Police, Canadian Style

[weltschmerz]

In light of all the recent constabulary scandals, I thought this was interesting.

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Jogging across the academy campus in central Los Angeles, the city's freshest police recruits already fit one Canadian stereotype: they're unfailingly polite. They stop walking in the presence of an actual police officer and address even journalists as "sir."


Luann Pannell, the Los Angeles Police Department's training director, is from Red Deer, Alta., and says she brings a Canadian perspective to the LAPD. (Kim Brunhuber)

Unbeknownst to them, the LAPD recruits are being guided in part during their six-month training by Canadian values and ideas.

During the next six months, they'll learn a variety of skills, like how to keep their police car on the road while chasing suspects, how to fire their weapons, and, most importantly, when to fire them.

At a time when police shootings are in the spotlight in the United States like never before, Canada has a surprisingly large role to play in the U.S.'s third-largest police force.

www.ipick.ca/world/teaching-the-lapd-when-to-use-force-and-canadian-values