Global forces meet to curb gun violence Police conference in Scarborough brings black officers from Canada, U.K. and U.S.by SUSAN O'NEILL
The impact of guns on communities of colour is the same whether you're a resident of Jamestown, Malvern, Brixton or Cleveland.
The key, said officers attending an international conference in Scarborough Friday, is the approach taken towards addressing the problem.
"This gun thing has been a scourge in our communities. I liken it to something as bad as the AIDS epidemic or drugs," said Ron Stalling, a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service, who was among the more than 700 police officers attending an international conference presented by the National Black Police Association in Scarborough this week.
"We knew what the problem was when we came in here this morning," said Stalling, who served as the moderator of a session about the impact of gun violence at the Delta Toronto East on Kennedy Road Friday. "No one remedy is going to fix this broken thing that we face here. But this doesn't take rocket science...we need to get involved to evolve."
Mike Franklin, a commissioner with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in the Brixton and Lambeth area of southwest London in the U.K., talked about the success of a gun amnesty in the area that encouraged community members to take a stand against guns.
"The first thing we had to do in the community was to empower people to say no to guns," he said. "We decided to enable our community to voice their disgust with the guns, murders and killings."
During that 30-day amnesty, 28 firearms and 3,500 rounds of ammunition were taken off the streets, Franklin said.
"We learned that communities can solve this problem," he said, noting that people have to overcome their fear and know that it's okay to express an anti-gun view.
"It's okay to say no to guns...that's the starting point," he said, noting that it's also essential that the broader community begin to understand that gun violence is not a black-on-black crime.
"If all those young black men and young black women who were shot dead in the U.K. and in the Brixton community were shot dead in front of Buckingham Palace, we may well have solved the problem by now," he said.
Here in Toronto, the recent spate of shootings across the city has prompted much debate about what can and should be done to stem the violence.
Mike Sherman, a 30-year veteran of the Toronto Police Service who retired 10 years ago, maintained that investing in the community is key.
"Our approach has to be dealing with communities. I am really encouraged to hear the nexus of the solution is in the community," Sherman said, adding, "Guns are not a solution, but guns are not the problem. Guns are a symptom of the problem.
"Investing in the community, investing in opportunities, jobs and education, investing in black youth so that they will not become the victims of our lack of insight," he said.
Cynthia Sain, a community activist and homicide detective in Cleveland, Ohio, said in an interview prior to the workshop that she had been watching news of the recent shootings in Toronto with interest.
"Your gun problem is just starting," she said, adding that the key here is "to nip it in the bud...once money becomes involved it's impossible. And by money I mean the gun trade."
In her community, the gun problem has had a tremendous impact, Sain told her colleagues.
"The impact of guns in my community has caused black flight," she said. "The guns are scaring my people away.
"No one sits on the porch anymore and that's because of the media (emphasis) on drive-by shootings," she said. "It's tearing my community up."
Sain quoted statistics from 1998 telling her colleagues that there were more than 30,000 deaths attributed to gun violence in the United States that year.
"In the Korean War, 33,000 died and 58,000 died in the Vietnam War. Are we having a little silent war going on? That's a large number of deaths," said Sain.
Glen Williams, who has served with the Nottinghamshire police in England for 26 years, noted that the climate and culture in the U.K. is vastly different than in America.
"Britain is actually a very unique situation because the reality is there is still animosity towards guns from the public perspective," Williams said, noting that the "terrorist events of 7/7 have created a very alien atmosphere in London where you now have officers walking around the streets with semi-automatics. It is still a very alien, uncomfortable feeling to see that happen."
However, Williams also said the impact of guns on communities of colour in the U.K. is dramatic.
Members of the black, Asian and Muslim communities are often portrayed as being the perpetrators of the gun problem.
The same is true in cities like Philadelphia, which has already witnessed more than 300 shooting deaths so far this year, said Kathryn Battle, a homicide detective with the Philadelphia Police.
Of those, more than 75 per cent involve youth under the age of 25.
"What I want to hear today is solutions," she said. "We all know about the impact. From Cleveland to Philadelphia, from San Francisco to Georgia...all across the U.S. it's the same problem. I'm sick of talking about the problem."
George Rhoden, a detective inspector with Scotland Yard, said he was stunned by the statistics in the United States.
"What you are telling me is pretty frightening. It really is," he told his American colleagues, noting that other than a few specially trained units, the British police are an unarmed service.
He also noted they are not only an unarmed service facing gun violence, but also terrorism.
"We are expecting our unarmed officers over in London to stop potential terrorists without firearms. But guess what? In our country we will do that," he said. "We have the art of communication and we've got the art of calling on expertise in specialty departments."
Rhoden, who was at the scene of the bombing at King's Cross Station on July 7, said he has never seen such horrific scenes.
"I am still dealing with it as we speak," he said.
However, should a decision be made to issue firearms to every London bobby as a result, then Rhoden would leave the force, he said.
"I do not want to carry a firearm," he said. "I do not want every officer to carry a firearm."
Rhoden maintained that community engagement is key.
"It is through the young people that we have to invest," he said. "What we can do is change the minds and attitudes of the young people."
Keith Jarrett, a 30-year police veteran who was among the first officers to respond to the site of the double-decker bus bombing last month, said he too would leave the force if weapons were issued to officers.
"We need to think of other solutions. We need to be more creative," he said, adding, "I think it can be done. With a bit more thought it can be done."
The NBPA Conference wraps up today.
http://www.mirror-guardian.com/to/scarborough/story/2985713p-3460700c.html.
