Community Policing: The Preface

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Preface

This book covers a timely topic.


We live in a time of great uncertainty when people
increasingly engage in quests for answers, information, guidance,
support, and protection in all dimensions of life. That is where the
police and the community need to work collaboratively to provide
solutions. When tensions run high between them, both parties
need to Dialogue, Discover, and Decide – on the best way forward.
They need to trust and respect each other by sustaining the existing
bridges of collaboration and building new ones. This book appeals
to our desperately needed collective sense of civility. It invites the
community and the police into the PATH to healthier relationships
as we journey together. Indeed, we need each other. After all, we are
on the same team.
Generally, a book idea is triggered by something. It is a
response, an attempt to provide a solution to some issue or problem,
some challenge, or some dissatisfaction. This book is no exception.
The inspiration to write this book emerged from a combination
of at least five sources:
1. I often thought about the value of putting a resource in
the hands of each new immigrant to help them learn about
policing in Canada. In York Region, the police works with
the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship,
a judge who administers the oath, and numerous local
representatives and community partners to organize and
celebrate the welcoming of new Canadian.
2. My insights from conversations with friends and
individuals (residents and citizens) in various culturally

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diverse backgrounds about their perspectives, perceptions,
and experiences with the police here and other police
jurisdictions in different countries;
3. Insights from reading “Enhancing York Regional Police’s
Relationship with its Visible Minority Communities” by
Police Chief Eric Jolliffe for his Master of Arts thesis in
Leadership at Royal Roads University, 2012;
4. Insights from taking the postgraduate Certificate in
Alternative Dispute and Conflict Resolution at York
University; and
5. Insights from my ongoing services and participation as a
police chaplain over the past sixteen years. This context
has given me countless opportunities to observe both the
community and the police in real time.

This book is written from various perspectives that reflect


who I am in relation to others. I am writing as a member of the
community who happens to be an alternative dispute and conflict
resolution, negotiation and mediation practitioner, a family member,
a father, a Zimbabwean-born Canadian (ZBC), a religious/spiritual
leader, a police chaplain, an academic, and as an African Canadian.
These various contexts and social connections colour my perspectives
in subtle and overt ways and influence how I tell my story in this book.
I write all of this, while seeking to avoid the “danger of a single story”1
as beautifully articulated by Chimamanda, a Nigerian storyteller.
This book has a dual purpose. First, I hope to assist fellow
Canadians (newer and older immigrants, and those born in Canada)
to consciously and subconsciously engage in a learning process of
adjusting their mindsets, perspectives, and worldviews about the police
and policing in Canada, and embrace a culture of relating to them
constructively.

1
See TED Talks: The danger of a single story, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
(TEDGlobal) October 2009. In this presentation, Chimamanda scores good points
on inviting all of us to allow other people’s stories to influence our own storytelling
so that we share stories that are complete and more inclusive.
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Second, I hope to assist police officers to engage intentionally
in “learning conversations”2 and strategic relational dynamics in
community engagement as skilled alternative dispute and conflict
resolution and mediation professionals. Indeed, there is wisdom in
the police being intentionally curious, proactive, and humble enough
to engage in ongoing learning and developing healthy interactive
conversations with the people in the community. It is through these
intentional community engagements that the police may be perceived
and accepted as resources and professionals who care enough to partner
with the people and police our communities effectively as community
engagers, alternative dispute and conflict resolution, negotiation, and
mediation practitioners.
The book’s dual purpose makes it a difficult and special
treatise, and one that aims at bringing the two partners—community
and the police—into an intentionally healthy working relationship.
Thus, favouring one partner over the other has the potential of losing
the other, and thus deviating from the objective of the book. You, the
reader, will be the judge.
This book contains ten chapters. Chapter 1 brings a perspective
on experiences with the police overseas and shows how those
experiences can colour one’s present perspectives and interactions
with the police in Canada and around the globe. Chapter 2 provides a
synopsis of my journey to Canada, starting with my first exposure to
life here during my elementary school geography class as a little boy
in Zimbabwe. Chapter 3 explains how I became a police chaplain, and
Chapter 4 describes what police chaplains do (or are supposed to do),
showing that there are at least two categories of chaplains. Chapter
5 highlights the fundamental philosophies or theoretical principles
that are designed to guide how the police operate in Canada; that
is, the notion of “policing with the community” and not “policing
the community.” Chapter 6 presents the four key engagements
of frontline policing, and Chapter 7 discusses some of the most
challenging realities faced by frontline police officers in the course of
carrying out their duties and responsibilities within culturally diverse

2
Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss
What Matters Most. Penguin Books, 1999. All three authors are distinguished
lecturers at Harvard University.
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contexts. Chapter 8 shares a religious and cultural perspective. As
human beings, whether we are people of faith or people of no faith
or organized religion, we all subscribe to some deity or force/power
that influences our belief systems and behaviour. Chapter 9 offers
practical suggestions on how the police and the community may break
down the socio-cultural barriers that impede the creation, cultivation,
or leveraging of trust-based environments that lead to the path of
healthier relationships. Finally, Chapter 10 concludes this discussion
and provides some takeaways. There is a two-part appendix covering
(a) an abbreviated biography of the author and (b) some community
resources recommended by the author.
As immigrants to Canada, we come from many different
countries and bring with us variable information, life experiences,
expectations, observations, interpretations, and conclusions about the
police. There is great value and wisdom in learning about the police
and how policing is done in our chosen country of residence.
It can be challenging for members of the community and
the police alike to get along due to past experiences. Information
has been obtained, observations gained, perceptions developed,
and interpretations created about each other. The task of shifting
perceptions, cognitive processes, and behaviours is complex. We all
bring our katundu ((Shona word for baggage) from the past, which
inexorably colours our present interactions. To have healthier
relationships between the community and the police, both sides need
to place high value on the relationship itself, then commit to identifying
intentional steps toward connecting and building that relationship for
mutual benefit.
The idea of intentionally seeking to build healthier
relationships between the community and the police was new territory
for me. The journey began a little over twenty-nine years ago, after I
came to Canada. This is a nation made up of immigrants—newer or
older immigrants, or children of immigrant parents—except for our
indigenous friends, the First Nations, the Inuit, and the Métis (FNIM).
Sadly, sometimes ‘older immigrants’ with selective memory blurt out
negative comments about newer immigrants coming to “our country
to enjoy Canadian benefits, and change things in their favour.” Aside
from the First Nations, Inuit, or Métis, a gentle and firm reminder may
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be warranted. Say to them, “Remember, we are all immigrants here,
except for the indigenous people. It might have taken me a little longer
to come to Canada than you and your family did, but I got here as
quickly as I could, and I am a full Canadian as you are. Let us learn to
enjoy our culturally diverse nation.”
One of the realities in our major urban cities across Canada
today is that the so-called “visible minorities” born outside of Canada
have now become the visible majority. Back in 2011, Statistics Canada
reported that, of the 6.2 million people who identify themselves as
members of visible minority groups, 65.1% of that population were
born outside Canada. The three largest visible minority groups were
South Asians, Chinese, and Blacks. These three groups accounted for
61.3% of the population of Canada in 2011. This information tells a
big story about the Canadian “cultural mosaic,” a term introduced by
John Murray Gibbon way back in 1938.3
I am both a proud Zimbabwean and a proud Canadian. I
am a “ZBC”—a Zimbabwean-born Canadian—according to my
compatriot, friend, and older brother, Dr. Roy Musasiwa. He is the
principal of Domboshawa Theological College in Harare, and I think
this is an insightful and fitting label of who I am.
This book reflects conversations with my two daughters (Linda,
Tariro and Mildred, Rutendo) and niece Martha Nyasha – when they were
younger, after I became a chaplain with York Regional Police. Upon
seeing a police officer or a police cruiser, they would remark, “Hey
Dad, there is your friend.” They made this remark quite often, and I
would respond affirmatively. I did my best to turn that into a teaching
moment about our relationship with the police. As time progressed, I
would say, “I surely hope that one day you girls will be able to say, ‘Hey
Dad, look, there are our friends.’” They responded with big beautiful
smiles. Thank you girls for your input into this book project! You got
3
John Murray Gibbon argued against the American idea of a “cultural melting pot”
that encouraged immigrants to cut ties with their culture of origin and assimilate
into a homogenous society. This is now part of the Canada Multiculturalism Act
of 1988, which reflects the changing reality of  racial and ethnic diversity policy. It
emphasizes the right of all individuals to preserve and share their cultural heritage
while retaining their right to full and equitable participation in  Canadian  society…
https:www.theCanadianEnc yclopedia- ca/en/ar ticle/john-murray-gibbon-
emc.1938.
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me on the path to provide a tool to help many people to build better
relationships with the police.
This book aims to facilitate healthier relationships between the
community and the police. I am aware that this is a complex task, but
the rewards are priceless.
I hasten to mention that this book expresses my personal
views, influences of and from other people (directly and/or indirectly),
observations and interpretations of other people’s works informed by
my limited knowledge, subjective assumptions, and my own biases.
Indeed, I take full responsibility for any errors, misrepresentations, and
shortcomings.

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