Last fall, photographer Kyle Cunjak and his friends were swarmed while they walked in Halifax’s north end, and Cunjak was stabbed. In hopes of coming to terms with the attack, his photos of his injuries— which required hospitalization and subsequent plastic surgery—were featured in an art show last month. He’s making progress with his health, and he says the police are helpful and understanding as the case against his attackers winds its way through the court system.
But there’s one thing that continues to upset Cunjak about the incident: In the days before he was stabbed, there had been four other swarmings in the north end, but the police had not publicized the attacks. (See “Beatings and the blotter” sidebar.)
“If we had known, we probably would have taken a little more care,” he says. “We’d probably be more on the lookout for trouble.”
In fact, public knowledge of the previous attacks came from Cunjak himself, not from the police. Hospital personnel told Cunjak they had treated previous victims, which he explained to the media.
We don’t know why the police didn’t publicize the attacks. Maybe they honestly didn’t think the swarmings were a big deal—but if so, that reflects poor decision-making on what should be made public. Maybe the cops thought news of the swarmings would reflect badly on the department, which suggests bigger concerns about message management and the reporting of crime stats.
“This was an oversight on our part and we admitted our error at the time,” explains Theresa Rath, a spokesperson with the Halifax Regional Police, in a comment on an earlier version of this story online at thecoast.ca. “As soon as we realized the error, we took steps to provide full information on those assaults to our citizens.”
That explanation from Rath still doesn’t get at why the “oversight” was made. Or if there are other, on-going “oversights.” But one thing’s for certain: Had they happened in any city in the United States, the swarmings would have been part of the public record.
See, in every American city– from podunk Searcy, Arkansas (population 10,000 and my last job) to New York City—the entire police blotter, which details each and every police call, is made available to the public.
In the States, every cub reporter has to do a stint on the police blotter. I’ve done this in several cities. On my way to work, I’d stop by the police department, and the blotter was usually at a desk off in a corner somewhere, usually next to a copy machine. I’d drop in a few dimes, copy the whole thing and take it to the office. At some papers, we just printed the whole thing; at others, we’d select a few of the more interesting ones and write short pieces on them. (For examples, check the collection of newspaper blotter reports at thecoast.ca/PoliceBlotter.)
But here in Halifax, and in Canada generally, the police blotter is not made public as a matter of course. Rather, the police watch commanders and communications team take it upon themselves to decide what will be of interest to reporters. Problem is, most days that’s nothing at all. “Halifax Regional Police responded to 192 calls for service during today’s shift, there were no calls of note to report,” reads a typical report. (In the States, all 192 calls would be public record.)
Sometimes, the Halifax PD will publicize one or two police calls, but there’s evidence that even those are selectively reported and leave out vital information—see “The great doodle heist” on page 5.
From my conversations with Rath and with other reporters in Canada, I’ve learned that there’s a blotter divide between the US and Canada. Every US police department makes it completely public, and no Canadian police department makes it completely public. But there doesn’t seem to be any legal or constitutional reason for the silence north of the border. It’s simply the way things are done, or, more precisely, not done—a reflection of colonial and paternalistic views of government in Canada that should have been ditched long ago.
Moreover, the Halifax PD is very good about releasing past police records, as a King’s College investigative journalism class discovered when it asked for three years worth of police calls. The police department falls back on computer programming excuses, not legal excuses, to explain away its day-to-day silence, but just on the other side of the border those problems were solved decades ago.
Still, I don’t mean to overly criticize the police department— after I raised the issue earlier this year, Halifax PD has responded somewhat positively, and this week spokesperson Brian Palmater tells me they are in the process of testing a new mapping feature that would make the incidents available not just to reporters, but to the public generally.
If so, this will be a quantum leap in the the opening up of police departments in Canada. This is a very good thing. Kyle Cunjak tells us that with full reporting of police calls last year, he probably wouldn’t have been stabbed and hospitalized. What we don’t know is how many other examples there are. Have other people been injured as a result of the silence?
Last week, the Halifax police publicly released photos they’d found on a phone of four partially dressed women, apparently in order to warn the women that they may be in danger. Some have criticized that decision, although in the balance of public safety it was probably the right thing to do. Still, it’s hard not to think how this could have played out had the full police blotter been regularly released: A watchful citizen makes a connection the cops missed, a possible victim acts differently, and we never get to the point where releasing photos became necessary.
So, have other people been injured as a result of the silence? By freeing the blotter, the Halifax PD will at least make that second-guessing question go away. It can’t happen fast enough.
Beatings and the blotter
Halifax’s police department issues a report every day about the previous day’s calls for service, and those reports are freely available online at halifax.ca/police/policereports/index.asp. But a look at the information the police released about swarmings around the time of the attack on Kyle Cunjak shows the gap between what the cops think is worth mentioning and what is happening on the streets.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Halifax PD’s media release reports the following overnight activity:
—At 1:05am a man drowned at Chocolate Lake
—At 2:27am two women were robbed on Lemarchant Street
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The media release for the previous night reads in its entirety: “It was a steady day with call for service but nothing significant to report.”
Monday, September 6, 2010
The report recounts three incidents from the night before:
—At 11:16pm, a bank robbery on Dutch Village Road
—The 8:59pm attack on Cunjak and his friends
—A 9:04pm attack on a second couple
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
After Cunjak notifies the media that there had been earlier swarmings in the north end, Halifax PD issues a long media release detailing the previous swarmings that had previously been unreported. These were:
Friday, September 3, 2010
—At 9:20pm, a couple is approached by a group of six to eight people near Maitland Street and Divas Lane, asked for a cigarette, and attacked.
—At 11:37pm, a lone man approached by six to eight people, also near Maitland Street and Divas Lane, also asked for a cigarette, then attacked.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
—At 8:43pm, another couple, again in the area of Maitland Street and Divas Lane, were asked for a cigarette by an unreported number of people. The man was punched, but he and his female companion ran to a nearby residence and called police.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
—At 12:26am, three men walking near Agricola and Charles Streets were approached by a group of people who asked them for a cigarette. One man was thrown to the ground and all three were repeatedly punched but were able to run away and call police.
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This article appears in Oct 6-12, 2011.
I don’t think that it’s a matter of course for US towns to be open about their police blotter; it’s a matter of law.
“Every person having custody of any public record, as defined in
clause twenty-sixth of section seven of chapter four, shall, at
reasonable times and without unreasonable delay, permit it, or any
segregable portion of a record which is an independent public
record, to be inspected and examined by any person, under his
supervision, and shall furnish one copy thereof upon payment of a
reasonable fee.” (Massachusetts G. L. c. 66, § 10)
That’s what I was trying to say in my reply to your previous article on this subject. The right to know is as bred in the bone in the states as a right to privacy is in Canada.
Too bad our right to privacy has gone right out the window with this omnibus bill. Now we have no right to know AND no right to privacy. Oh, Canada!
I think there is an underlying issue why these beatings were “under-reported”.
Race.
If I remember correctly, the first few mentioned almost exclusively that the people beaten were white, the criminals were black. This happened a few times, then suddenly the color of their skin disappeared from the news. These beatings/swarmings became prevalent in the news about 1990, if memory serves, are still happening all over North America and they are so savage it beggars the imagination that a group of people in North America could be so… hateful? Callous?
I am the first to admit it is not ENTIRELY like this, but the vast majority seem to be. If groups of whites roamed the north end looking for lone black people to pummel to the point of unrecognizability do you think it would be under-reported? There wouldn’t be a building left, and Mayor Pete would be lynched.
Hi Mr. Bousquet,
You may be interested to know that Wendy Elliot publishes a regular police blotter report in the Advertiser with help from RCMP Community Policing Officer Blair McMurtery. She doesn’t write with the style of the Arcata Eye reporter but it’s informative and you rarely get the impression that privacy is at risk. Every call is accounted for with a sentence or two (“teens were spotted skateboarding near Berwick” “A burglary was reported in North Alton. A dog was reported missing.”) or is listed as a false alarm or accidental call.
This blotter covers a large area and proportion of the population of Nova Scotia and you and the Halifax Police should both recognize that there is already a model of cooperation between the media and police in Nova Scotia. I agree that the Halifax Police should be more open with their calls for service and that their excuses so far are really weak, but I think it is obvious that you need some sort of working relationship to have them share this data with you.
Link to the King’s County Register’s “From the Cruiser Report”:
http://www.kingscountynews.ca/News/Justice…
“Two men and a woman, who had all been drinking, were causing a disturbance in Kingston about 1:20 p.m.”
“Someone threw a rock through a window on a New Minas house at 9:30 p.m.”
“A report of a man with drugs in the Waterville area turned out to be alcohol-related.”
“A 23-year-old man entered a North Kentville house through a window around 5 a.m. He passed out in a chair. When police arrived, he could not stand, but indicated he thought he was at his sister’s home. He was placed in a cell.”
“Youth were once more up to mischief with the shopping carts at a New Minas mall.”
etc.
Hiding the truth about swarmings in Halinorth by police was reported to Kelly by me in 2003 and then to the Police Comm since then Justice Minister ad nausem as well as reported with Childrens Aid Society and to the MLA and city councillor…all since 2002+…In every case the victim were white and the perps black youth and often their parents. In Mulgrave Park the manager was Irvine Carvery whose son is popo.
All these dynamics are why it is underpublished for years despite the injuries sustained, several police corrupted incident reports-these are not oversights as Rath would like you to believe.
The lies police and media told about the swarming that injured a Muslim family is despicable and hidden by the mayor and Police Comm-none of the black fams were evicted and went on to leave a parade of victims in Halinorth for years..
You dear reader would already know this but for THE COAST removing my posts since then about all of this and more. Not just police keep the truth from the public..
The police don’t have to publish their blotter for me to know I’m likely to get swarmed or stabbed in that neighbourhood.
DBL– yep, Wendy sits down with the cops, who *read* her the entire blotter, taking out names… obviously, that’s not an option in a city the size of Halifax.
mcgaidheal — Yes, we absolute monitor comments and take down comments that could open us to libel suit, and which we find in bad taste. We are under no obligation to post anything at all you have to say, and it’s not a matter of free speech. It’s a big wide internet out there, and nobody is stopping you from starting your own blog– they’re free, you know– and libeling whoever you want. Have at it. Please. But I guess it’s easier to latch on to someone else’s website, tho, and put the legal risk on them, eh?
The community weekly paper covering East Hants also has a police cruiser column in which a reporter goes to the RCMP and they provide the info as it’s written by what the responding officer has said in their notes..they might “read” it but the reporter does it up in their own words and there is a great deal of cooperation between the police and this paper. I think it’s easier to happen when you’re not critical of the police force’s every move, unlike some media in Halifax which may explain this problem of not being more cooperative.
http://www.enfieldweeklypress.com/2011/10/…
Next week alone, there is 123 complaints reported (of which three typed pages full were significant.