Calgary police release race-based data, spurring calls for policy changes around data collection
CBC
The Calgary Police Service released new race-based data on Wednesday, marking a first step in new processes to track various forms of contact between officers and members of the public measured specifically by race.
The data includes race-based information collected in five different categories: missing persons, officer contacts, victims of violent crime, offenders of violent and property crime and use of force.
The race data analysis report highlights trends by applying the concepts of disproportionality and disparity to interactions with police when compared to the percentage of the same racial group in Calgary's population from the 2021 Statistics Canada census.
It's something the Calgary Police Commission (CPC) says it's been waiting for, as it hopes the outcome of the reports will be used to inform policing practices and the ways information is collected in the future.
"These are data that I've been asking for since I was appointed to commission in 2020," said Heather Campbell, chair of the CPC's finance and audit committee, during the police commission meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Race data was obtained from the Calgary Police Service's (CPS) records management system, where interactions that require documentation are inputted by police officers. The race information is based on the officer's perception and not self-identification, and officers are not mandated to include race information when submitting reports.
Additionally, race data that had what CPS describes as "conflicting race descriptions" — such as race collected as white on one record and Indigenous in another — was reported under the "racially ambiguous" category.
In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for CPS said 63 per cent of officers, on average, across all categories, provided race data.
Key findings suggest Indigenous and Black individuals are overrepresented — meaning disproportionately affected when compared to the population of Calgary's Black and Indigenous communities — in categories such as officer contacts, police's use of force, as well as both victims and offenders of crime, according to the data analysis.
The report indicates Indigenous persons are 2.5 times overrepresented as victims of violent crime.
It also found that young people aged between 12 and 17 are heavily overrepresented in missing persons reports. Female Indigenous youth, particularly those with a repeated history of going missing, are the most overrepresented group in the missing person data.
However, even in presenting the report, the CPS acknowledged that there are limitations to the data that require its findings to be understood in the context of how it was collected. The organization says it recognizes this data alone is not representative of the whole picture or personal lived experiences.
"We're not declaring this work done, we're not declaring it achieved. What we are saying is that we've started and we are going to continue," Deputy Chief Chad Tawfik told reporters Wednesday.
"There's a lot of opportunities to look at this and do some different things. I think part of that's going to be guided by what happens at the national level, at the provincial level."
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.