Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
CALGARY – An analysis of race-based data shows Calgary police used a disproportionate amount of force against Indigenous and Black individuals in the city last year.
The Calgary Police Service made a commitment to collect and report race-based data in 2020.
The findings, in two reports released by the Calgary Police Commission, showed that in terms of the use of force, Indigenous women and men along with Black men were overrepresented compared to their population totals.
Use of force includes stuns and strikes, dynamic takedowns, leg holds, spit masks, restraining rings as well as the use of batons, pepper spray, carried energy weapons, bean bag guns and firearms.
The reports examine racial data related to the use of force topics and allow the police to identify and monitor indicators of bias and systemic racism.
The report also found that racialized males and females are underrepresented in numbers when it comes to the use of force.
Calgary Police Deputy Chief Brad Tawfik told the commission that the information is not based on interviews with perpetrators or victims of violent crime – but officer findings and reports that are filed.
“At the moment, it is perception data but there is talk in the national board that it should be self-identification… or both,” said Tawfik.
“This is a start and we recognize that limitation in our analysis so I think it’s a good warning for all of us.”
Tawfik said the public must be careful when drawing conclusions from the data alone.
He said the data shows that only one in every 703 officer interactions rise to the level where the use of force is used.
“It’s quite small. About 0.14 percent of the interactions we have would rise to the level of a use of force report being submitted,” said Tawfik.
“That doesn’t take away from the significance of what we see here and what we’re finding around the data but it does give context to a fairly small sample. But it’s something we obviously want to address.”
Chief Constable. Mark Neufeld said that the service had worked simultaneously with its partners nationally on developing data standards while developing its own interim methodology.
“We are sharing the results of the analysis conducted by the Calgary Police Service as additional efforts toward a national framework continue to progress.”
In terms of victims of violent crime, Indigenous individuals are 2.5 times overrepresented as victims while female victims of assault, robbery and sex crime are disproportionately higher than their percentage of the population.
The chair of the Calgary Police Commission said collecting the data has been a priority.
“Race-based data helps us better understand areas where some communities experience policing differently than others, and it makes it possible to track the effectiveness of ongoing work in this area,” said Shawn Cornett .
“While the release of these reports is a big step in the right direction, we know this is not the end. There will be much more analysis and hard work ahead that this data will make possible.”
A report released by the Toronto police in 2022 found that 39 percent of the people the police used force against in 2020 were Black.
He also found that Black residents were more likely to have a police officer point a firearm at them when they appeared to be unarmed than white people.
Toronto’s police chief apologized publicly.
Other findings in the report include that of the approximately 5,000 missing people reported last year, youth between the ages of 12 and 17 make up more than half of all reports and that the group is female indigenous youth with chronic histories most overrepresented.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on September 25, 2024.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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