Anti-racism protests take place across France and the UK

By Alice Tidey with AP • last updated: 20/06/2020 - 14:33

Ramata Dieng, the mother of Lamine Dieng, a 25-year-old Franco-Senegalese who died in a police van after being arrested in 2007, during a protest in Paris. June 20, 2020. - Copyright AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh

Anti-racism protests are to be staged across the UK and France on Saturday with authorities urging people to respect social distancing rules.

Four separate protests have been allowed to take place in Paris on Saturday, two of which to denounce racism and police violence.

One of them is to pay tribute to Lamine Dieng, a 25-year-old Franco-Senegalese who died in a police van after being arrested in 2007.

Protesters marched through Paris with signs reading "Laissez nous respirer" ("Let us breathe") in reference to George Floyd, an African American who died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a police officer kneed on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Last week, it emerged that the French government agreed to pay €145,000 to Dieng's relatives, after 13 years of legal wrangling.

Three other planned protests have however been banned, including an anti-racism demonstration near the US Embassy by the Black African Defense League, and another protest linked to recent violence involving Chechens in the French city of Dijon.

George Floyd death: Police racially profile in Europe too, experts tell Euronews

The Prefecture de Police said that the risk of violence from these there protests was too high.

France's highest court, the Conseil d'Etat, sided with human rights groups and unions last week and ruled that authorities could not ban demonstrations.

The government, which started to lift lockdown restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic on May 11, is still prohibiting public gatherings of more than 10 people.

Several anti-racism protests are also scheduled across the UK.

On Saturday morning, some 1,500 people gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, for a socially-distant protest in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Another protest will take place in London in the afternoon. It comes after anti-racism campaigners called off planned demonstrations last weekend to avoid clashing with far-right activists who were staging a counter-protest.

The Metropolitan Police is calling on people to "comply with regulations of not gatherings in groups larger than six people" due to the health crisis.

"We value democracy and the right for people to have a voice, but would ask people to do so in another way, and not come to London to demonstrate," it added on Twitter.

More than 100 arrested after far-right activists clash with police in London

It also warned that "officers will be making arrests if there is violence".

"Whilst the majority of people who have attended demonstrations over the past few weeks were not violent, there have been a small minority intent on violence against our officers and others, and this is completely unacceptable and we are working hard to bring offenders to justice," it said.

London police have carried out almost 230 arrests during protests over the past month with more than half relating to the June 13 protest when far-right activists clashed with police.

So far, twenty-four people have been charged for violent disorder, assault, criminal damage, possession of Class A or Class B drugs and offences under the Health Protection Regulations among other charges.

Extinction Rebellion sprays fake blood over Medef's Paris headquarters

Delivering the message that they had "blood on their hands," activists from the climate action group Extinction Rebellion (XR) sprayed the Medef employers' association headquarters in Paris with "fake blood."

The staged protest was help to criticise the pressure exerted by employers and agro-industrial groups on the French government to lift environmental standards as part of the economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

Crocodile, an Extinction Rebellion activist, said: "We poured blood on the facade because we wanted to denounce the cynicism of these lobbies but at the same time it's something dramatic.

"The deaths are already beginning. The deaths due to the climate crisis are already beginning; we have famines, we have epidemics, and so, in fact, these people have blood on their hands.

It has to be said. Because they're only working for them, against us."

Spectacular time lapse catches Northern Lights dancing across Canada

Snaking and swirling in ribbons dancing across the night sky, Northern Lights have long held people's imagination with many travelling long distances to try and spot them.

The stunning light show was captured shining through moving clouds over Thompson in Manitoba, Canada on Tuesday night in a newly-released timelapse video.

The 'aurora borealis' is a natural light phenomenon caused by electrically-charged solar wind particles entering the Earth's atmosphere. They are mostly seen in high-latitude regions around the Arctic Circle.

The Manitoba region is one of the places where the Northern Lights appear most frequently.

The peak for watching the aurora in Thompson is between January and March, but in northern parts of Manitoba especially, they are visible for up to 300 nights of the year.


https://www.euronews.com/embed/1127282

https://www.euronews.com/2020/06/18/spectacular-timelapse-catches-northern-lights-dancing-across-night-sky-in-canada?jwsource=cl

Coronavirus job cuts: Which companies in Europe are slashing their workforces because of COVID-19
By Pascale Davies • last updated: 11/06/2020

People in Spain protest the closure on the Nissan plant in Barcelona. - Copyright LLUIS GENE/AFP or licensors
Unemployment across Europe has risen due to the coronavirus pandemic with airline companies and the automobile sector making some of the biggest job cuts.

About 397,000 people in the European Union lost their jobs in April, according to data from the EU's stats agency, released in June.

The EU’s jobless rate rose to 6.6% in April, from a 12-year low of 6.4% the previous month, according to Eurostat. It's the biggest rise in several years.

While furlough schemes (putting workers on temporary leave and the government paying a percentage of their salaries) across Europe are helping some shield from the economic impact of COVID-19, others are less fortunate.

Here is our updated list of companies in Europe making job cuts either due to — or in part because of — COVID-19.
United Kingdom
British Petroleum (10,000 jobs)
BP plans to axe 10,000 jobs worldwidePAUL ELLIS/AFP or licensors

British oil giant BP announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs on Monday due to the coronavirus crisis, which has slashed the global demand for oil and in turn its prices.

In a company-wide email seen by Euronews, CEO Bernard Looney confirmed the job cuts saying that most would be made this year.

He said: “We will now begin a process that will see close to 10,000 people leaving BP – most by the end of this year.

Though the email did not specify where the redundancies would take place, it said: “The majority of people affected will be in office-based jobs. We are protecting the frontline of the company and, as always, prioritising safe and reliable operations”.
Mulberry (25% of workforce)

Even luxury fashion cannot catch a break from coronavirus. Mulberry, the UK brand known for its leather goods and costly handbags said on Monday it would cut 25% of its worldwide workforce.

t's expected most of the jobs will go in the UK, where the vast majority of its staff works.
British Airways (up to 12,000 jobs)

British Airways announced at the end of April it would cut up to 12,000 jobs from its 42,000-strong workforce due to coronavirus wreaking havoc on the travel industry.

The airline's parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), said it needed to impose a "restructuring and redundancy programme" until the demand for air travel returns to pre-coronavirus levels.

Job losses could also occur at IAG’s other airlines, Iberia and Vueling in Spain and Ireland’s Aer Lingus, CEO Willie Walsh has warned.
EasyJet (around 4,500 jobs)

Britain's low-cost airline EasyJet has also announced it would be cutting jobs in the wake of coronavirus.

The company said 30% of its workforce would be slashed, which amounts to about 4,500 jobs.

Ryanair, which is set to cut 3,000 jobs - 15% of its workforce - with boss Michael O'Leary saying the move is "the minimum that we need just to survive the next 12 months"
Virgin Atlantic (3,000 jobs)

The firm has announced it will cut more than 3,000 jobs in the UK and end its operation at Gatwick Airport.
Ireland
Ryanair (about 3,000 jobs)

Budget airline Ryanair said it would cut 15% of its workforce globally, about 3,000 jobs, after the pandemic grounded flights.
Budget airlines have also been impacted by COVID-19.PAUL FAITH/AFP

Chief executive, Michael O’Leary, took a 50% pay cut for April and May and has now extended it until the end of March next year.

O'Leary said the measures are "the minimum that we need just to survive the next 12 months."
France
Renault (15,000 jobs)

French automobile maker Renault announced at the end of May it would axe 15,000 jobs worldwide as it tries to ride out the drop in car sales, which have plummeted even further due to coronavirus.

4,600 of those jobs would be cut in France. However, that figure may be lower since Renault secured a government loan of €5 billion and would in exchange restructure its factories.
 

People in France protest the Renault cuts.FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP or licensors

French President Emmanuel Macron told employees at two Renault factories their future was guaranteed.

Renault, which is partly owned by the French government, was under pressure even before COVID-19 hit and posted its first loss in a decade last year. It is also trying to ride out the spectre of Carlos Ghosn.

The job cuts come as part of its plans to find €2 billion in savings over the next three years.
Airbus (up to 10,000 jobs)

The European planemaker said in May it could cut up to 10,000 jobs amid the coronavirus travel slump. Job losses could also stretch to its UK plant.

Airbus said in April it would cut the number of planes it built by a third as airlines cancelled or delayed orders as flights have been grounded.
Germany
Tui (8,000 jobs)

Anglo-German travel firm Tui announced on May 13 it would cut 8,000 jobs worldwide.

In a half-year financial report, it said the pandemic was “unquestionably the greatest crisis the tourism industry and Tui has ever faced.”

The Anglo-German company has had to halt trips.ODD ANDERSEN/AFP or licensors

In March, Tui was granted a loan of €1.8 billion by the German government to help see it through the pandemic.
Thyssenkrupp (3,000 jobs)

Industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp announced on March 25 it would cut 3,000 jobs in its steel unit in Germany as part of a COVID-19 "crisis package".

The group, which makes elevators and submarines, said it had reached a deal with Germany’s powerful IG Metall union to cut 2,000 jobs over the next three years and another 1,000 by 2026.
Lufthansa (22,000 jobs)

German airline Lufthansa said on June 11 it would cut 22,000 jobs due to travel disruptions caused by the coronavirus. The airline said half the job cuts would be in Germany.
Half of the Lufthansa jobs are expected to go in Germany.CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP or licensors
Spain
Nissan (2,800 jobs)

The Japanese carmaker announced on May 28 that it would close its factory in Barcelona, which employs around 2,800 people.

Protesters in Barcelona set tyres alight.LLUIS GENE/AFP or licensors

Protests erupted with people burning tyres to try and fight for their jobs.

The firm said coronavirus had piled pressure on the company and that it would focus on its markets in Asia and North America.

Scandinavia
Scandinavia Airlines (5,000 jobs)

While Scandinavia Airlines (SAS) also announced temporary job cuts in March, a month later it said 5,000 jobs—almost half the total number of employees—will lose their jobs permanently.

The company, part-owned by Sweden and Denmark, said that the potential reduction of the workforce would be split with approximately 1,900 positions in Sweden, 1,300 in Norway and 1,700 in Denmark.

UK authorities detain five cruise ships over welfare concerns for crew

By Alice Tidey • last updated: 20/06/2020

The Columbus ship, operated by Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) - Copyright Flickr/kees torn

Five cruised ships from the same company have been detained by British authorities over concerns for crew welfare.

Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) revealed that it inspected six ships from Global Cruise Lines Limited on Friday and that five have been detained.

"Surveyors found a number of expired and invalid Seafarers Employment Agreements, late payments of wages and crews who had been on board for over 12 months," the MCA said in a statement.

Four of the ships are flagged with the Bahamas and one with Portugal.

A spokesman for Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV), which operate the ships, said that the company "cooperated fully" with investigators.

"The MCA has identified some issues relating to expired crew contracts and crew being onboard in excess of 12 months. Both issues occurred as a result of the enforced lockdown period and the Covid-19 travel restrictions for some countries. They also identified recent temporary delays in the payment of wages which were due within the last week and have already been corrected by CMV," he added.

"The health, safety and welfare of all their passengers and crew is CMV’s top priority. CMV, as have many other cruise lines, has faced an unprecedented emerging humanitarian issue as many crew members became stranded on cruise ships as borders closed as a result of the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. CMV has worked hard to repatriate as many crew members as possible and has been unable to repatriate all crew members due to the travel restrictions," he also said.

Some 600 of the six ships' crew are Indians, according to Kshitij Thakur, a lawmaker in the state of Maharashtra.

Thakur demanded in a letter sent to the Indian government that the sailors, who "have been stuck in foreign waters for almost 90 days", be repatriated as soon as possible.

The All Indian Seafarers Union added in its own letter to the New Delhi government that many of the sailors onboard one of the vessels, the Astoria, had gone on hunger strike and staged a peaceful protest in a plea for help.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) described seafarers earlier this week as both "the unsung heroes of the pandemic" and the "collateral victims of the crisis".

More than 80 per cent of the world's trade by volume, including vital food, medical goods, raw material and manufacturer goods, are transported around the world by sea in vessels staffed by a global workforce.

These seafarers, who spend several weeks or months at sea, are often flown between their home countries and ports of departure and arrival. But travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, have left tens of thousands of them stranded on ships, or unable to join ships, the IMO said.

"Repeated extensions of their contracts have now reached a level where this cannot continue without serious consequences for the health of seafarers and consequentially, for the safety of the ships they operate," the IMO warned.

It estimated that starting from mid-June as many as 300,000 seafarers each month will require international flights to enable crew changeovers and that about half of them will need to be repatriated home by aircraft while the other half join ships.

An additional 70,000 cruise ship staff are also currently awaiting repatriation, it said.

Fernando Simón: Spain’s top scientist becomes unlikely hero of nation’s COVID-19 crisis
By Lucia Riera Bosqued & Natalie Huet • last updated: 15/06/2020

With celebrities unable to reach their usual audiences, and politicians under increased scrutiny, public health experts are stealing the limelight.

Previously unknown virologists and epidemiologists have become household names in a number of countries, where citizens anxiously await their assessment and advice on the unfolding pandemic.

Dr Fernando Simón, Spain's health emergency chief, won over the nation with his plain-talking, no-nonsense approach. With a hoarse voice and wild hair, he has been the face of its bruising fight against COVID-19.

His straightforward and detailed updates on the evolution of the epidemic, combined with empathy and patience, have turned him into a pop icon for many Spaniards.

Social media is awash with montages of his face, and memes of his most memorable moments on camera – including a coughing fit during a press conference, which he said was not due to the coronavirus, but because he had eaten an almond.

There are even T-shirts and tote bags to his image.

Simón is well aware of the attention and has a message for those using his now-familiar face.

