The cost of security

I must admit I’m pretty highly tuned up when it comes to abuse of authority and I do see issues where others see “solutions” but the latest media release from Metro Toronto Police causes me to pause.

Seems statistics released by the police yesterday suggests that crime at schools that have a “school resource officer” has dropped 23.1% last year. The “statistic” was gleamed from replies to 12,000 surveys distributed in October 2008 and again in May filled out by students who reported feeling safer in their schools.

Let me put it to you this way: If we cut the hands off a student who was found guilty of widespread thefts from lockers would it be likely that students would report that theft from lockers was down 100 per cent and they felt safer?

Or put it another way: Erect a wall (Berlin? Israel? Mexico border?) and let’s keep the “others” out so we can feel safer. These initiatives simply don’t work and do nothing to improve safety but do support the “need” for more a larger police budget so we can all feel better.

So be careful when you use statistics in your speeches. Almost all use of statistics to “prove” anything are suspect and often are simply propaganda.

If you have nothing to hide…

Today 60 police are interviewing everyone of the 1,800 students at Toronto’s Forest Hills Secondary School in an effort to discover more information about the case of Mariam Makhniashvili who was last seen at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 14 when she just vanished at the doorway to her new school.

This mass interviewing of every student bothers me in some vague way.

Is it okay to subject students to this unusual, perhaps unprecedented, process? Can a student decide not to participate without drawing undue police attention to themselves? Doubtful in my opinion. Are parents being asked to give their approval first? Don’t think so. Is this an abuse of process? Of course, the case is a compelling one. A young girl has gone missing. Her family is distraught. She was last seen in the company of her brother. No doubt he’s been the subject of many an interview.

But what if the case was less compelling? What if police were asking every student whether or not they knew of anyone who had used drugs or sold drugs. Every interview would be recorded and every student’s statement would be subjected to review. What if a student decided they did not want to participate in the process. What if they told a lie which was subsequently discovered at a later date. Would they face obstruction of justice charges?

The mass interviewing of every student echos back to cases where all the men in a certain community were asked to submit DNA samples to allow police to eliminate them from suspicion.

I don’t like it. I don’t trust it. I want the mystery of this young woman’s disappearance to be solved hopefully in a happy way but this process is flawed. Would every person on Bay Street submit to a police inquiry about what did they know about illegal behaviour of staff in their companies leading to the stock market crash?

What to do during a crisis

Leadership is an elusive quality possessed by few. But one person who rose to a potential disaster and adverted a panic was Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. McCallion was the face of authority and calm during the Mississauga Train Derailment which happened 30 years ago. The derailment of Canadian Pacific Train 54 resulted in the emergency evacuation of more than 200,000 people. I know. I was there covering the event for my newspaper. It was one of the biggest stories of my career.

But why was it McCallion who was in front of the cameras instead of Roy McMurty, who was the provincial minister responsible for emergency planning? McMurty, much to his displeasure, was pushed aside by McCallion who is quoted in an article in today’s National Post as saying at the time: “I’ve got to appeal to my people as their leader.”

So what did McCallion do as a leader? She was the face of reason and calm. She put herself at the center of the action and was photographed at the scene of the accident early and often. She worked the telephones. She talked to “her people.” She allowed the provincial management team to work out the details and she allowed her police chief Doug Burrows and her fire chief Gord Bentley to run the day-to-day operations while she became the visible, energetic leader and official spokesperson.

She was smart enough to kept the media fed and was always available with a quick quote. She took on the federal government’s lack of emergency planning and made it clear that this was an opportunity for the feds to redeem themselves. And she did that in front of the cameras. But she was cagey in her promises.  If her officials said it would be 24 hours before there was some change she’d announce that it would be 48 hours. People trusted (and obeyed) McCallion so much that in hindsight it appears that many of “her orders” had no force of law behind them. She ignored governmental jurisdictional boundaries and rode roughshod over competing voices.  In other words, she was winging it.

And how has history treated McCallion? The people of Mississauga never forgot what she did for them and they have voted her into office for the last 31 years as a result. McCallion is a fine example of how to rise to the heights of leadership during a crisis.

Here’s a link to the story in today’s National Post.

The real thing

“It is like a light shining in her.”

That’s what the Globe and Mail says of Bridgett Zehr Canada’s newest principal dancer. So what’s this got to do with speaking?

Well not much but I’m still feeling like crap (Day 6) after getting my H1Ni flu shot (no fever, no stuff dripping out of my head, so not likely the flu but glands up like walnuts) and I’m still not up to doing much more than read the newspaper and sip my morning coffee. So I’m finishing off the Globe when I come across this photo of this very beautiful but very muscular young woman and wouldn’t be a male of the species if I didn’t read further. (Used to read the articles in Playboy magazine too.)

Anyway like all dancers Ms Zehr has had her share of serious injuries. So during one recent recovery session she took the time to improve her health by reading Vancouver-based spiritual leader Echart Tolle. Tolle is very popular in the men’s groups I’ve been a part of and I highly recommend first reading The Power of Now and then follow it up with A New Earth.

So what’s this got to do with speaking? Well: Everything.

You see speaking is all about doing your best. It’s about having something to say. It’s also about practice, practice, practice until you’ve taken your craft to new heights. Since I don’t get to my Toastmasters International meeting (First Oakville Toastmasters) too often, when I do show up I get to hear the tremendous improvement that some of our members have accomplished over the months.

And what about Tolle? If you’re not sure where you’re going in life; If you’ve lost the focus and drive of Bridgett Zehr; If the light isn’t shining in you, then go spend some time with Tolle.

 

A law unto themselves

One of the great dangers facing any society is its ability to act freely and legally in defence of its members and their property. Free speech is based on this premise. We all have the right to say whatever it is we wish to say with the sole exceptions of inciting hatred or yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre.

Same goes for the defence of property. Case in point is the Toronto Chinatown storekeeper who upon seeing a person he believes to be a thief lawfully (IMHO) used appropriate force and detention and confinement for only so long as it took the police to arrive. And yet, this storekeeper found himself the subject of charges of kidnapping, forceable confinement and possession of a dangerous weapon (a box cutter which is standard equipment for store keepers). This is a travesty.

Canadians among other civilized nations have long recognized the ability of a citizen to  make an arrest in a situation where there is reasonable and probably grounds to believe someone has committed an indictable offence. (BTW according to new reports this entire sorry episode was captured on surveillance video. The suspect seems to have a previous record of such illegal behaviour.)

So what went wrong in this case? I believe the police and the crown attorney have made the simple mistake of believing they are above the law. Worse, and I hope this isn’t true, is they see themselves as a law unto themselves. In other words, if you need policing services you can’t act but must wait until the constabulary arrives. The problem, especially in Chinatown, is the police often don’t arrive at all.

The concept of citizen’s arrest goes back to medieval England when the sheriffs encourage citizens to make their own arrests. This is part of the concept of “community policing” which has been a buzz word in the policing community for the last decade. Seems it might need some dusting off in this case.