On root causes

The Star reports on the (latest) arrival of the Guardian Angels in Toronto. But it gives rather short shrift to the main reason why there's any perceived need to have private citizens doing more police-type work:

By the 1980s, police brass and those who study them were realizing officers had to get to know their neighbourhoods again. A concerted push began to put more uniforms on the street, more offices in strip malls.

At the same time, police were supposed to take on a greater social role, promoting drug awareness, working with schools and implementing restorative justice programs.

Budgets didn't increase, though, and it became clear the police could not hope to play every role. That's why private security has exploded all over North America. And it's why Alberta is going to arm lesser-paid special constables to patrol highways.

It's fair enough that over the past couple of decades, citizens have thus played a larger role in the "eyes and ears" function of policing. But if we now lack enough officers to fully engage in community policing, that's a reason to ensure that we have enough police officers to perform what has to be the central feature of police work - not a reason to privatize or to turn over core policing functions to the Guardian Angels.

As noted in the article, Toronto's municipal structure recognizes the dangers of turning over community policing to the Guardian Angels. With that acknowledged, the onus then falls on the city to make sure that its police force includes enough officers to meet the city's needs - and to reject the neoliberal view (taken as a given in the article) that the force has to make do with less resources than are needed to keep the city safe.