The chief’s propaganda: How Derek Davis is choosing social media engagement over the law

The Sarnia Police Service’s digital strategy increasingly favors public shaming over the presumption of innocence. This approach transforms official communications into a platform for vigilantism and administrative propaganda.

The Sarnia Police Service recently doubled down on a social media strategy that treats the presumption of innocence as an inconvenience and the comment section as a town square.

In a media release issued on Jan. 24, the service defended its practice of allowing public comments on arrest reports, framing it as a noble defense of "free and democratic society." But a closer look at the language used by the police, and the behaviour of the Board meant to oversee them, reveals a much darker reality.

This isn’t about transparency. It is about ideology.

The Presumption of Guilt

The most telling line in the police service’s recent justification for their social media practices wasn't about free speech. It was a slip of the mask regarding how they view the people they arrest.

The release states that the service posts the names of those "who have chosen to commit criminal offences." In the eyes of the Canadian legal system, police charge individuals who are alleged to have committed crimes. It is the courts that determine if they actually did it.

But in the eyes of the Sarnia Police, the verdict is in the moment the handcuffs go on. By publicly declaring that these individuals have already "chosen" crime, the police are not seeking information to solve a case. They are inviting the public to participate in a shaming ritual.

The "Backyard" Effect

This strategy is working exactly as intended, even on the people elected to provide oversight. During the Police Services Board meeting yesterday morning, Councillor Chrissy McRoberts provided a chilling example of why this policy is dangerous.

While discussing the need for these posts, McRoberts admitted that her interest wasn't just governance, but personal surveillance. "I want to know who is continuously getting caught, because if they are in my backyard, I'm gonna have a problem," she told the Board.

She went further, demanding names and faces for specific incidents she had heard about, effectively validating the page as a digital "Most Wanted" list for petty disputes. "I want to know who that guy was," she said.

This is the "digital pillory" in action. The police post a mugshot, often for a minor theft or bail violation, and board members and citizens alike scroll through the feed to see who they should be afraid of today. It encourages a vigilante mindset where safety is defined not by community health, but by identifying enemies.

The Jane Doe Manipulation

Perhaps the most disturbing element of this strategy is how Chief Derek Davis is selling it to his Board. In recent discussions, the Chief has recommended that Board members read The Story of Jane Doe, a book chronicling the legal battle of a woman who was sexually assaulted after the Toronto Police failed to warn her neighbourhood about a known serial rapist.

The lesson of that book is that police secrecy can be deadly. The police have a duty to warn the public about genuine, lethal threats. Chief Davis, however, is weaponizing that tragedy to justify posting mugshots of shoplifters.

He is drawing a false equivalence between a serial predator—a life-or-death risk to women—and the petty crime suspects that populate the Sarnia Police Facebook feed. By invoking Jane Doe, the Chief is manipulating his Board into believing that if they don't shame a person for stealing from a big box store, they are failing the community.

It is a grotesque distortion of a victim’s story to protect a public relations strategy.

Copaganda over Community

As The Sarnia Journal reported recently, this unmoderated environment has turned the police page into the most expensive gossip column in town. It exposes the city to significant legal risk, as established by recent court rulings regarding liability for Facebook comments.

But the human cost is higher. We have already seen how this digital shaming impacts Indigenous youth like Tessa Bird-Carroll, whose lowest moments were broadcast for public consumption, inviting hatred and ridicule that lingers long after the court case ends.

The Chief admits in his own comments that this media strategy is designed to "counter disinformation." In other words, it is propaganda—or "copaganda." It is designed to control the narrative, justify a ballooning budget, and keep the public frightened enough to keep paying, but distracted enough to ignore the root causes of the crisis.

The Path Forward

Safety does not come from a comments section. It does not come from Councillor McRoberts scanning mugshots to see who might be in her backyard. And it certainly does not come from a police chief who confuses a "shame campaign" with the duty to protect life.

The Sarnia Police Service needs to join the ranks of modern, professional services that have turned off comments on arrest posts. They need to stop trying to be a media outlet and start focusing on the actual work of policing.

Until then, they are not protecting the community. They are just feeding the mob.