job (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014, p. 50). By raising the education standards of officers, as well as offering more on job training, police agencies aim to employ more efficient officers with increased knowledge on the use of technology (p. 191). Studies have shown that law enforcement officers with more education are better at dealing with stress from the job, take more initiative on the job, are more professional on the job, and generate less public complaints than officers of similar status with less

Burns, November 5, 2015, personal communication). The comprehensive personnel assessment system and performance problem system are two early warning systems in place to hold officers accountable for their actions and solve any issues with their work ethic (Goff, 2014, p. 197). No matter how excellent a police agencies training is, there are still likely issues that will rise from specific officers (p. 137). Civilian review agencies are the most common way of investigating alleged police misconduct in Canada (p. 198). Civilian reviews are effective because they hold the police officers publicly accountable and are completed by a third party to remove as must bias as possible (p. 198). The OPP were the first province to create a civilian oversight agency in 1990, called the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) (p. 200). The duties of SIU include, but are not limited to: reviewing and reinvestigating individual complaints made about police decisions, monitor initial police complaints and investigations, receive and record public complaints, refer cases to the civilian board of inquiry when necessary, and make recommendations to police agencies on how to improve their practice to avoid mistakes they have received complaints for (p. 200). By reinventing their hiring policies and holding law enforcement

The Council of Canadian Academies (2014) found that “as the internet and digital technologies become more deeply enmeshed within the fabric of society, the relationship between the public and police becomes more complex, as is evidenced by a number of cases where incidents of crime or police actions have been captured by video or stills and widely disseminated through social media” (p. 31). They also recognized that social media platforms are also an effective way at bridging communication barriers with the public about current police actives (p. 79). Canadian police forces have picked up on using social media more than the United States, but officers are taught to recognize both the good and evil in using social media (Robertson, 2014, para. 7 & 14). 70% of Toronto police officers hired since 2006 already use social media for personal use, so training is minimal, making it a relatively easier way to strengthen the police officer relationship with the community (para. 21). Toronto already has many success stories of police officers using social media not only to build community relationships, but stop crime as well (para. 22). For example, Toronto Police Constable, Scott Mills, stopped a mass shooting, because a teacher he met alerted him of a Facebook friend who “said he had a gun to kill all the