Chief Smyth: don’t let the door hit you on the way out

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/06/2024 (495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Great leaders understand that when it’s time to step down, it’s better to let someone else write your epitaph. A leader’s thoughts about how well or poorly they’ve performed are much less important than the impressions they left on others.

Case in point: last Friday, Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth confirmed via his internal newsletter that although he will officially retire Sept. 7, he has essentially left the job to use his remaining vacation time.

But that wasn’t all.

Housekeeping out of the way, Smyth proceeded to use the rest of the newsletter to offer concluding thoughts on how he thought he did over his eight years as chief and take some parting shots.

Leading a large, municipal police service is a horribly complex and difficult job where the chief — fairly or unfairly — must endure the lion’s share of criticism. Having said that, if you are going to write your own career epitaph, it’s always a good idea for a leader to make sure they touch on the good, bad and the ugly of their time at the helm.

After reading his final missive, it is pretty clear Smyth hasn’t learned that lesson.

For example, Smyth uses the newsletter to recount a short list of major challenges he faced while in the top job. The things he said had “left a scar” on him.

Let’s talk first about what’s not in the newsletter.

Remarkably, there is no mention of Smyth’s failure to act quickly to search the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of four slain Indigenous women.

Although a verdict has not yet been reached, the trial of Jeremy Skibicki, the man accused of killing those women, confirms that police did a thorough and professional job of building a case. However, Smyth’s decision to rule out a search, and wait six months to tell the victims’ families there were remains in that landfill, remains one of the darkest moments during his tenure.

Not using part of his newsletter to, at the very least, acknowledge his missteps over the landfill search is disappointing, but also largely consistent with the way Smyth led the police service.

What did Smyth identify as the pivotal moments in his career?

The first was the “isolation and trauma” caused by the pandemic. Although Smyth noted he “didn’t always get it right” as he tried to navigate the WPS through the pandemic, most Winnipeggers would likely agree that, for the most part, he and his officers performed heroically in the face of an existential threat.

The next two issues he mentioned, however, reveal the truly one-dimensional world view that dominated Smyth’s tenure.

For example, Smyth said he was very surprised when the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis triggered Black Lives Matter protests here in Winnipeg. “I would never have predicted that the actions of a police officer in another country would had such profound and negative impact on police throughout the world.”

There’s a lot to unpack in that assertion.

First, Smyth seems to suggest he was more concerned and affected about the reaction to Floyd’s brutal murder, and less about the actions of the police officers who choked him to death. Again, when thinking back over Smyth’s career, that is a pretty predictable reaction, but it’s still disappointing.

It’s also rather disturbing that Smyth does not seem to understand why Floyd’s murder resonated with so many people in other countries and cities, namely that so many other people from racialized communities share the same intense fear about interacting with police.

Which brings us to the third traumatic trend that Smyth experienced: the “identity politics” the chief claims is influencing media coverage of the WPS.

Smyth has frequently whined about the raw deal the police service gets from the news media, but this is the first time he has used a very loaded term like “identity politics.”

What does Smyth mean exactly by identity politics? Although he does not elaborate, if you employ a conventional definition, it would appear he resents the allegation that certain groups in society are routinely mistreated by police.

Individual police officers will always bristle when someone tries to paint all cops as capable of the racially motivated violence in the Floyd murder. It’s also true that not every allegation against police is valid.

However, only those cops with a Smythian deficit of self-awareness would dispute the idea that members of ethnic and racial groups in Winnipeg are routinely subjected to harsher treatment at the hands of police, largely because of the colour of their skin. Not every racialized person and not every cop, but enough of both to responsibly identify it as an ongoing issue.

In focusing solely on grievances, and failing to acknowledge any of his shortcomings, Smyth has used his final newsletter to accomplish two rather questionable goals.

First, Smyth appears to be consciously trying to stoke the “us-versus-them” culture within the WPS by suggesting that all criticisms are unfair and part of some flawed political agenda.

And second, he is telling Winnipeggers who fear contact with police they are overreacting and in so doing, are unfairly disparaging police.

Well, if that newsletter captures exactly how Smyth really feels and what he thinks about society, then we should all be glad he is stepping down.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com