"I’m delighted that people are taking advantage of my image to set up a business that they can see as profitable... that’s fine by me. What I would like more, if possible, is that perhaps they could donate a small percentage of those benefits to NGOs," Simón said on Friday.

Simón had a rough time when he was accused by conservative politicians and media of having withheld information about the pandemic in order to allow International Women’s Day demonstrations to take place on March 8.

But when he tested positive for the coronavirus in late March, his case sparked a nationwide outpouring of sympathy.

Three months in the hearts of Spaniards have now also earned him a name overseas, with the New York Times writing he had cut "an endearing scientific hero figure."

VIDEO https://www.euronews.com/embed/1124766

 It’s not OK: 

White supremacy and Australia’s security services

JENNIFER PERCIVAL

NSW police officers at Sydney Town Hall during a rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, 12 June 2020 (Don Arnold/Getty Images)

Published 16 Jun 2020

A small gesture raises big questions about white supremacist  ideology in Australian police and security forces.

At the Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney last Friday night, a NSW police officer was caught on camera flashing the “OK” hand gesture as he passed by a group. This act has ignited a debate about whether or not the officer was signalling support for white supremacist ideology, as this hand gesture has been co-opted by far-right white supremacist groups. NSW Police issued a statement that the officer was clearly signalling to a group of women to show that the night was going “OK” as he was wearing a mask, and that he was not aware that this gesture was linked to white supremacists.


Footage showing a NSW police officer making the "OK" hand symbol, which has been co-opted by the alt-right, during a response to Friday night's Black Lives Matter protest has been circulated on social media. https://t.co/Wj00RfETkp
— SBS News (@SBSNews) June 13, 2020

As with the case of ISIS’ co-option of the Tawhid one-fingered salute, context is everything when it comes to symbology. The “OK” hand gesture has been used innocently in various contexts for years: in scuba diving to signal to a dive buddy that all is fine; in Auslan for various meanings; and, from personal experience, as part of military “bar games”. Whether or not the NSW Police officer was using the symbol in a purely apolitical way is for internal investigation to decide.

But the episode does highlight important questions that NSW Police, and indeed all of Australia’s security services, should be asking. Firstly, is there a problem of white supremacy within their ranks? And secondly, given the context of the night, should officers be more aware of white supremacist ideology and symbology?The US has a demonstrable problem with infiltration of far-right actors into its security services. According to recent research conducted by The Soufan Center, two of the most prominent white supremacist groups, the Atomwaffen Division and the Rise Above Movement, have US military veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts within their ranks.

In recent testimony to the US Congress, Mark Pitcavage of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) outlined some of the ways in which far-right groups can disrupt the cohesion and command structure of security services. He determined the problem to be twofold: actors joining the institutions with the intent to disrupt, or serving personnel becoming sympathetic to or joining far-right groups. While the number of far-right extremists in the ranks of these institutions is small, these actors create “harm far disproportionate to their number”. Pitcavage said following recent monitoring, the ADL:


“believes the number of extremists in the military has increased due to a higher percentage of white supremacists attempting to join the military and the development of white supremacist leanings among some currently serving personnel”.

But does Australia have the same problem with white supremacy in its security services and democratic institutions? It is not known. Despite ASIO Director General Mike Burgess’ warning that the risk from far-right groups is real and growing, very few academic studies have been conducted into the structure, ideology and strategy of white supremacist groups here.

An investigation conducted by Nino Bucci of the ABC showed that at least five Australian citizens, including former members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), with links to US-based transnational far-right group Atomwaffen Division, travelled to Ukraine to participate in combat operations there. Within Australian politics, there has been an attempt by far-right group the Lad’s Society to infiltrate the Young Nationals to influence their agenda. Additionally, Fraser Anning, the former One Nation Senator, has links to known far-right extremist Blair Cottrell and attended his United Patriots Front rally in Melbourne.


Despite ASIO Director General Mike Burgess’ warning that the risk from far-right groups is real and growing, very few academic studies have been conducted into the structure, ideology and strategy of white supremacist groups here.

It is also important to note what is happening in New Zealand, as many of the far-right, white supremacist groups are trans-Tasman. The NZ Army recently charged one serving soldier with breaches of National Security laws; a second soldier is under consideration. Both soldiers have known links to far-right, anti-Islam groups, such as the domestic group Action Zealandia and the transnational white supremacist group Blood and Honour. Both soldiers have links to Australian far-right bloggers the Dingoes.

One academic study conducted by Charles Miller of the Australian National University into attitudes towards Islam within the ADF found that anti-Islam bias within the service was high, even among those who had received cultural sensitivity training. Miller’s work was not looking for examples of extremism per se, and therefore cannot be used to state definitively that there is evidence of white supremacy within the ADF, but if it is found to be the case, as Mark Pitcavage outlined above, that anti-Islam, white supremacist actors are targeting security service personnel, then there is potentially fertile ground to recruit from.

As such, Australia’s security services would benefit from greater awareness of the structure, ideology and tactics of the far-right extremist groups operating within Australia and their transnational links, in order to protect the services’ impartiality and to ensure that their actions are not taken out of context in future.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/it-s-not-ok-white-supremacy-and-australia-s-security-services

Rise of the SWAT team: Routine police work in Canada is now militarized

Members of the police SWAT team gather outside a small apartment building in Montréal in 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Kevin Walby, University of Winnipeg and Brendan Roziere, University of Manitoba
The militarization of United States police forces has received a lot of attention in recent years, especially after high profile incidents in places like the Missouri town of Ferguson and other police shootings across the U.S.
Scholars have tended to focus on these U.S. shootings, overlooking Canadian cases when forming their understanding of the issue. But without Canadian-focused data and research, we’re at risk of overlooking the massive militarization that has been occurring among Canada’s major police forces.
Our research examines militarization within Canadian police forces over the last decade. With 12 cities that are home to more than 500,000 people, and at least 22 police services that each employ 500 or more officers, it’s important to look at policing trends in Canada’s major urban centres.
We studied 10 large and medium-sized Canadian police forces, comprising eight municipal police forces, one provincial police force and one federal police force from across seven different provinces. Using freedom-of-information (FOI) requests, we obtained data on the operational dimensions of SWAT team use.
Deployments of SWAT teams — special weapons and tactics units — have risen in major Canadian cities and are higher in some cases than those by U.S. public police. Based on our research, we can see that militarization has been normalized within Canada’s largest police services. SWAT teams, once considered a last-resort option for police forces, are now being used in routine areas of policing.

A community activist tries to persuade a group of protesters to move back as police in riot gear watch protesters in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

2,100 per cent increase in SWAT deployments

The most substantial finding is the enormous rise in the average number of deployments by tactical units. In 1980, the average yearly number of deployments for Canadian tactical units was about 60 total per unit. Our results show the average yearly number of deployments for Canadian tactical units is now approximately 1,300 per unit, an increase of roughly 2,100 per cent in 37 years.
Even among SWAT teams whose deployments have decreased at some point in the last five years, none that we looked at saw similar decreases to their number of assigned officers. So while their deployments may have decreased, the size of their teams have not.
As criminologist Peter Kraska has argued, the paramilitary subculture embraced by SWAT teams is influential on police officers, and tricky to scale back once normalized.
In Canada, there is no national policy or law regulating SWAT team conduct or growth. Therefore it’s no surprise we found that figures for SWAT team deployments are not monolithic.

What the numbers say

Though SWAT team deployments in Vancouver and Ottawa generally fluctuated between 100 and 200 times each year, they deployed fewer times than teams in other jurisdictions.
Deployments of other SWAT teams were higher in number. The FOI requests showed that the Ontario Provincial Police’s (OPP) Emergency Response Team (ERT) and the Winnipeg Police Service’s (WPS) Tactical Support Team (TST) deployed at their their highest rates in 2016, with more than 2,000 and 3,000 deployments respectively.
The information provided by the OPP further revealed that their tactical force has consistently deployed at just under 1,900 times to somewhat over 2,000 times each year since 2007.
Deployment statistics extrapolated from the Winnipeg force’s daily occurrence reports revealed almost 500 deployments of their SWAT team in 2013 and almost 3,400 in 2016. While this appears to suggest an extraordinary increase, we believe that this reflects a limit of the data, and that Winnipeg’s TST was deployed far more frequently in 2013 than is suggested by the report.
Deployments of the Calgary Police Service’s (CPS) Tactical Unit revealed a somewhat unique case in our research. Although the unit deployed at a similarly high rate to those of the OPP and Winnipeg in 2007, its deployments declined in each examined year to just over 600 in 2016.

Drug warrants, suspicious incidents, traffic violations

If SWAT team deployments were limited to only those situations requiring their equipment and skills, such as hostage-takings and terror threats, there would perhaps be less cause for concern. But similar to previous research conducted in the U.S., we have found this isn’t the reality of Canadian SWAT teams. Instead, routine policing represented the majority of SWAT team use.
SWAT teams are increasingly being used by public police for routine activities such as executing warrants, traffic enforcement, community policing and responding to mental health crises and domestic disturbances.
The consequences of militarization fall disproportionately on minority groups, those with mental health issues and those exercising democratic rights associated with political expression.
Canadian police forces have been largely silent on the expansion of their SWAT teams, though some have suggested the expansion produces greater value to taxpayers. Meanwhile, SWAT team budgets climb ever higher as their use expands.
Despite the overall decline in the Calgary tactical unit’s deployments by 2016, almost one third of them were for warrants, which remained steady at around 200-250 instances per year.
The Ottawa Police Service tactical unit executed approximately 100 warrants each year, about 70 per cent of the unit’s total deployments, a large proportion drug-related.
The Winnipeg unit executed almost 250 warrants in 2016, less than in 2013, yet more than most other SWAT teams. Warrant work did not make up a large proportion of deployments for either the OPP’s tactical unit or Winnipeg’s, though it was noticeable.
SWAT teams regularly engage in routine policing, including responding to minor offences or even non-criminal incidents. The Calgary tactical unit deployed almost 300 times in response to various “dispatch codes” in 2007, as well as approximately 200 times each to “disturbances” and “suspicious” incidents.
Deployments in these three categories accounted for nearly 45 per cent of the unit’s total deployments during that year, and continued to represent as much as 30 per cent by 2016.

The Regina Police task force unit is described on its website as: ‘Trained in covert entries (into a building), dynamic entries, high-risk warrant service (drug-search warrant), hostage rescue and resolving barricaded-person situations.’ Regina police website

Deployments for other minor offences, including noise complaints, drug offences, property crimes, traffic violations and motor vehicle collisions represented almost one third of all deployments in 2007, and almost 15 per cent even at their lowest point in 2016.

Winnipeg has high deployments

The Winnipeg tactical unit was the most engaged in community policing. Nearly 100 instances of “special attentions” or “hot spot” deployments by the tactical support team are recorded in the 2016 daily occurrence report, as well as a substantial number of deployments in response to noise complaints, traffic incidents and disturbances.
SWAT team deployments in response to individuals with mental health issues, suicide threats and well-being checks were also common. The Calgary tactical unit was called to more than 130 incidents in 2007; while decreasing each year, the unit still responded to more than 60 such incidents in 2016.
By contrast, the Winnipeg tactical unit has responded to an increasing number of incidents. There were fewer than 20 suicide threats and well-being checks recorded in the 2013 daily occurrence report; in the 2016 report, there were almost 300 such deployments.
Some entries included notes that provided insight into the Winnipeg unit’s strategy for handling such occurrences that involved confronting suicidal individuals and gaining their compliance.
Although the OPP’s tactical unit responded to few calls of this nature, it responded similarly by assisting street-level officers in bringing individuals with known or suspected mental health issues into custody on several occasions.
Given that SWAT teams are the most heavily armed and armoured police units, it is concerning that they have a significant role in responding to individuals suffering from mental health issues.

Future for policing in Canada?

While Peter Kraska found that deployments of American SWAT teams in the 1980s and ‘90s were increasing each year,, the deployment data for Canadian SWAT teams shows a less steady rise. This should not be taken to mean that SWAT teams do not play an active role in policing in Canada, or that Canadian police forces are not becoming militarized.
The Canadian SWAT teams in this research have consistently deployed at a higher rate than was observed by Kraska and Victor Kappeler of urban SWAT teams at their highest point in the 1990s.
More significant is that there was strong evidence suggesting Canadian SWAT teams are routinely being used in reactive and proactive work that falls outside their intended function — and frequently outside of what is revealed to the public.
In some cases, the most notable being Winnipeg’s tactical unit, the findings show SWAT teams are being used in routine patrol work and as part of their police service’s community policing strategy. The involvement of SWAT teams in such activities highlights their expanding role in policing, suggesting a high degree of normalization which is indicative of militarization.
There is no meaningful oversight for normalization and expansion of police militarization across the U.S. and our findings suggest a similar case in Canada.
Militarization does not merely affect interactions between the state and criminal offenders, it changes what policing is by changing what police officers do.
The financial and social costs of using SWAT teams are also concerning. Their use in routine policing, and even in warrant execution, should be declared a failed public policy and scaled back immediately.
Kevin Walby, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg and Brendan Roziere, Law student, Robson Hall, University of Manitoba
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How police departments can identify and oust killer cops

Temitope Oriola
Associate Professor, Sociology, University of Alberta

June 10, 2020

The global condemnation of the death of George Floyd, one of the latest in a constellation of officer-involved deaths of unarmed civilians, has grown into a worldwide social movement for disbanding or defunding police.

At the far end of the debate, there are those calling for abolishing the police altogether. On the other hand, there are those wishing to defund the police. This means shifting significant material resources from police departments to social services for issues such as mental health.

In cases of mental distress or welfare checks, for example, social service providers intervene rather than police, who have proven ill-equipped to deal with people in mental distress. 

Protesters demonstrate against police brutality in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 8, 2020. The protest against police brutality in Kenya was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)

There is growing acknowledgment that the attitude of officers towards the human rights of suspects needs to change, as do the numbers of police-involved killings. The research on excessive use of force by police and the sociological context and psychological characteristics of killer cops point to useful policy measures.
Psychological traits and screening

Killer cops and those who routinely mistreat civilians tend to be action-oriented. Research suggests that they are prone to boredom and suffer from major personality disorders. These include mood swings, impulsivity, lack of empathy, narcissism and anti-social personal disorder. Many of these traits begin early in life. 

Demonstrators march on Toronto Police Headquarters to protest the death of Sammy Yatim in Toronto in August 2013. Yatim was shot by police during a confrontation on a streetcar a month earlier. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Diversity workshops, training or cultural sensitivity have limited utility to help such officers. The primary solution is to not hire them in the first place. This speaks to the need for greater psychological screening by police organizations.

A 2014 report by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, submitted to Toronto Police Service following the death of Sammy Yatim in July 2013, calls for “screening out psychopathology and screening in for desirable traits such as emotional intelligence, empathy, tolerance of diversity, and patience.”
Hire more women

Women are less likely to support use of force than men. My collaborative research in Alberta shows that women are less likely to support use of so-called less-than-lethal force options like conducted energy weapons.

The evidence in support of reducing deadly force by hiring more women in police departments is overwhelming. Female officers are less likely to use (excessive) force as they deploy de-escalation techniques and engage verbally. 
Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields, left, is seen speaking during a news conference in January 2018. Shields has been lauded for wading into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters and listening to them, and for swiftly terminating police officers who assaulted demonstrators. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Police departments with a reasonable number of women tend to record lower levels of officer-involved killings. However, the number of women is important. Female officers in male-dominated police departments may exhibit hyper-masculine traits in an attempt to fit in. They may be just as brutal as men.

There is no agreement on what constitutes a reasonable number. A gender-balanced police service should be ultimate priority. I suggest a minimum threshold of 40 per cent female officers.

University graduate-only officers

Officers without university degrees populate the ranks of killer cops. Officers with university degrees are more likely to request mental health support for suspects and demonstrate a higher appreciation for the complexity of social life, individual problems and subtleties of working in an increasingly diverse environment.

Officers with university degrees exhibit stronger verbal skills, effective communication and empathy. The Iacobucci report recommends recruiting officers from “specific educational programs” such as nursing and social work in order to foster “a compassionate response to people in crisis.”

Ethno-racial diversity

Evidence from the United States is less settled regarding racial characteristics of killer cops. However, most studies find that white, non-Hispanic officers are more likely to shoot or kill civilians. A few studies suggest Black officers are more likely to shoot and kill civilians. These have been criticized for poor methodology.

In Canada, most killer cops appear to be white men. An ethno-racially diverse police service is integral for building public trust and inclusivity.

Training

Much of the current training for many police organizations focuses on deployment of lethal force or marksmanship. That’s a waste of time and sets up officers for frustration given today’s realities. Once out of training, officers realize that people get meaninglessly drunk, abusers beat their spouses and citizens experience psychotic episodes.

Somehow, the police are required to respond to all these matters. These are in fact some of the most common issues brought to police attention. These scenarios may be frustrating for action-oriented officers. Action-oriented officers may see only moral failing in each case and respond with disdain and unnecessary force.

Read more: Rise of the SWAT team: Routine police work in Canada is now militarized

The professional officer will see “clients” in need of bureaucratic assistance and attempt to de-escalate.

There is a need to overhaul officer training and extend it to at least one full year of rigorous classroom engagement with human rights, mental health issues and diversity, among others.
Accountability

The main officer involved in George Floyd’s death had 17 complaints in his file. Three of those involved shootings, with one death. This is a poor disciplinary record.
This May 31, 2020 photo provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff shows former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was arrested in the death of George Floyd. (Hennepin County Sheriff via AP)

Such officers make policing more difficult and dangerous. The Minneapolis Police Department bears responsibility for keeping such a person in service.

Undesirable people may sometimes enter into police service but must be promptly removed once their engagement with colleagues, superiors and the public begins to reflect certain troubling patterns.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) charged two officers in June 2020. They were the first charges brought forward against officers by ASIRT since its establishment in 2008. This is mind-boggling given incidents of excessive use of force in Alberta. Tolerating errant cops is dangerous for public trust.

The way forward

I propose a two-pronged policy — a “kill-and-go” policy and “three strikes policy” — for police accountability.

Kill-and-go means any officer who kills an unarmed civilian or a suspect who had a weapon but did not deploy it against an officer is dismissed from service and prosecuted.

