An interim report on racial profiling by police has found Black people are more likely to be seriously injured or killed in an interaction with Toronto officers, finding members of the Black community are “grossly overrepresented” in newly released and analyzed data. “The data is disturbing and raises serious concerns about racial discrimination in use of force,” reads an interim report released Monday by the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The Commission announced last year that it was launching a public interest inquiry into racial profiling and discrimination within the Toronto Police Service, using its powers to compel data from the Toronto police, its civilian board and Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit.Chief Commissioner Renu Mandhane held a news conference Monday morning to release the interim report. The final report is set to be completed in 2020.Click here to read the whole reportAn interim analysis of data from the SIU, Ontario’s civilian police watchdog, by University of Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley reviewed two sets of data, from 2000 to 2006 (187 cases) and 2013 to 2017 (244 cases).Read more:Experts warn against return to policing that targets ‘communities and not individuals’Racial profiling occurs at Ontario airports, malls, and schools, report saysJudge says racial profiling likely, tosses charges against man after Toronto road stopThe review found that there is an overrepresentation of Black Canadians when factoring in population, and the disproportionate impact appears to increase with the seriousness of police conduct. While Black people made up 8.8 per cent of the population in 2016, from 2013 to 2017 they comprised:25.4 per cent of SIU investigations 28.8 per cent of police use of force cases36 per cent of police shootings61.5 per cent of police use of force cases that resulted in civilian death70 per cent of police shootings that resulted in civilian death “The interim report ...
|
