The governance gap: examining the capacity of police service boards to hold police services accountable in Canada

ABSTRACTIn the wake of the Defund the Police and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements, police accountability and legitimacy are commanding a significant amount of attention. Importantly, questions are being raised about how to effectively govern and manage policing especially with respect to police violence and misconduct. While much of this discussion has focused on the actions of the police, there has been little research examining the civilian bodies responsible for holding police accountable: Police Service Boards (PSBs). In recent years, a few high-profile public reports have identified that certain PSBs in Canada, are struggling to carry out their roles and responsibilities and offered numerous recommendations to address existing shortcomings. These detailed reports have important implications for oversight and governance. However, the scale and generalizability of the response to the concerns raised in these reports remains unknown. In this study, we explore issues of capacity and training for PSB members to better understand the gap between the expectations of PSBs to provide meaningful governance of the police and their perceived capacity to do so. Our research suggests that a significant gap in governance exists, related to the lack of adequate training and capacity building in PSBs across the country. Recommendations and future directions are discussed.KEYWORDS: Police oversightpolice governancepolice service boardstraining and capacityCanada Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. ‘Commission’ is used instead of ‘board’ in some provinces and refers to the same governing body.2. Despite this distinction, many PSBs often struggle to determine the line between operations and policy (Caul, Citation2009; Roach, Citation2022). We would argue this relates directly to the issue of training on PSB roles.3. The conference took place in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, so this likely increased participation from the Saskatchewan PSBs and led to a higher representation for this province.4. Ontario is the most densely populated province in Ontario, with the largest number of police service, hence why it accounts for approximately 1/3 of participants here.5. The codes here represent the interviewee (I) or discussant (D) number, and their province (ex. SK is Saskatchewan). An addition of – FN refers to a First Nations Service within a particular province.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [892-2022-0021].Notes on contributorsTarah HodgkinsonTarah Hodgkinson, PhD, is an assistant professor in the department of Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research agenda broadly addresses community safety, with a specific focus on policing and police oversight, crime prevention, and spatial criminology.Tullio CaputoTullio Caputo, PhD, is an adjunct research professor in the department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University. He is also the longest running subject matter expert for the Canadian Police College. His research agenda focuses on policing, strategic planning, police performance assessment, policing oversight, and police leadership.Natasha MartinoNatasha Martino, MA, is a PhD Student in the department of Sociology at McMaster University. Her research examines by-law enforcement of homelessness, police oversight and governance, and third-party policing.