The three strikes proposal is similar to the disused California anti-crime law of the same name. Any officer involved in three excessive use-of-force incidents in which a civilian is mistreated and sustains injuries is automatically dismissed from service and prosecuted. There should be no expiry to each strike across an officer’s career.

Policing is also a well-paying occupation relative to entry qualifications and length of training, at least in Canada and many parts of the U.S.

The RCMP notes that the annual salary of a newly sworn-in officer is $53,144 and increases to $86,110 within 36 months of service. There are postdoctoral fellows working on life-saving biomedical research who make less than $50,000 a year, despite possessing hard-earned PhDs. The government and public should get value for the money spent on police by selecting appropriate people.

Author
 

Temitope Oriola

Associate Professor, Sociology, University of Alberta
Disclosure statement
Temitope Oriola's research team received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for the study.
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Kashmir Covid response sparks fear and suspicion

For many Kashmiris, lockdown and quarantine measures have increased unwanted confrontation with Indian security forces.

Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard in central Srinagar, 10 June 2020 (Tauseef Mustafa/AFP via Getty Images) 

LIKE #ISRAEL ILLEGAL OCCUPATION FORCES IN GAZA 

UN CONTROLLED KASHMIR IS OCCUPIED BY INDIA

#FREEKASHMIR  #KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA 

SHEIKH SAQIB Published 15 Jun 2020  
India

India’s high-handedness in Kashmir amid a global pandemic has further exacerbated a tense situation in the restive valley. The latest causality of harsh policies has been people, mostly students, locked up in quarantine centres across Kashmir.

In March, when Kashmiri students studying outside India started landing back in Kashmir because of Covid-19 shutdowns, many of them tried to avoid admission to compulsory quarantine facilities for a 15-day stay. The thought of being held under the strict watch of state officials had students bordering on panic, and led parents and guardians, waiting outside the airport building, to stage a chain of protests against the ruling.

This fear had obvious roots. India’s handling of Kashmir has long been questioned, particularly since 1987, when it rigged a local election, paving the way for a secessionist movement in Kashmir. Today, India rules Kashmir through the presence of nearly a million armed troops, by some estimates. Conflict in Kashmir has cost at least 40,000 lives since a separatist insurgency ignited in the 1980s, with thousands of disappearances associated with Indian security forces. There are also the less visible but debilitating costs of psychological trauma and other lifelong disabilities.


Going public has become a necessary way to pressure local officials, who would otherwise almost always turn a blind to the daily tribulations.

India’s response to dissent in Kashmir has instilled trenchant suspicion in the local population. This helps explain why people worry about the treatment of their children at the hands of the administration, even in a public health crisis. Such suspicions evoked memories of last August, when India tortured and incarcerated thousands of Kashmiri children after revoking Article 370 and Article 35A of the Indian constitution, which guaranteed the semi-autonomous status of the Muslim-majority state. It also imposed an indefinite civilian curfew and telecommunications and internet blockade which lasted for months. High-speed internet services still remain curtailed.

Yet in the controversy over quarantine, mobile screens buzzed with news from students and their relatives who voiced their concerns on various social media platforms. Going public has become a necessary way to pressure local officials, who would otherwise almost always turn a blind to the daily tribulations.

In one such post, a girl reported state security taking a group of students to a camp operated Border Security Force – the border guard organisation of India – where the students were allegedly beaten up by the police for refusing to go inside.

“Who takes students especially girls there?” she asked on Twitter, alluding to past instances when Indian soldiers were charged with rape allegations and other hostile misconduct against Kashmiri women. The students were later shifted to a nearby hotel.

In another incident, a relative of a female medical student who had returned from Bangladesh criticised the administration for carrying students to a makeshift quarantine center in a military van instead of an ambulance. “My sister-in-law was in there and she begged me to drive by its side,” he wrote on Twitter.

Such exposés kept popping up.

Recently, a news report revealed an incident in which a teenage girl was allegedly attacked by a police constable in a quarantine facility in Kashmir’s Chadoora district. Prior to that, a state official was seen threatening a female student for protesting the uncleanliness of quarantine centres.

Others allege that police officials would visit quarantine centres and angrily bang on the doors in the Rajbagh area of Srinagar, annoyed at the repeated complaints by students about the unhealthy conditions they were forced to stay in.

J&K police have also started intimidating doctors and other health workers and stopping them from visiting hospitals to treat Covid-19 and other ailing patients. A doctor was even detained for resisting aggressive police officials. “Let your patients and the hospital go to hell,” were the words used by a senior police officer to a doctor when he had begged to be able to get to his hospital where he was on call.

While the world fights a deadly pandemic, Kashmir fears for the worst as India’s military occupation persists in its violence against the local population.

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/kashmir-covid-response-sparks-fear-and-suspicion