"Policing has evolved over the last 15 years but not far enough," James Drennan told a news conference on Monday.

"The next phase has to be the acceptance of people from other backgrounds."

Drennan, dean for the School of Business and Technology at Sir Sandford Fleming College in Ontario, was in Montreal to address the annual Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference.

Police are not proactive enough in recruiting from cultural communities, he said.

Confidence in the police needs to be renewed among first-and second- generation immigrants, and policing needs to be promoted as a viable career opportunity.

"The police are moving but they need to move to the next step," he said. "But some communities are not trusting of police."

Fo Niemi, the executive director for the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, said there are at least two factors preventing cultural communities from seeking work in public policing.

The fight against terrorism and street gangs have both distanced certain communities from the police, he said.

"The messages are interpreted as an emphasis of police getting tough on people of colour instead of tough on crime," Niemi said in a phone interview.

This develops a culture of us-versus-them, he said.

"People just don't feel they have an equal opportunity there and they don't want to be part of an institution that will crack down on their community."

He noted very few police forces have made any significant inroads in hiring members of cultural communities.

Jean-Ernest Pierre is a lawyer and the owner of a Haitian radio station in Montreal.

Police efforts to recruit within his community have been lacklustre, he said in a phone interview.

"There is a mistrust of the police," he said. "Youth have a tendency to move away from the police. Police have to change their image and their approach."

Drennan agreed.

"It takes more than a poster," he said.

The police service of tomorrow will have to accommodate cultural groups and make the recruiting and selection process more equitable.

"Are the standards of entrance the standards that will promote diversity?" he asked.

Public police forces are increasingly having to deal with social justice issues like union, student, and First Nations conflicts, Drennan added.

"Police have to learn to be passive arbitrators," he said, noting their presence can either maintain peace or escalate an issue.

Montreal police recently faced their own problems with cultural communities following the shooting death of an 18-year-old man in a north-end neighbourhood that ended in a riot earlier this month.

But Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says federal government funding for street-gang prevention has had a positive effect in the city.

"We have increased the funding across the board when it comes to supporting police across the country," Day told The Canadian Press on Monday in a phone interview.

Earlier this year, the federal government announced $92 million in funding over five years for street-gang prevention in Quebec.

"We're always looking at what more needs to be done," he said.

Overnight on Sunday, Day joined anti-gang officers to patrol the streets of Montreal.

He said the increased police presence was having an obvious impact in reducing gang activity.

"I could see already that. . . their presence is already recognized, they're having an effect," Day said.

It is "causing street gangs to be less aggressive and more restrained in their activities."

The minister wouldn't comment on the police shooting and subsequent riots.

"That's a municipal and provincial responsibility and they're handling it at that level," he said.

Overall crime has been falling in Montreal but criminal activity related to street gangs has been increasing.

Montreal police believe there are about 20 gangs operating in the city with between 400 and 500 core members.

Fourteen homicides were linked to gang activity in Montreal in 2007.

The Canadian Press, 2008