Temitope Oriola: No charges in Pacey Dumas case will lead to more abuses
Opinion by Temitope Oriola • Yesterday
Pacey Dumas takes part in a protest outside Alberta Justice after prosecutors declined to prosecute a police officer who kicked Pacey Dumas in the head.
Opinion by Temitope Oriola • Yesterday
Pacey Dumas takes part in a protest outside Alberta Justice after prosecutors declined to prosecute a police officer who kicked Pacey Dumas in the head.
Saturday, May 6, 2023 in Edmonton.© Greg Southam
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) April 2023 report on the use of force by an Edmonton Police Service officer against Pacey Dumas calls for sober reflection on independent civilian oversight and police accountability in Alberta.
The eight-page report is significant for its clinical analysis of the case from the perspectives of all the individuals concerned, including Dumas and the officer, and its conclusion. The report provides an exegesis of the facts of the matter, particularly the initial report about a suspect with a knife, Dumas’ interaction with the officers on scene, police power under the law, and the conduct of the subject officer vis-à-vis the necessity, reasonableness and proportionality of use of force.
The pace of ASIRT’s investigations continues to befuddle but the analysis in the report is thorough. The report notes that the subject officer’s (SO) kick on Dumas’ head made him “unconscious immediately and (he) began to bleed.” ASIRT finds that Dumas’ “injuries make it more likely that a court would find that the SO’s use of force was intended or likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm.”
The report notes that the officer’s insistence that there was no time to ask other officers to deploy less-lethal options “is not believable.” Dumas laid on the ground 1.5 metres from the officer because he followed the commands issued by the same officer: The officer “acted in a hasty and violent manner” and displayed “a shocking lack of judgement and disregard for the life” of Dumas. ASIRT concludes that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that an offence may have been committed” by the officer.
To be clear, Dumas was 18 years old and weighed 90 pounds in December 2020. Multiple officers with a range of weapons and a police dog surrounded him during the incident.
Despite the findings above, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) declined to charge the officer. This goes beyond one victim. Police services in Alberta are fast gaining a reputation as national leaders in problematic use of force. For example, a recent CBC report based on the Tracking (In)Justice database notes that Alberta “ranked as the province with the most police-involved deaths per capita, and second only to Ontario in total deaths.”
As I informed Taylor Lambert, who authored the CBC report, the EPS, Calgary Police Service and RCMP are at the epicentre of grim statistics on police use of force in Alberta. They regularly over-rely on force relative to their counterparts in other parts of Canada.
ASIRT rarely recommends charges against officers. The decision of the ACPS not to proceed with charges in this case is not backed by any evidence. It appears beneath the integrity of reason. The ACPS standpoint is capable of eroding public trust and confidence in the entire criminal justice system. The legitimacy of the EPS and ACPS is now firmly on the ropes. The ACPS has done a major disservice to its hardworking professionals and all police officers doing their job and respecting the rights of citizens every day. This has potential to damage the reputation of both organizations.
Widespread police misconduct often begins in trickles. We do not yet know the disciplinary action taken in the case of the officer who displayed his boxing skills against a teenager at a parkade and the officer who wrestled a disturbed citizen and smashed their head on concrete . The road to Minneapolis does not happen overnight. That is how it begins: zero consequences for excessive use of force.
You may note this in your diary: A prolific carousel of human rights abuses by police officers in Alberta will be unleashed if this case goes unpunished. How? Such officers acquire a kind of entertaining notoriety and become “sexy” household names within the service. Younger and impressionable officers inadvertently see in them what is doable, permissible and without consequence. The moral fibre of the service becomes challenged. Such persons begin to overestimate the boundaries of their power over civilians and may soon be involved in similar cases.
The Crown needs to present the evidence they relied on to determine the case could not move forward. Our province is conscious of history and precedence. I have no doubt that reason will prevail and the officer offered his day in court.
Temitope Oriola is professor of criminology at the University of Alberta and president-elect of the Canadian Sociological Association. Email: oriola@ualberta.ca Twitter: @topeoriola
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) April 2023 report on the use of force by an Edmonton Police Service officer against Pacey Dumas calls for sober reflection on independent civilian oversight and police accountability in Alberta.
The eight-page report is significant for its clinical analysis of the case from the perspectives of all the individuals concerned, including Dumas and the officer, and its conclusion. The report provides an exegesis of the facts of the matter, particularly the initial report about a suspect with a knife, Dumas’ interaction with the officers on scene, police power under the law, and the conduct of the subject officer vis-à-vis the necessity, reasonableness and proportionality of use of force.
The pace of ASIRT’s investigations continues to befuddle but the analysis in the report is thorough. The report notes that the subject officer’s (SO) kick on Dumas’ head made him “unconscious immediately and (he) began to bleed.” ASIRT finds that Dumas’ “injuries make it more likely that a court would find that the SO’s use of force was intended or likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm.”
The report notes that the officer’s insistence that there was no time to ask other officers to deploy less-lethal options “is not believable.” Dumas laid on the ground 1.5 metres from the officer because he followed the commands issued by the same officer: The officer “acted in a hasty and violent manner” and displayed “a shocking lack of judgement and disregard for the life” of Dumas. ASIRT concludes that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that an offence may have been committed” by the officer.
To be clear, Dumas was 18 years old and weighed 90 pounds in December 2020. Multiple officers with a range of weapons and a police dog surrounded him during the incident.
Despite the findings above, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) declined to charge the officer. This goes beyond one victim. Police services in Alberta are fast gaining a reputation as national leaders in problematic use of force. For example, a recent CBC report based on the Tracking (In)Justice database notes that Alberta “ranked as the province with the most police-involved deaths per capita, and second only to Ontario in total deaths.”
As I informed Taylor Lambert, who authored the CBC report, the EPS, Calgary Police Service and RCMP are at the epicentre of grim statistics on police use of force in Alberta. They regularly over-rely on force relative to their counterparts in other parts of Canada.
ASIRT rarely recommends charges against officers. The decision of the ACPS not to proceed with charges in this case is not backed by any evidence. It appears beneath the integrity of reason. The ACPS standpoint is capable of eroding public trust and confidence in the entire criminal justice system. The legitimacy of the EPS and ACPS is now firmly on the ropes. The ACPS has done a major disservice to its hardworking professionals and all police officers doing their job and respecting the rights of citizens every day. This has potential to damage the reputation of both organizations.
Widespread police misconduct often begins in trickles. We do not yet know the disciplinary action taken in the case of the officer who displayed his boxing skills against a teenager at a parkade and the officer who wrestled a disturbed citizen and smashed their head on concrete . The road to Minneapolis does not happen overnight. That is how it begins: zero consequences for excessive use of force.
You may note this in your diary: A prolific carousel of human rights abuses by police officers in Alberta will be unleashed if this case goes unpunished. How? Such officers acquire a kind of entertaining notoriety and become “sexy” household names within the service. Younger and impressionable officers inadvertently see in them what is doable, permissible and without consequence. The moral fibre of the service becomes challenged. Such persons begin to overestimate the boundaries of their power over civilians and may soon be involved in similar cases.
The Crown needs to present the evidence they relied on to determine the case could not move forward. Our province is conscious of history and precedence. I have no doubt that reason will prevail and the officer offered his day in court.
Temitope Oriola is professor of criminology at the University of Alberta and president-elect of the Canadian Sociological Association. Email: oriola@ualberta.ca Twitter: @topeoriola
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