Restorative Justice Week 2009

How the RCMP Can Help the Community to Take Charge
Jim Cooley

Prior to 1997, I was posted in northern British Columbia. I had the pleasure to police some remote communities. I remember one community in particular that clearly relates to this year's Restorative Justice Week theme "Communities Responding to Human Needs". What happened in this community was the beginning of my passion for assisting communities to embrace Restorative/Community Justice. A passion that continues with me to this day and is clearly evident when I provide the Community Justice Forum facilitator training or awareness presentations on Restorative Justice.

It was 1996, sometime in the late spring or early summer, I sat with an Aboriginal Community Consultative Group of a small First Nations community in northern British Columbia. Community members would meet with the RCMP and discuss issues that threatened the safety of a community and then consider how the community and police could effectively address those issues.

This particular meeting started out no different than the last. The group discussed 'speeding' in the community and youth driving ATVs with no helmets. On this day, the group also brought up an issue of drug dealers and bootleggers in the community. It was well known that the community had its share of drug dealers and bootleggers. It was a priority of the police to arrest and stop the flow of drugs and alcohol into the community. This issue was very important because the drugs and alcohol were easily accessed by anyone, including the youth. This abuse was the contributing factor for many of the criminal offences and harm caused. Sadly, this community experienced a high level of family violence, sexual assaults and suicides, all of which were amplified by the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.

When we met again in September, I informed the group that there were few seizures of drugs and alcohol over the summer and that we did not make any arrests on the known dealers and bootleggers.

We discussed the lack of police success over the summer and I suggested to the group that we try something different. I made a suggestion that silenced the room. I suggested that perhaps they could speak to the drug dealers and bootleggers and let them know about the harms they were causing for their community. I continued by saying to them that I believed that police and the courts would never stop drug and alcohol sales in this community without the community's involvement. After a very long night and great hesitation, the group came up with the idea of drafting a letter to the drug dealers and bootleggers listing all the harms caused by drugs and alcohol and inviting them to meet with the group to discuss their behaviour.

It was first suggested that I deliver the letter to these individuals in the community, however I had another suggestion. I reminded the group that the true power of this request was in the fact that it came from them and not an outsider who is a police officer. Reluctantly, they agreed that the letter would be delivered by the group.

The one-page letter was very well written (I still have a copy). It described the harms caused by their behaviour, especially to youth, and the desperate need for this to stop. There were emotions in this letter that I had not heard before from this group. The letter was delivered to each known drug dealer and bootlegger. To our surprise, two bootleggers responded and agreed to attend the next meeting to discuss the group's concerns. Not one of the drug dealers responded.

During the meeting with the two bootleggers, the group voiced their concerns to the offenders. The group spoke as mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters about what was happening in their community. There were denials voiced at first but the bootleggers were quickly challenged by the group. It was evident that these two individuals could not honestly continue to deny their behaviour, as this was their own community they were talking to; not the police or the courts. One eventually agreed that he would stop his behaviour immediately but the other left in anger.

For myself and the group, we expressed some satisfaction that one person that evening understood how many lives were being affected. At no time did anyone speak of the laws broken, it was all about the harms caused to the community and what was needed to stop the harm. I will always remember the courage and commitment these community members displayed, as they knew that once they agreed to do this, there might be some retaliation from the community and even from their own families.

Please register for the National Symposium on Restorative Justice
to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, November 18th - 20th, 2009
Contact Noreen Byrne at (709) 631-0069, cms@nfld.net