London police Dubai dust up: international training halted until protocol ready

Members of the London Police Services Board appeared satisfied, at least for now, after Chief Thai Truong outlined plans to develop a new protocol to guide decision making on training trips in the wake of backlash over participation in a SWAT competition in Dubai.

The report at Thursday’s board meeting came roughly a month and a half after public outcry over the decision to send members of London’s emergency response unit to the international SWAT competition. At the time, Truong defended the decision, stressing that the financial impact was minimal after discussions with Dubai police led to the cost being reduced to $15,700 from $115,000 and citing the opportunity for local police to learn from the best of the best. On Thursday, Truong said the cost turned out to be closer to $17,000.

The following week, it came to light that the event saw LPS members training with and competing against a Russian special unit whose members are accused of committing atrocities in Ukraine.

Speaking to the board on Thursday, Truong said he had “no idea” that military teams would be participating, let alone competitors from “controversial military teams.”

“When I say SWAT, that is the term special weapons and tactics. Not a Canadian term, but it’s a universal term that everybody knows. That term refers to police. That term is not a military term.”

After learning of the participation of the Akhmat unit from the Russian republic of Chechnya, Truong said he realized that “we don’t have an adequate evaluation process to vet international training or competition.”

Police administrators are now hoping to collaborate with experts at Western University and Fanshawe College and engage further with the community to develop a draft protocol to present to the board for approval in two or three months.

In the interim, board member and Mayor Josh Morgan said he is particularly appreciative of the decision to “not engage in such activities until we have a very clearly defined protocol.”

Board chair and legal counsel for the local public school board, Ali Chahbar, said he was satisfied “for now” but is “very interested in seeing what will come back to the board in a few months time.”

He also stressed that he would like to see “codified, clearly defined guidelines and parameters” to help police decide if the return on investment is worth it from a financial, training, tactical and human rights perspective but that the board is a governance civilian oversight board and should not be the body making any final approvals for individual trips.

Member Megan Walker, the former head of the London Abused Women’s Centre, stressed that what matters is “not making decisions based on finances, but making decisions based on the best interests of our community.” She also noted that there was no intention to cause harm, but that “we don’t know what we don’t know.”

“It has been a learning experience for this board and a learning experience for the administration, for all of police services.”

Truong also said that he has reached out privately to some community members who have felt hurt by the involvement in the training.

“My administration knows, the organization knows, where I stand and how I feel with community trust — that is a priority for me as chief of police,” he said.

“You have to keep working at it every single day.”

Morgan used the opportunity to publicly thank Truong, revealing that he spoke to a close work colleague of his who is a Ukrainian refugee in London.

“I appreciate that you asked if you could be introduced and then after you spoke to that person, they told me that you, in a genuine and authentic way, apologized, for any harm, that that person would have felt,” Morgan said.

— with a file from The Canadian Press’ Paola Loriggio.