LETTER WRITING RE: DROPPING CHARGES AGAINST SANTINA RAO
From El Jones:
“People looking to support Black lives: please write the Nova Scotia Department of Justice and the Public Prosecution service and demand they drop the charges against Santina Rao.
Santina was charged after police beat and choked her in front of her children. She was left with a concussion, broken wrist, and lacerations. In this time, it is an obscenity that this woman in our community faces charges. Please mobilize your networks to demand justice for Santina!”
https://www.facebook.com/el.jones.94
UPDATE JUNE 4: Public Prosecution Service press release: https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20200604005
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Hi Martin,
I am following Santina Rao’s case and I read the press release the Public Prosecution Service released Thursday June 4. I understand that the Crown does not argue cases through the media, and that the decision to drop charges would need to happen in court. I appreciate that these clarifications help educate the general public about the legal system.
That said, I am concerned the final lines of this statement are misleading. While it says that “decisions regarding a prosecution must be based on an assessment by the Crown attorney of the available evidence and established legal principles supporting the exercise of prosecutorial discretion”, the first page of the attached PPS policy on prosecutorial discretion articulates that the two issues prosecutors are required to consider are:
I find it troubling that you are downplaying the necessary consideration of public interest in this case and in the legal process.
Looking specifically at public interest factor (f) on page 8 of the Decision to Prosecute policy:
whether the prosecution would be perceived as counter-productive, for example, by bringing the law into disrepute
I would argue that prosecuting this case would bring the law into disrepute.
As Rao’s lawyer said to the CBC, "there was no disturbance, there was no assault, there wasn't anything until the situation was created by her being inappropriately detained and questioned and someone getting in the way of her toddler”.
Nova Scotians are rightfully asking why the outcome of Rao’s grocery trip with her children was three charges, a broken wrist, a concussion, and significant trauma. This case and the many other incidents of racist police brutality we see constantly make me fundamentally question the role of police in our society. Prosecuting this case would also make me question the PPS’s capacity to administer justice.
Especially now, as we see increasing distrust of police in the wake of widespread misconduct (ranging from profiling to murder), the Crown’s role in assessing cases with integrity is deeply needed.
I will continue to follow this case and I will support Santina Rao at her court date on July 7.
[YOUR NAME]
Martin E. Herschorn, Director of Public Prosecutions
902 424 8734
martin.herschorn@novascotia.ca
Paul Carver, Chief Crown Attorney
LETTER WRITING RE: CUTTING HALIFAX REGIONAL POLICE BUDGET
Below is a personal letter I wrote to the mayor regarding cutting police funding. Anyone is welcome to use this letter as a jumping off point for their own letter. Feel free to copy and paste chunks if that feels right to you. I encourage you to send a separate email to each member of council.
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Dear Mayor Savage:
I am writing to encourage you to cut the police budget and redirect funding to a separate emergency response unit composed of unarmed community care professionals.
Chantel Moore. Regis Korchinski-Paquet. D’Andre Campbell. These are three Black and Indigenous people killed by police in Canada in the past two months. All three were experiencing mental health crises or in distress. None of them should have died.
Across many jurisdictions, there have been proposals for police reform, including bias training and body cameras. Five years ago, the Minneapolis police department undertook a series of these reforms. George Floyd’s death last week is evidence they didn’t work.
Despite our best hopes and intentions, investment in an armed force to respond to mental health crises, traffic violations, and petty crime inevitably leads to escalation and violence. From their origins, police departments were not designed for community care. Contemporary police forces descend from slave patrols and enforcers of the Indian Act. Reforming the institution cannot erase the fact that it is part of a legacy of maintaining the dominant group’s position of power through force.
Here are some alternatives proposed by Philip V. McHarris and Thenjiwe McHarris:
“Municipalities can begin by changing policies or statutes so police officers never respond to certain kinds of emergencies, including ones that involve substance abuse, domestic violence, homelessness or mental health. Instead, health care workers or emergency response teams would handle these incidents. So if someone calls 911 to report a drug overdose, health care teams rush to the scene; the police wouldn’t get involved. If a person calls 911 to complain about people who are homeless, rapid response social workers would provide them with housing support and other resources. Conflict interrupters and restorative justice teams could mediate situations where no one’s safety is being threatened. Community organizers, rather than police officers, would help manage responses to the pandemic.”
You can read the full article here and see a Canadian perspective from Sandy Hudson here. And you can click here to learn more about how a system like this works in Eugene, Oregon.
As local activist El Jones reported to the police commission in January, data shows “that the escalating HRP operational budget follows a national trend of overfunded police forces across the country at the expense of social programs”.
“Defund police” has become a widely shared perspective in conventional and social media, a message from Black creators, and rallying cry at the protests across North America, including in Halifax. I hope you are listening with an open mind and heart.
All my best to you,
YOUR NAME
CONTACT INFO FOR HALIFAX REGIONAL COUNCIL
steve.streatch@halifax.ca
tim.outhit@halifax.ca
david.hendsbee@halifax.ca
bill.karsten@halifax.ca
lorelei.nicoll@halifax.ca
sam.austin@halifax.ca
tony.mancini@halifax.ca
lindell.smith@halifax.ca*
waye.mason@halifax.ca**
shawn.cleary@halifax.ca***
russell.walker@halifax.ca
stephen.adams@halifax.ca
richard.zurawski@halifax.ca
matt.whitman@halifax.ca
paul.russell@halifax.ca
lisa.blackburn@halifax.ca****
mayor@halifax.ca
*Councillor Smith has expressed that he does not need people to explain to him why Black lives matter.
**Waye Mason has responded to letters articulating his intention to pursue the following:
*** Shawn Cleary has been responsive and has expressed interest in working on a plan to shift resources from police to other professionals who can help in what the police often do - e.g., counsellors, community builders, psychologists, health care workers, etc.).
**** Lisa Blackburn has said she and the other councilors serving on the Board of Police Commissioners are demanding a June meeting to discuss in public many of the issues raised this week.