Toronto police will be holding several community town halls throughout the city over the next six months to discuss the findings of the service’s first-ever Race-Based Data Collection Strategy.
Based on analysis of data collected in 2020 of officers’ perceptions of an individual’s race in use-of-force and strip searches, the findings were initially released to the public last June.
They revealed Black people were over-represented in use of force incidents compared to their share of total enforcement actions by a factor of 1.6 in 2020. The statistics also showed that Black people were 2.2 times more likely to be subjected to enforcement actions in the first place and that the level of force police deployed against them tended to be more severe.
Further, it found other racialized groups like Latino, Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian people were overrepresented in many statistics when it came to the use of force. Indigenous people were also overrepresented in enforcement actions by a factor of 1.5, but were slightly underrepresented in the use of force statistics overall. However, when it came to calls for a person in crisis Indigenous people were 1.4 times more likely to face force than their share of the population would suggest.
Strip searches were also determined to have been used in a manner that disproportionately targets racialized people.
The day the data was released, Toronto Police Chief James Ramer apologized “unreservedly” for what he said amounted to “systematic discrimination.”
Toronto police are now working on 38 measures to reduce the gap between the number of interactions police have with each racialized community in Toronto and the disproportionate amount of force used against most of them. They include new equity and inclusion training for new recruits, an audit of the existing police college curriculum, a review of the existing use of force procedure, the public release of use of force data on an ongoing basis, and racial bias and equity training for all ranks of the service.
Toronto police, in an Oct. 17 news release, said the upcoming town halls aim to provide community members with a “forum to share their perspectives and experiences, as well as, provide feedback on the action items put forward to address the outcomes of the 2020 Use of Force and Strip Search report.”
People can attend the meetings virtually or in person.
The first one is set for Thursday, Oct. 27 at the Albion Library, 1515 Albion Rd., from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
Town halls will also be held on Nov. 16 at the Jamaican Canadian Association, 995 Arrow Rd.; on Nov. 23 at Malvern Public Library, 30 Sewells Rd.; on Nov. 28 at the Malvern Family Resource Centre, 90 Littles Rd.; and on Nov. 30 at the Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities Health Centre, 2660 Eglinton Ave. E.
In 2023, the town halls will be held on Jan. 25 and April 29 at Lawrence Heights Community Centre, 5 Replin Rd.
More information about the town halls can be found online.
In 2019, as part of the provincial government’s Anti-Racism Act, all police services in Ontario were directed to begin collecting race-based data for use-of-force under the province’s Anti-Racism Act. That September, the Toronto Police Services Board unanimously approved a race-based data collection policy and got to work.
With files from Chris Herhalt.
