Social cost of security concerns critics

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This article was published 05/10/2019 (2246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bag and body searches at the Woodsworth Building’s Broadway entrance have led to calls for public consultations on surveillance.

The building at 405 Broadway houses a public cafeteria and offices, including Manitoba Justice. It connects people to the Law Courts Complex. Anyone who enters it is now subject to a screening — an airport security-like system that, until four months ago, was on the building’s second floor near the court entrance.

“We live in cities that are becoming more and more securitized… It’s almost impossible to move throughout the city in a way that the citizen should be able to,” said Kevin Walby, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg.

Scans and searches exclude people from using spaces and are inherently discriminatory, he said, adding there is “no real science to security.”

“It’s based on looking at someone’s shoes, or the way they’re dressed or other senses: smelling or hearing, the way that they talk.”

Walby said if the government wants to implement security measures, the least it can do is consult the people who use the space before it makes changes.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice said in a statement that screening is a proactive way to identify and deter threats. The building requires “a more comprehensive approach to security” because the people who work in it or visit it are connected to the justice system, the spokesperson said Friday.

“This includes the judiciary, Crown attorneys, court clerks and other court staff, victims, witnesses, accused people and members of the public who must attend court.”

The spokesperson added the building was designated as part of the Law Courts Complex in January, which extended security provisions set out under the Court Security Act to protect property.

An estimated 5,000 people are screened before entering the building each month, although staff members who have identification can skip the step.

While the walk-through and handheld metal detectors and X-ray baggage scanners might not seem like a big deal alone, Walby said the measures add to the list of places in Winnipeg that have tight security.

Video surveillance looks over every inch of his workplace, he said, adding security personnel are dispatched whenever someone who doesn’t appear to be a university community member steps onto the campus.

Since February, the Millennium Library’s mandatory searches of patrons and their belongings have been widely criticized by users who say the measures deter homeless people and people with addictions and mental illnesses from accessing a public space.

Much like the system at the downtown library, Sarah Broad (of advocacy group Millennium For All) said the new requirements for anyone who visits the Woodsworth Building — or, what she calls “security theatre” — are both “concerning” and “appalling.”

Putting up barriers also gives people anxiety, especially people from marginalized groups who have had negative experiences with security officers, she said.

“We can do these things in alternative ways where people feel they’re being welcomed,” Broad said, listing outreach workers and greeters as other security options. No matter what, she said, community members need to be consulted on the changes that take place in their cities.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen was unavailable for an interview Friday.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie