Summary
This action research project began as an attempt to create a viable and working relationship between two differently-oriented public institutions in Toronto - the Toronto Police Service (TPS), and St. Stephen's Conflict Resolution Service (CRS), a non-profit community mediation (CM) service - for the purpose of enabling each to achieve a respective goal that otherwise could not be achieved independently. The TPS is hampered by the problem of numerous repeat calls to an address which, in turn, affects its ability to deliver police services in an efficient and effective manner. The CRS is desirous of enabling community members to constructively resolve their differences through transforming and less adversarial means. The primary research proposition was that referral of neighbourhood disputes (by the TPS to CRS) would reduce the likeIihood of repeat police calls and facilitate community mediation. A necessary and corollary goal of the project, therefore, was the establishment of a mutually beneficial collaboration between these two organizations to facilitate a referral process.The project includes a summary of the pertinent literature on collaboration and systems theory. It also necessitates consideration of the two fields of CM and policing, and the inherent and even oppositional differences between them. The TPS is a paramilitary organization, devoted to law enforcement, to ensuring that people follow a set of externally-imposed rules. CRS is a community-based nonprofit organization devoted to giving power back to the people and to allowing and encouraging people to take responsibility for their actions. One of the challenges of a collaboration will be determining whether and how these two organizations can work together, without one being compromised by the other.