Main Study Western Canadian police The studied police

Main Study: Western Canadian police The studied police institutions can benefit by democratizing the police educational system and by adopting an alternative, more experiential, critical, inclusive, contextually responsive, and politically aware approach to educational planning. In the cases studied police education planners appear now to have some opportunities to make autonomous professional program design decisions. Nevertheless, important power asymmetries among the institutional players and the restrictive planning model selected do not give the educators enough freedom to shape their programs following specific human rights educational goals. An adequate program with a proper and balanced institutional decision-making would likely provide more real opportunities for committing law enforcers to community needs and to uphold the right of the community to dissent without fear of police. education program planning designs and their adequacy to support particular human rights education. Amnesty International Canada www. amnesty. ca 2003 Quebec, 2001 FINDINGS: Prior: The police training program designs studied in Western Canada use a linear and sequential planning design. Needs assessment, contextual analysis, and evaluation strategies appear inadequate to accomplish the program goals. Hierarchical, consensus decision making in a para-military structure is one illustration of the constraints encountered by the educator to deliver the community servicing goals and to interpret and implement relevant human rights standards. Given that modern police (Peel’s principles) legitimizes themselves by understanding and upholding the right of peaceful dissenters to protest, officers need to be educated to protect civil liberties. New Data: Recent findings further confirm a previous research conclusion about the inadequacies of a rigid, linear, non-critical program planning model. At the same time, the implementation of new pedagogically sound initiatives in line with human rights education may indicate that the power asymmetries that restrain police educators could be temporarily dissipated by empathetic police management or that the management’s policy has embraced some important aspects of police human rights education. FUTURE RESEARCH: Investigate if recent educational strategies that favor particular human rights education are the result of police policies drawn by empathetic managers, or are the result of implementation of changes in the planning model, or are simply a coincidence of favourable factors. PROCEDURE: New data: Collected from meetings and interviews with police training managers. Previous data: Interviews & personal communications with various police trainers, training managers and civilian advisors on policing. Some of the critical research principles followed: Contextual considerations, own assumptions and experiences, impact on community, commitment to action, and others Period of study: 2002 -2006 Dedication: CONCLUSIONS: acknowledge contributions from Canadian and European police consultants, Amnesty International, and the Department of Edu Policy Studies at the U of. Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. APEC, 1997 To my lovely and supportive wife and children. To those who have been tortured and killed for peacefully protesting. I By Luis Alberto D’Elía University of Alberta, AB, CANADA CBC, Globe & Mail http: //images. search. yahoo. com/search/images , NEW FINDINGS: POLICE EDUCATIONAL MODELS & HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION