Community Safety Officers in Western Canada

• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Date: 01 December 2014
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567714547131
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Community Safety Officers

in Western Canada:

Reassurance Policing as

the Next British Invasion?

Kevin Walby

1

and Randy K. Lippert

2

Abstract

Community safety officers (CSOs) have been prominent local security providers in the United

Kingdom, Australia, and elsewhere for two decades. Examining the establishment of CSOs in cities

in Western Canada, this article responds to calls for international, comparative research on CSOs.

We demonstrate that CSO establishment in Canada has not entailed a straightforward transfer of

criminal justice policy. Instead, there have been policy mutations, most notably when the Royal

Canadian Mounted Police implemented a pilot CSO program in several cities. By examining CSO

programs andpractices in Canada, we contribute to internationalliterature on CSOs as well asrelated

debates about reassurance and community policing.

Keywords

North America, comparative crime/justice, crime prevention, law enforcement/security, police

organization/management, reassurance policing, community safety

Introduction

Community safety officers (CSOs) have emerged as local security providers in a dozen Canadian

cities since 2001. CSOs are not private security, since they are public employees of municipalities

and other levels of government. Despite being publicly funded, they are not public police either,

because they lack key police powers and don different uniforms. CSOs conduct active patrols in

downtowns and other neighborhoods as a form of reassurance policing (Barker & Crawford,

2013) and community policing (Brogden & Nijhar, 2005; Fielding & Innes, 2006; Lambert, Wu,

Elechi, & Jiang, 2012; Schneider, 2000). They tend to operate according to the ‘‘broken windows’’

thesis that seeks to remove visible signs of disorder. As a result, CSOs in Canada have also become

responsible for a range of practices including regulation of ‘‘nuisance’’ and anti-graffiti campaigns.

1

Department of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

2

Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Kevin Walby, University of Winnipeg, Department of Criminal Justice, Centennial Hall, 3rd Floor, 515 Portage Avenue,

Winnipeg, Manitoba,Canada R3B 2E9.

Email: k.walby@uwinnipeg.ca

International CriminalJustice Review

2014, Vol. 24(4) 345-359

ª2014 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/1057567714547131

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