Please join us on February 27 in the free slot from 12:40-1:30 p.m. in Clark Hall room 212 to hear Dr. Christopher Schneider’s presentation on Understanding Systemic Racism in Policing and the Failed Promise of Body Cameras.  This timely presentation comes off the heels of the UofM International student who was shot and killed by Police.  https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/man-fatally-shot-by-winnipeg-police-was-international-student-lawyer-says-1.6707998

This presentation will provide an overview of the social and historical conditions that contributed to both the foundation and evolution of the structure of modern policing across North America to understand why it is Black and Indigenous persons who continue to remain disproportionally affected by police violence and brutality. Police body-worn cameras have been touted as a major police reform measure and a remedy to reduce police violence, among other efficacy claims. Talk of equipping police in Manitoba with body cameras is heating up again after police in Winnipeg shot and killed three people at the end of 2023, including Afolabi Stephen Opaso, a 19-year-old international university student originally from Nigeria. In response, the province has announced its willingness to support some of the costs associated with body cameras. The Brandon Police Service expects body cameras for its officers by late summer. The remainder of the presentation will detail the failed promise of body cameras and explain why it is likely a matter of time until police across the province are outfitted with the devices. The talk will conclude with some suggestions for community stakeholders concerning potential body-worn camera programs.

Christopher J. Schneider, PhD, is an award-winning professor of sociology at Brandon University. Dr. Schneider has published seven books and over 100 scholarly papers, opinion pieces, reviews, and essays. His research and publications have focused largely on information technologies and related changes to police work including having  published extensively on police body-worn cameras. A frequent contributor to media, his work has appeared in more than 625 news segments and reports including the New York Times.