Edmonton police commission to prohibit public speakers from meetings for rest of the year

The Edmonton police commission (EPC) says public speakers will no longer be allowed in remaining public meetings this year because of what it calls insulting and abusive public feedback that it has recently received.

In a news release Wednesday, the police oversight body said conversations around the EPC have “moved far beyond legitimate criticism of the board, police governance or oversight.”

The EPC said the decision is temporary, and noted members of the public can still watch the meetings online. If citizens want to offer input, the commission said it will still take written submissions.

The EPC said it will review the decision to suspend public speakers before next year. 

Ben Henderson, chair of the commission, told CBC News the decision was made to prioritize the safety of commission members, staff and the rest of the public. He said the behaviour of some speakers at meetings over the last few months led to the decision.

“They have chosen to defame [and] attack commissioners, staff, even more concerning, members of the public in the room,” he said. “We have tried everything we can to try and mitigate it.

“That room is not set up to protect people in ways that we felt were appropriate, and we needed to get to a point where everybody was safe.”

When asked for specific examples of such behaviour, Henderson declined to provide any.

Henderson said insulting or abusive feedback from the public hinders the commission’s ability to do its job.

“[We’re] at the point where commissioners no longer feel safe saying what they need to say and doing their job,” he said. 

“The commission needs to be able to function with decorum, with some sense that the work that we’re doing is what we’re put there to do … unimpeded, and not being threatened by a few individuals who are wanting action on things that the commission has no ability to do anything about.”

Nour Salhi is a student at MacEwan University who is the spokesperson for a group called the Palestinian Student Alliance. She said the public speaking process is crucial for police and the EPC to maintain and repair relationships with communities that she said have historically been marginalized by law enforcement.

“It’s unacceptable and frankly undemocratic,” she said. “The police commission is meant to be an overseeing body that serves the public, not the police.”

Salhi said she has attended several police commission meetings, including ones that took place this year where the police chief’s trip to Israel was discussed. She said while speakers did become passionate and emotional at times, she didn’t consider anything that was said to be abusive or insulting. 

In the winter, Edmonton Police Chief Warren Driechel first faced public backlash over a trip he took to Israel earlier this year.

The trip, which was approved by Henderson, saw Driechel join other North American police executives as part of an international delegation to meet with other police officials.

Several organizations signed an open letter to the commission at the time, denouncing the trip amid Israel’s attacks on Gaza. 

A heated EPC meeting followed, where activists and community members grilled the commission and Driechel about the trip. 

While Henderson did not specify whose behaviour led to Wednesday’s decision, Salhi said she believes it came about because of criticism of the police.

“[The decision] is basically a statement to the public that the answer to legitimate criticism is to just not listen to it,” she said.

Decision erodes relationship between community and police: criminologist

Dan Jones, justice studies chair at NorQuest College, said oftentimes public speakers bring up vital information about community needs, which he said is necessary for police operations.

Jones said without a public speaking component, the EPC is not only sacrificing the quality of law enforcement, it’s sacrificing positive public perception. 

“What’s going to happen is people are going to start to see the police as less of a community organization, as less of an organization that’s willing to be in conversation with communities,” he said.

Jones said the police department’s response to some Edmontonians’ concerns over the chief’s Israel trip has likely inflamed the relationship between police and community members, and it’s something he said he believes the EPC hasn’t yet adequately addressed.

“People are going to feel like … their thoughts and their beliefs and their concerns are not wanting to be heard by the police,” Jones said. “It just reduces police legitimacy without any question or way to address that from the community. 

“And that just unfortunately loses that piece of community policing which is vital to the way we police in Canada.”