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Access to Information (ATI) as a Double-Edged Sword for Critical Policing Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

George S. Rigakos  and
Stephen R. Worth
George S. Rigakos
Affiliation:
Department of Law, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada, george_rigakos@carleton.ca
Stephen R. Worth
Affiliation:
Department of Law, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada, steveworth2@gmail.com
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Extract

In perhaps no other area of scholarship is access to information (ATI) legislation as contentious and the stakes so high as in policing and security research. Although ATI has become an important mechanism by which researchers have been able to analyse security and police practices, there remain significant legislative barriers preventing access. A decade after 9/11, the need for increased scrutiny of government agencies tasked with security and policing remains high, as is evident from the proliferation of public and private policing, the advance of a general societal risk aversion, and the now ubiquitous nature of state security and surveillance. In this article we offer first-hand accounts that highlight the institutional imbalances between police organizations and researchers, and consider the potential long-term effects of ATI in this area of scholarship. ATI legislation in Canada is increasingly becoming both a tool for researchers to penetrate policing organizations and also a weapon with which security institutions can stymie critical inquiry.

The significant amount of Canadian ATI research that has stemmed from national security scholars shows the difficulties faced in this field when attempting to exercise the “right to know.” The strident lack of transparency within security and policing institutions tips the balance of access versus secrecy towards the latter, under the ever-present assumption that secrecy equals security. However, this area of research plays an important role in political discourse by fostering public dialogue and raising awareness of questionable and illegal security practices. As Larsen points out, we have seen ATI used recently to shed light on politicized security issues such as the Arar Inquiry, the campaign to repatriate Abousfian Abdelrazik, and, most recently, the Afghan detainee transfer scandal.

Type
Problems in Accessing Information: A Collection of Essays
Information
Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , December 2011 , pp. 645 - 652
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Law and Society Association 2011

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References

1 For a critique of this assumption, see Roberts, A., Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Larsen, M., “National Security Accountability and the Right to Know,” Prism Magazine (April 2, 2010), http://prism-magazine.com/2010/04/national-security-accountability-and-the-right-to-know/Google Scholar.

3 Kinsman, G., “Constructing Gay Men and Lesbians as National Security Risks, 1950–70,” in Whose National Security? ed. Kinsman, G., Buse, D.K. and Steedman, M. (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2000)Google Scholar.

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6 A statement that coincides with a statistical analysis by Roberts et al., which found researchers constituted only 1.5% of all provincial British Columbia ATI requests made between 2000 and 2005. A. Roberts et al., “Access Denied: An Analysis of the BC Government's Response to freedom of information requests, 2000–2005” (BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, 2006), www.opengovernment.ca/pdf/access_denied.pdf (accessed July 9, 2010).

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9 Witness Group, Report and Recommendations on the Policing of G-8 Events in Ottaw (Ottawa: Ottawa Witness Group, 2002), http://ca.geocities.eom/witnessgroup@rogers.com/witness_report_jul_16.html (accessed March 30, 2009)Google Scholar.

10 If it were not for the time constraints that graduate students, and all researchers, are faced with, I could have submitted another ATI request for this information once the interview was conducted.

11 In the years since the Report, the provincial and federal governments have worked out a model to provide just such funding for Peacekeepers.

12 George Rigakos (with John L. McMullan, Michael Gavendo and Delthia Miller), Plural Policing in Saskatchewan First Nations (Final Report—Future of Policing: Tiered Policing Study in Saskatchewan) (Ottawa: Aboriginal Policing Directorate, 2008), PWGSC File No. 013SS.0D160-7-4489.

13 The acronym most commonly used in house by the APD was ATIP, for “ATI program.”