Do cultural barriers keep Jews out of law enforcement?

Jacob Berkenblit

Lawrence Sager, who rose through the ranks over his 25-year career to become a sergeant with the Toronto Police Service, emphatically insists that as an organization, the TPS is not systemically anti-Semitic.

“But being Jewish hasn’t helped me in this job. I’m not going to say there is anti-Semitism, but there is a stigmatism,” Sager said.

Speaking to The CJN about some of the reasons why Jews don’t typically consider careers in law enforcement and why they’re so underrepresented in this field, the Montreal-born Sager discussed whether anti-Semitism is a problem.

“There has been real anti-Semitism on the service, like any other organization. It’s not that Toronto Police is anti-Semitic. It’s not, but you get some people, who just out of ignorance, are,” he said.

“There was a sergeant of mine, who I always considered a friend, and he always made jokes about Jews. I used to let things roll off my back and a couple of my guys came up to me and said, ‘Lawrence, you know what? He’s not joking’… and they felt bad… because he was even making them uncomfortable.”

He said that somehow his sergeant’s behaviour was leaked to the unit commander, and he was asked to make a formal apology.

Morris Zbar, who spent about 27 years working in corrections in various roles, starting out as a prison guard and working his way up to serve as Ontario’s deputy minister of corrections, said when he first started working in a maximum security prison in 1975, “there weren’t very many Jewish prison guards. I’m not sure there were any.”

Zbar said that although he didn’t experience “overt” anti-Semitism, his Jewishness was questioned by his colleagues.

“There were references made when I first started… Here I was a Jewish boy with a master’s degree working on a doctorate, working as a prison guard and people were wondering, so there was a little suspicion, a little concern,” he said.

“People would say, ‘How come you’re working here? Don’t you have money?’ But to me, that wasn’t said in a mean, personal way,” he said, adding that it was more of a “characterization based on ignorance.” 

“Inmates would sometimes say, ‘Dirty Jew,’ and things like that… but it is what it is, and certainly, in terms of my career, I wasn’t hindered, because I ended up being deputy minister.”

Jacob Berkenblit, a probation officer with the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services, is newer to the field, having worked in the system for the past eight years.

He said he hasn’t faced anti-Semitism, but he did recall a client who asked him if he read the Bible, and Berkenblit responded that he was Jewish.

It wasn’t until months later that his client mentioned that “the judge [in his case] was Jewish, the lawyer was Jewish, I’m Jewish, and we’re all out to get him,” Berkenblit recalled.

“But I’ve never felt that my religion or beliefs were ever compromised, used as a negative, used as a positive, used against me. It’s never been an issue.”

Sager believes the fact that law enforcement professionals have so little contact with members of the Jewish community feeds into the stereotypes and general ignorance.

He said that even in Toronto’s 32 Division – bordered by Steeles and Lawrence avenues to the north and south, and by Bayview Avenue and the CN Rail line (near Dufferin Street) to the east and west – which serves a large Jewish community, some of his colleagues are still ignorant about the community.

“They come here, they police a Jewish community and they take a certain viewpoint and make fun of people, whether it’s because of the Sabbath elevator being hypocritical, or even if you need the police, you’re not going to call them because it’s the Sabbath, and to them, it sounds stupid,” he said.

“There is ignorance on the part of the police into the customs of Orthodox Jews. This Jewish population sometimes views this lack of understanding as intolerance, which it is not. The service has seen little need to learn the customs of the Jewish population, as there is little interaction with this community. They seldom call the police and are not frequently caught committing crimes.”

Zbar estimated that there are about 80 Jewish inmates in federal prisons across the country.

“The Jewish community is not considered a community in crisis. We’re not lawbreakers… so the police don’t feel like they have to make the inroads that they would with other communities,” Sager said.

But he added that the Jewish community is just as much a part of the problem.

“We have the blinders on, thinking police work isn’t for Jews… Here’s what the recruiters think: the Jewish community has… no interest in becoming policemen, so why should we bother?”

Sonia Halpern, an English and writing studies professor at the University of Western Ontario who recently wrote a study about Jews in law enforcement, reported that internationally, significant inroads have been made in recent years by police forces to accommodate Jews and address anti-Semitism both internally and in society, but they’re still having difficulty recruiting Jewish officers.

“Combine these issues with the low Jewish population generally, and the fact that, culturally, policing is not generally encouraged within North American Jewry, and we see that Jewish citizens are not as represented by their own people as much as other groups are.”

Even Sager is torn about how he would feel if any of his four children followed in his footsteps.

“I told my wife that not one of my kids is going to be a policeman. I don’t want it for them. I want something better for them. I didn’t want them to face danger, and I want them to do better for themselves,” he said.

On the other hand, what makes him question his instinct to keep his children from considering careers in law enforcement is that he wouldn’t have to worry about them financially.

“I’d worry about their safety, but not financially, and sometimes that’s a bigger problem than anything else,” Sager said.

“I think if parents knew that their kids could be making six figures almost from the start and be guaranteed a job for the rest of their lives, and a pension, they might look at it differently.”

Aside from a few isolated incidents, Sager insisted that police officers today are much more sensitive to minority issues than in the past.

“It’s a younger generation, better educated, they’ve got more life experience… They come from different backgrounds, and the values that they are taught at home are completely different from the values that were taught to the generation that came before them.”

In fact, two years ago, Sager led an initiative to obtain and erect a six-foot menorah every Chanukah in front of the 32 Division station near Yonge Street and Finch Avenue, which was supported by his superintendent, Selwyn Fernandes, and his staff.

Halpern agreed that police are being better trained to be more culturally sensitive.

“I think the police realize that it only serves to their benefit and the benefit of the communities. They develop greater respect for the communities they are policing and the community, as a result, develops greater respect for the police. So it’s really a win-win for everybody.”

In spite of these inroads, Halpern said that based on her research, it doesn’t look like Jews are more or less likely as a group to enter the field than in the past.

“But I’d like to get across the idea that so much of Judaism is based on the theme of justice and police work addresses the concerns of justice. Because of the value that police place on saving lives and maintainimg a quality of life for people, it seems to me very consistent with Jewish values,” Halpern said.