SWAT everywhere? A response to Jenkins, Semple, Bennell, and Huey
| Author | Kevin Walby |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X211002596 |
| Published date | 01 June 2022 |
| Date | 01 June 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
2022, Vol. 95(2) 356 –362
Articles
SWAT everywhere?
A response to Jenkins,
Semple, Bennell, and Huey
Kevin Walby
Department of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada
Abstract
This paper is a response to an article on public police special weapons and tactics
(SWAT) teams written by Jenkins and colleagues (2020). Jenkins and colleagues are
responding to a study showing that tactical units and members are being used more in
Canadian policing. For Jenkins and colleagues, not only are SWAT teams being used
properly, but drawing from interviews with tactical members they suggest SWAT teams
should be used more in the future. This response focuses on conceptual, methodological,
and empirical deficiencies in the work of Jenkins and colleagues. This response shows
that Jenkins and colleagues ignore social theory, ignore relevant contrary data, are
ignorant of the harms of policing, and are ignorant of the violence that Black and Indi-
genous peoples face from Canadian police. Relatedly, this response offers a criticism of
what is called evidence-based policing scholarship. Using the work of Jenkins and col-
leagues as an example, the argument here is that evidence-based policing scholars are in a
conflict of interest because of how closely they work with police and due to the funding
they receive from police agencies and justice ministries. This conflict of interest
decreases the credibility and trustworthiness of the claims of evidence-based policing
scholars. Overall, this response draws attention not only to the harms of public policing
and criminalization, but also to how evidence-based policing scholarship is supporting the
expansion of violent, harmful, and regressive forms of social control.
Keywords
Public police, dynamic entry, special weapons and tactics, use of force
Corresponding author:
Kevin Walby, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Winnipeg, Centennial Hall, 3rd Floor, 515 Portage
Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 2E9.
Email: k.walby@uwinnipeg.ca
The Police Journal:
Theory, Practice and Principles
ªThe Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/0032258X211002596
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