- Aug 6, 2012
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Finland puts Canada to shame. They are as a nation, deeper thinkers than Canadians also. What a sad reality.
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In the summer of 2020, Finnish newspapers reported what was, to the Finns, a disturbing trend: According to a survey conducted by Finland’s Police University College, trust in the police was “slipping.” Only 91 per cent of Finns trusted the police a lot or a fair amount, down from 95 per cent in 2018.
In contrast, Statistics Canada reports that in 2019, only 41 per cent of Canadians had “a great deal” of confidence in the cops, though another 49 per cent of Canadians had “some” confidence. However, members of visible minority groups, people with physical or mental disabilities and victims of crime all expressed much lower levels of confidence.
Canada doesn't fare quite as well as Finland and one reason for is probably the country’s Police University College. Finnish police officers complete a three-year, research-intensive university degree in policing before going on patrol, while most Canadian cops spend only a few months at police college.
That’s something to consider as Ontario recently suggested, in a short-sighted effort to forestall dropping recruitment numbers, that it would no longer pursue a planned post-secondary education mandate as a prerequisite to policing. Certainly, attending university is no guarantee of virtue, but traditional police training, with its paramilitary ethos, is ill suited to preparing officers for the demands of a diverse, knowledge-based society.
That was the conclusion of Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission, which endorsed the Finnish model, and before it, the report on sexual harassment in the RCMP prepared by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache.
Both reports suggest not that a general liberal arts education is necessary, but that police trainees need a university education focused on the realities of policing in the 21st century.
The Mass Casualty Commission examined the circumstances around the April, 2020 shooting rampage in Nova Scotia that left 22 dead. Among its findings was that the standard of police training is “inadequate to equip police for the important work they do and for the increasingly complex social, legal and technological environment in which they work.”
Editorial | It’s time to rethink police training. Traditional training with its paramilitary ethos no longer works
Instead of simply eliminating university as a solution to police recruitment problems, Ontario should consider the kind of university education new officers receive.
In the summer of 2020, Finnish newspapers reported what was, to the Finns, a disturbing trend: According to a survey conducted by Finland’s Police University College, trust in the police was “slipping.” Only 91 per cent of Finns trusted the police a lot or a fair amount, down from 95 per cent in 2018.
In contrast, Statistics Canada reports that in 2019, only 41 per cent of Canadians had “a great deal” of confidence in the cops, though another 49 per cent of Canadians had “some” confidence. However, members of visible minority groups, people with physical or mental disabilities and victims of crime all expressed much lower levels of confidence.
Canada doesn't fare quite as well as Finland and one reason for is probably the country’s Police University College. Finnish police officers complete a three-year, research-intensive university degree in policing before going on patrol, while most Canadian cops spend only a few months at police college.
That’s something to consider as Ontario recently suggested, in a short-sighted effort to forestall dropping recruitment numbers, that it would no longer pursue a planned post-secondary education mandate as a prerequisite to policing. Certainly, attending university is no guarantee of virtue, but traditional police training, with its paramilitary ethos, is ill suited to preparing officers for the demands of a diverse, knowledge-based society.
That was the conclusion of Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission, which endorsed the Finnish model, and before it, the report on sexual harassment in the RCMP prepared by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache.
Both reports suggest not that a general liberal arts education is necessary, but that police trainees need a university education focused on the realities of policing in the 21st century.
The Mass Casualty Commission examined the circumstances around the April, 2020 shooting rampage in Nova Scotia that left 22 dead. Among its findings was that the standard of police training is “inadequate to equip police for the important work they do and for the increasingly complex social, legal and technological environment in which they work.”
