This city is unnaturally calm. A friend told me that he had never seen a single fight break out here in all his years in Vancouver. I have to agree with him that even though I occasionally hang around areas that invite violent acts, I have seen few actual altercations.
Well, one so far in the past five years, over space that spans the many kilometers from Abbotsford and Chilliwack to West Vancouver.
Even walking through the supposedly deadly area of East Hastings and Main St., the worst thing that has happened to me is the accosting of an old woman who said that I looked a lot like her son. Myths of hookers that lure you into alleyways where you’d get beaten up for your wallet, and junkies running at you with infected needles – these I have yet to see.
Such a calm city should be protected by an immense force of policemen, I’d assumed. Imagine my surprise when I learnt via Global TV’s local news that Metro Vancouver has the smallest police density per area of any city in North America.
“Shows that the police here work well,” a friend of mine, who is planning to one day join that uniformed profession, said when I informed him about this.
In the same way that my magic moon rock keeps hippopotami out of Vancouver, I suppose.
Coming from a city from a massive police presence that doesn’t work, I think what I’m seeing here is just the opposite. Vancouver, with its social programs and lack of police, works far better as a city.
Not that there aren’t issues with the police here. The investigation into the killing of Robert Dziekanski, for instance, showed that the policemen who did the deed had planned to taser the poor man before they even arrived on scene. Plus, the police have been particularly hard on pursuing anti-2010 Olympics protesters, going so far as to bully them in public.
Little surprise that the Anti-Poverty Committee, in conjunction with other groups, is planning to protest the living donut-jam out of the upcoming July 31st World Police and Fire games being held in this fair city.
And what a year it’s been for police around the world!
With mass layoffs around the world, it has been a time of civil disobedience. And civil disobedience is usually crushed with governmental force. In China for instance.
But even gainfully employed Harvard professors are being targeted – if they are black in America, that is.
Australian police decided to try an oldie with a twist – they set a man of fire by tasering him as he held flammable liquid.
Meanwhile, the rich and powerful get away with murder.
It must be tough – one day you rule the world, and the next you’re redundant as people start talking of communes and democracy. In Britain, even non-Muslims are starting to favour Sharia courts over the regular ones due to the fact that they are less legalistic, more communal, and far less expensive.
It all came to a head shortly after Monseiur Sarkozy decided to crusade against the hijab – in neighbouring Germany, a woman who had taken a man to court for screaming racial obscenities at her was stabbed to death by the accused. Following this, court deputies shot her husband for trying to save her life.
Needless to say, German things are not right now highly favoured in Egypt – itself a country where anyone that goes against President Mubarak is beaten to a bloody pulp.
Will they all be there? The Germans and Egyptians and Australians, all suddenly realizing the other link that binds them together? And who will monitor the prison riots?
Good article dude. I don’t really think that the size of a police force determines how much of a violence problem a city has though. Aggression and violence boils down predominantly to to the culture of the people, among other things.
Police in Australia don’t get much respect at all (I read in the news recently that on average, about 50 cops are attacked a week here). In cultures where ‘being a man’ means proving you are stronger than everyone else, and this is reflected in the culture’s sports and such, you are far more likely to see people being attacked for no good reason. This is what I see the problem in Australia being. Having more or less police won’t solve the problem, without a massive culture change also taking place.
In India, it is likely the masses being manipulated into acting aggressively to serve the gains of someone wishing to be elected into some post or the other. Corruption rather than the police is the deciding factor here.
The story about the woman in Germany… shocking! Can’t believe it wasn’t even covered here.
Thanks mate. It’s a good comparative study – Vancouver vs. say, Melbourne. Large immigrant populations from far east and south central Asia, disenfranchised indigenous people, and an established social order – they have a lot in common.
I do know that 50 cops a week are not attacked here. Perhaps the density of police is an indicator rather than a determinant of violence? The determinant might be the level of social programs or even, as you say, the culture(s). Although, both cultures seem to be not dissimilar, but then again I might be over-simplifying things.
I’ve heard this argument a lot about India. However, it seems to be explored more in movies than anything, and Bollywood is still not allowed to portray the police force as inherently corrupt (there’s some kind of quota involved).
If the Indian police is anything like the Sri Lankan police, I’m sure you’re right. Probably a mix of both factors in the end. Quite disconcerting that either way, someone is corrupt.
I do know that attacking an officer is not as heavily punishable in Australia as in, say Canada or the States; people quite often get off scot free through the use of some sob story or the other. One excuse that I’m shocked seems to hold up is ‘I was drunk’ – so what?
Cops are by no means perfect, and seem to have a tendency to use using the baton, and like clergymen, I’m convinced a fair number of them take up the role simply for the ‘power’ that comes with it, but allowing them to be attacked undermines the country’s legal system.
Anyway, keep up the writing.