Overhaul police training to reduce police shootings — and look to Norway for answers: expert

Two recent fatal police shootings in Manitoba are prompting renewed calls to lengthen and modernize police education in Canada — and one expert says we should look to Nordic countries for ways to do that.

Elgyn Muskego, 17, was shot and killed by RCMP on Norway House Cree Nation on Nov. 22. Two days later, Jordan Charlie, 24, was shot and killed by Winnipeg police.

Police say both Charlie and Muskego were holding edged weapons when they were shot. Manitoba’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Unit, is investigating both cases.

University of Alberta criminology professor Temitope Oriola acknowledges de-escalation techniques have become more prominent, but argues the long-standing emphasis on marksmanship in police training, and the comparatively short training period, are problematic.

“When all you have is a hammer, somehow everything looks like a nail,” said Oriola.

He echoes a call made last year to overhaul police training in Canada by the inquiry that investigated the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, which left 22 dead.

The inquiry’s final report said the RCMP’s model of training was inadequate to prepare officers “for the complex demands of contemporary policing.”

It suggested all of Canada’s police forces look to Finland, which requires a three-year degree for police officers.

That approach “has achieved remarkable success in two key indicators: public trust and capacity to avoid the use of lethal force,” the report said.

With the Winnipeg Police Service, people at least 18 years old with a Grade 12 education can become constables after 36 weeks of training, which includes academics and field work with firearms, as well as use-of-force training.

RCMP recruits have to meet similar requirements and undergo a 26-week cadet basic training course, followed by a six-month field coaching program.

“[Peace officers] are enabled by law to use force, including lethal force,” Oriola said.

“Is this a reasonable timeline to train people who are imbued with power, firepower that is second only to the Armed Forces?”

He argues it isn’t. Some barber and hairstyling programs demand longer training, he quipped.

RCMP declined an interview with CBC News and did not provide a statement prior to publication on whether they are considering the Finnish training model.

Winnipeg police did not answer multiple requests for an interview.

De-escalation training prioritized: police association

Oriola says Canada’s multi-jurisdictional approach to policing means officers are closer to the communities they serve, but he also argues the use of force landscape is fragmented.

“I do not believe we’ve done as good a job as we can in terms of setting or putting in place a fairly robust and rigorous use-of-force standard,” Oriola said.

“I think that would go a very long way in, in dealing with a number of issues that we now see.”

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police told CBC it’s looking at ways to increase public trust in police and to see fewer critical incidents, deaths and injuries to police officers and the people they serve.

The hope is to achieve that partly through greater crisis intervention and de-escalation training, which have become a critical part of police education, said Gary Conn, co-chair of the association’s use of force advisory committee.

“We would like to see the number of police-related fatalities be at zero,” he said.

But “with the prevalence of firearms and increases in mental health-related situations … all of these variables contribute to these numbers.”

The committee has recently sent out surveys to all Canadian police services to find out what their de-escalation training and use of force standards look like, said Conn, who is also the chief instructor at the Ontario Police College and a retired police officer with the Chatham-Kent Police Service in Ontario.

From there, Conn says the committee hopes to compile the results into a report on industry standards, with a goal of eventually endorsing a set of best practices and policies to share with police services.

Conn said the committee also hopes to modernize a national use of force framework or training aid in the next two years.

How does the Norwegian model work?

Oriola points to Nordic countries, such as Norway, as having centralized and exemplary models of police education. 

In Finland and Norway, police officers-in-training complete a dedicated three-year bachelor’s degree with course and field training.

He acknowledges those countries have different cultures, histories and social supports than Canada, but argues the length and quality of the education are partly to credit for the low rates of police use of force in those countries, including civilian and police officer deaths.

Finland and Norway each have a population of more than 5.5 million people, compared to Manitoba’s population of about 1.3 million.

So far in 2024, seven people have been killed in police shootings involving Manitoba RCMP, Manitoba First Nations Police and Winnipeg police, according to a CBC analysis. Three others died during other encounters with police this year.

No one was killed by Finnish police in 2020 and 2021, the report from the Nova Scotia shooting inquiry said.

In Norway, three people were killed by police between 2009 and 2019, and four people were shot and killed from 2020 until mid-November 2021, according to an article in the Norwegian police magazine Politiforum.

The Norwegian Police University College accepts about 500 students annually, who then complete course-based and field training over a three-year period, says Asle Sandvik, who heads the school’s bachelor degree program.

It’s a competitive program — Sandvik said the acceptance rate among people who applied for the 2024 academic year was 43 per cent. It was 32 per cent in 2023.

First-year students obtain a foundation in ethics, law and psychology, among other courses, before moving on to mostly field training in their second year, said Sandvik, who is also a clinical psychologist.

They’re also taught to recognize and respond to people experiencing drug addictions and mental health issues, through courses Sandvik says are offered in collaboration with health-care professionals.

Recruits are exposed to the use of batons and pepper spray in their first year, Sandvik said. They get some exposure to firearms in their second year, but mostly use them in their third year, he said.

Usually, most Norwegian officers don’t carry firearms, he said, although since early October, the government has granted a temporary arming of police due to threats of terrorism.

Sandvik says communication is a primary focus in Norway’s police program.

Rune Glomseth, an associate professor emeritus at the Norwegian Police University College who specializes in police leadership, agrees, and says that approach extends into the profession.

“I think that the main thing in the Norwegian police is what we call the ‘power pyramid,’ and that is that we are going to use as less power as possible in every situation that we meet — and communication is a central part of it,” he said.

Norway isn’t immune to challenges, including mental health issues, he said, but communication, distance and time are key tools in those situations. He pointed to a recent standoff in Oslo that lasted about eight hours and resulted in the suspect being shot in the leg.

Norwegian police leaders credit the bachelor’s degree, along with ongoing annual training, with helping police officers feel prepared and safe, while limiting police use of force, said Glomseth.

Sandvik says police officers enjoy a high level of respect and trust in Norwegian society, which he believes arises from a culture that values transparency, and communication and support over domination and intimidation.

“Their role in a conflict situation is to de-escalate the situation,” Sandvik said. “Most often, that’s done through effective communication.”