Saskatoon police watchdog group organizes
Last Updated: Friday, April 30, 2010 | 10:59 AM CT
CBC News
A Saskatoon group is organizing to keep tabs on the police, looking for examples of bad behaviour on the streets.
Members of Copwatch say they're getting organized and soon hope to be on patrol armed with a video camera.
The founder of Saskatoon's Copwatch, Jude Ashburn, said she's concerned about racial profiling and claims that many people she talks to are scared of the police.
"I know a lot of people think, well, they're protecting me but they're protecting very select groups of people...and they don't protect equally, is the argument."
Copwatch already exists in other cities across the country, filming the police as they make arrests, and looking out for harrassment and brutality. Police in Saskatoon are open to a Copwatch group, said Insp. Dave Haye, who's in charge of the professional standards division.
"An organization that refuses to look inside itself and grow better as an organization is in deep trouble," he said.
"The Saskatoon Police Service recognizes that we need to look inside once in a while. And sometimes it takes a picture from outside to cause that to happen."
The group hasn't held its first meeting yet, but plans to do so soon, Ashburn said. After that, the patrols will begin.
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