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Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella issued the following statement today:
“Over the last few weeks, we have seen our community take a strong and collective stand against anti-Black racism. The deplorable circumstances surrounding George Floyd's death have also triggered important conversations on policing and public safety. Halifax Regional Police members join the community as we all feel outraged and highly disappointed at the recent events. What happened in these cases should not have ever happened, and should not happen again.
Critical discussions are being held that underpin the importance of accountability and trust in policing. Many discussions have also centered on the role of new approaches and partnerships in public safety. We want the community to know we are listening, and we will be a partner in action.
While times like these cause setbacks to community relationships and efforts to move forward, we are regularly having interactions with members of the community and continue to actively work on a variety of initiatives, including joining other stakeholders on actioning the Wortley report recommendations, plans for upcoming training, a Know Your Rights Campaign on police interactions, diversifying our senior ranks and supporting community members day to day as they bring forward important concerns.
On the issue of service delivery, we are here to support alternative approaches and already support many. We will continue to be active partners in those discussions.
Additionally, I want to reiterate that policing continues to require a certain level of resources for service delivery. Officer and public safety has to continue to be our priority in determining those resources. That doesn’t preclude potential partnerships to advance the way we deliver policing and how we can do things differently. We look forward to engaging in those discussions ahead.”