Opinion / Commentary
Baseless accusations of police racism harm Toronto
The
assumption that police shootings are motivated by systemic racism, to the
exclusion of any other possibility, is inaccurate and inflammatory.
Toronto Star Order this photo
The postulation, based on
statistical disparities, that an entire police service is racist is false,
inflammatory and counterproductive to meaningful debate, writes Mike McCormack.
By: Mike McCormack Published on Mon Jul 20 2015
Over the past few years, the Toronto
Police Service has been the subject of accusations of racial profiling and
biased policing. Most recently, on the anniversary of the Danzig shooting, an article on this page by journalist Desmond Cole
stereotyped Toronto Police Service officers as anti-black racists.
While I respect the right of any
individual or group to express their opinions, the assumption that
police-involved shootings are motivated by systemic racism, to the exclusion of
any other possibility, is inaccurate and inflammatory.
When a police officer responds to an
incident that threatens serious bodily harm or death, it is the individual’s
behaviour that forms the police response, regardless of whether a person’s skin
colour is black, brown or white.
Today, all Toronto police officers
receive extensive training on dealing with persons with mental health issues
including de-escalation techniques. However, there is no single tool or
technique that will resolve every situation. Regardless of the individual’s
ethnicity, for each incident that ends with an unfavourable outcome, there are
thousands of other incidents that conclude peacefully. In 2014, the number of
use-of-force incidents was the lowest in five years. Relative to arrests made,
force was required in only 3 per cent of arrests, which included over 6,400
apprehensions under the Mental Health Act.
While a police-involved shooting in
Toronto is a rare event (two firearm discharges involving armed persons in
2014) the association has advocated for the issuance of non-lethal use-of-force
tools, including conducted energy weapons, to frontline officers.
Last year, our members had more than
2 million documented interactions with the public, including over 20,000
contacts with persons suffering from mental illness. Contacts include emergency
and non-emergency calls, traffic stops and enforcement contacts.
The total number of documented
contacts generating a filed public complaint was less than 0.1 per cent, meaning
that roughly 99.9 per cent of all contacts were not contentious. Some will say
that many people can’t be bothered to complain, however an additional 20,000
complainants would need to come forward to reach a 1-per-cent complaint rate.
Some have misrepresented police data
to support their irresponsible accusations of racial discrimination. The use of
census-based data to identify biased-policing, in the absence of other
variables, is outright wrong. Their findings are not proof of a culture of
biased policing. Assessing for bias is complicated. While the data may show
some disparity, it is not sufficient to substantiate these allegations. This
position is supported by the opinions of respected academics.
These unsubstantiated allegations of
racial discrimination are an attempt to stir public emotion and to justify
knee-jerk policy changes to police practices. What is ignored is the fact that
crime is not equally distributed throughout the city. The majority of gun
violence and other serious criminal activity occurs in neighborhoods faced with
socio-economic challenges. Despite declining overall crime rates, shooting
incidents in Toronto have increased by 48 per cent compared to last year and
the number of victims killed or injured is up by 66 per cent.
Police officers working in these
communities know that race does not generate crime and disorder in these
neighbourhoods. What does have an impact are socio-economic factors such as
poverty, unaffordable housing, lack of child-care, access to post-secondary education,
unemployment and homelessness.
Quality-of-life problems that
accompany crime and disorder are multi-dimensional, societal problems requiring
a multi-dimensional response. Police effectiveness depends on police legitimacy
and we will continue to do our part to build mutual trust and respect.
The association does not condone any
police practice that targets citizens on the basis of their skin colour, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, gender, race or religion. Bias-free policing has always
been our practice and our members are expressly prohibited from engaging in
bias-based policing activities.
That said, the police are not
perfect and our service has undergone significant transformation. While many
American police services have had police reform imposed upon them, we have been
ahead of the curve by addressing the issue of bias through mandatory and
non-mandatory training standards, policies and procedures, diversity hiring and
community-based policing initiatives that are the envy of police services worldwide.
As a forward-thinking police
association, we do not shy away from constructive criticism provided it is
fair, balanced, and evidence-based. Unfounded allegations of discrimination
based on statistical disparities and the postulation that an entire police
service is racist, however, are false, inflammatory and counterproductive to
meaningful debate.
This type of irresponsible rhetoric
simply undermines the good community relations our members have worked to
establish and thus harms all Torontonians.
Mike McCormack is president of the Toronto Police Associatio
BASELESS...BASELESS ACCUSATIONS MR. McCORMACK????????????????????????
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