The Violence of Everyday Police Disrespect: Experiences of Encounters with the Police in Canada’s Capital

ABSTRACT

Scholarship on police violence tends to either center the historical role of the institution in protecting an unequal social order or the individual use of force. To broaden our understanding and unpack how violence manifests in everyday interactions, we examined 251 accounts of police encounters in Ottawa, Canada. Finding that disrespect was disturbingly common, we developed a typology that highlights the spectrum of police disrespect as it manifests through: a) denial of bodily autonomy, b) demeaning verbal interactions, and c) disdain. We argue that everyday police disrespect may appear banal compared to the use of physical force, but that it is a significant part of a continuum of dehumanization that creates an atmosphere that renders police violence possible.

Acknowledgements

This paper draws on data from a collective research project. Sadia Jama and Lindsay Snow were integral to the design, training, and data collection phases of this research. The project would also not have been possible without the support of Emily Symons and Zoey Jones, the guidance of community advisors, and the work of many data collectors across the city. Thank you. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Sadia Jama and Lindsay Snow played a central role in designing the research project, developing community relations, recruiting data collectors, and coordinating data collection. The ethics protocol for this research project was approved by the Office of Research Ethics and Integrity of the University of Ottawa (certificate S-10-18-1158).

² Since a single participant may have described more than one form of “denial of bodily autonomy” (e.g., both threats and intimidation) the numbers of the category breakdown may exceed the total of each category. The same is true of the other categories.

³ Since 2014, when the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act came into effect, the purchase of sexual services for consideration is criminalized (CC s. 186.1), however the sale of sexual services is not.

⁴ Montreal Road is a well-known prostitution stroll in Vanier, one of Ottawa’s poorest neighborhoods (City of Ottawa 2021; Ottawa Neighbourhood Study 2023).

⁵ Police powers to detain are common law powers limited by Charter rights. For interpretations, see R. v. Mann, R. v. Mackenzie..

Additional information

Funding

This article is based on findings from research funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (430-2018-00009).

Notes on contributors

David Moffette

David Moffette, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. His research has examined the participation of municipal police forces in immigration enforcement.

Chris Bruckert

Chris Bruckert, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa. Her research has examined various aspects of the sex industry, including the experiences of street-based sex workers with police.