A detailed analysis of never-before-seen police watchdog data has found Black people are “grossly overrepresented” in cases in which Toronto police have used force, especially when it comes to fatal shootings. But while members of the city’s Black communities welcomed the extensive data analysis, which was released by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) Monday, many said the findings told a well-known story.“This reality has long been documented — these are not, in fact, new times,” said Sam Tecle, a community leader with the youth organization Success Beyond Limits, which is based in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. “The reality is that young people, their parents, their elders and residents face an increased amount of policing, and what many in the community would call over-policing.”“This is an every day experience. This is not new,” said Valerie Steele, a community activist and member of the Black Action Defence Committee.In an interim report released on Human Rights Day, the OHRC revealed the initial findings of its inquiry into racial profiling and discrimination within the Toronto Police Service, which it launched late last year following a spate of high-profile incidents including the fatal shooting of Andrew Loku, a mentally ill Black man. The ongoing examination is enabled in part through the commission’s powers to compel data from the Toronto police, its civilian board and Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The report involved a review of more than 430 investigations conducted since 2000 into Toronto police officers that have been launched by the SIU, which probes incidents involving police that result in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault. Read more:Breaking down the ‘disturbing’ data in Toronto police racial profiling reportMan suing TTC claims violent assault a case of ‘racial profiling’Toronto m ...
|
