Writing About The RCMP-- Help wanted!
Description
I'm a DEI communicator who is in the process of researching the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of the RCMP. I'm looking for personal accounts of interactions with the RCMP specifically from people who identify as part of diverse groups outside of white, Christian, cis-gendered, neuro-typical, straight/ hetero-normative, traditionally masculine men.
The RCMP have a lot of work to do, and a lot of their efforts only started in mid-January of 2021. Before then members of hate groups and bigoted online communities were identified as being in the ranks of Canadian police organizations and the military which is, to put it lightly, not great. In addition to my research, I'm looking to find out what police interactions with diverse groups of people are like to see how the public feels because numbers and data only tell part of the story and if I can get more context, I would like that.
Due to a lack of resources and time, I can't cast a wide net. I have to focus specifically on one police org, and the RCMP is the bigger fish, and it just makes more sense to me to look at the bigger, and older, organization because there's going to be much more to work with. So, if your story involves the VPD or the OPP or members of the CAF, thank you but I can't use it.
If the story involves a trauma of some sort, you are more than welcome to leave out details that you would rather not share. My focus isn't on the situation that brought you in front of the RCMP, just on the interaction you had with them. If the story is that you're an assault survivor and the police didn't believe you because you're a woman or queer, you don't need to tell me about the assault, just that you reported a crime and how you were treated and how they handled any subsequent investigation. Also, for your safety, and to protect your legal rights, please feel free to omit any details about a case in which you are currently a defendant in that could potentially incriminate you. I also encourage you to anonymize as much of the story as you want to and let me know at the end of it if you don't mind being quoted and/ or a censored version of our exchange being included with my research material that I also make available so readers know that I'm not talking out my ass. For this project of mine, if there are stories that don't want to be included verbatim in my research I will also state that I communicated with however many people that provided stories of their personal experiences. For full disclosure, I am and will continue to speak with the RCMP about their DEI program to learn as much as I can about what they're doing, how they're doing it, and anything I can learn within the realm of their DEI programs.
Also, if you have stories from before January 2021, please include the date, or the approximate date, or the season, with the year or at the very least the year. Stories from before January 2021 will help with context for the big picture I'm looking at. If your interaction led to an official complaint, a civil suit, or a criminal case against an RCMP officer and there is a public record of it, I would appreciate a case number, file number, or something else that would allow me to find it because I tend to go all-in with research.
If you're aware of someone else's story related to a police interaction that you weren't physically present for, please don't relay it second/ third/ etc hand. I really don't want anything lost in translation. If you were there, right beside a friend or acquaintance or family member and experienced it with them, feel free to respond, too. Also if you're a member of the RCMP and witnessed a public interaction that's not totally great because of bias or prejudice against a group of people, or can speak to the bias and prejudice problem in the RCMP from the inside, I would also love to hear from you. I'll give you total anonymity if you're willing to be on the record as a source for me, too.
I am not setting out to write a fluff piece about the RCMP's public outreach or efforts to rehabilitate its image. I am looking to investigate questions about the effectiveness of its efforts, if RCMP officers are making good-faith attempts to change, and what the organization is doing, if anything, about all the bigots they gave guns and authority to. I'm not looking to debate IF there is a bias and prejudice problem in Canadian police. I've seen the information. It's a settled matter. If you come at me with that you'll have wasted your time and I might post it on Twitter with a laughing emoji and a sarcastic comment like, "somebody genius is trying to contradict years worth of studies without an ounce of proof and expects me to believe them."
Thank you for your time, consideration, and response.
-- Mason (as in a jar)
community | other
2023-01-06