Police collecting racial data comes with concerns, Bray says

Regina Police may soon begin collecting racial information on police interactions, but Chief Evan Bray has some questions before they do.

In a release on July 15, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and Statistics Canada announced their commitment to working in collaboration to gather race-based data for Canada’s policing community.

Regina Police Service (RPS) Chief Evan Bray said the conversation around racial data has been ongoing for years.

“This is a good conversation to have, I think, given what’s happening in the world right now,” Bray said.

The Chief raised concerns about the accuracy and reliability of racial data.

“I think the key with data … is that you want the data to be good data if you’re going to rely on it for making decisions,” he said. “Right now, there’s no uniformity in Canada as to who is collecting race-based data and how they’re collecting it and those are important questions.”

The race-based data proposed to be collected would involve documenting the cultural background of victims of crime and accused individuals, people who are in contact with the criminal justice system and interact with police.

Bray said police are often asked about how many victims or accused are from certain cultural backgrounds.

“It’s very tough to answer,” Bray said. “Many times police services don’t collect that data because many times police services don’t collect that data because of the fact that it’s hard to collect and it’s a bit of a controversial topic.”

The announcement about the decision to implement data collection came following a call for increased transparency by police services across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Floyd, 46, was killed while being arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A White police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, restricting his ability to breathe, before Floyd died.

Authorities across the United States and Canada have since come under increased scrutiny for police brutality against minorities.

How the data will be collected is a significant question Bray has.

“It’s a delicate topic and I think it’s one that we need to take thoughtful care as we proceed,” he said. “I don’t think we want it to be the police officer making a subjective guess at what the race is of the person they are interacting with, whether it be a victim or an accused person. But at the same time, we need to make sure that we’re not off-side with regards to human rights and the Charter by asking the question. Is the person comfortable in self-identifying as to what their race is or giving that information to police?”

The situation will put police in a tricky position, Bray said. It’s something he believes will require some education for the public to inform people why they might be asked to self-identify their race to police in the future.

CACP and Statistics Canada say they want to “enable police to report statistics on Indigenous and ethno-cultural groups in police-reported crime statistics on victims and accused persons.”

“The value of such information has been raised by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and by organizations such as the Canadian Race Relations Foundation,” the release stated.

“Statistics Canada and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police know that the demand for this information has never been greater and are committed to identifying ways to provide reliable police statistics on Indigenous and ethno-cultural groups.”

Statistics Canada and CACP said they are beginning negotiations on how to collect data that will provide useable information.

Canada’s top statistician, Anil Arora, said the gathering and examination of this data apart from police is important.

“Disaggregated data is vital for decision making in multiple sectors and Statistics Canada is committed to working with the CACP to ensure Canada’s official police-reported crime statistics reflect indigenous and ethno-cultural groups,” Arora said.

Currently, Ontario is the only province to collect any form of race-based crime data, in instances where force is used on an individual. Officers report the “perceived subject race” on a use of force report.

The protocol was implemented in Ontario on Jan. 1, 2020.

Ensuring this data is consistently collected is another concern.

“I think if it becomes a uniform gathering tool, if it’s something that is done in a thoughtful way … it makes it a lot easier for police services to be justified in collecting that data,” Bray said.

It remains unclear as to whether this information is something that individuals can be compelled to share with police or if they can elect to invoke their right to privacy under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“That’s why this is a tricky discussion and there’s a lot of implications and things that need to be considered even from a person’s rights under the Charter as to whether or not they have to give that information,” Bray explained.

“I think we need to make sure that those questions are onside and ones we can legally ask or request that information and then the relationship has to be such that that person is willing to give the information.”

Bray believes the data will be less effective if not provided consistently, meaning if individuals choose to not self-identify, the data may not reveal the whole picture of how police interact with different cultures.

“Sometimes you’ll have groups of our citizens in our city or populations who are less comfortable speaking with police,” Bray said. “I recognize there’s some work to be done here locally.

“I think that’s why we need to take a cautious approach, but optimistic that if we can get to the point of good data that it will be positive.”

Bray continued.

“The work needs to be done up front to understand all angles of this … I think data, if it’s going to be collected, it needs to be collected in a way it’s providing a clear picture for everyone.

“There’s calls for this collection of this type of data and if it’s going to happen it should be done in a meaningful way that we know the data is going to be trustworthy,” Bray said.

Bray said RPS will continue to work with the Board of Police Commissioners and consult with national and provincial partners to “work alongside this process as it unfolds.

“There is a lot of work that is going to have to happen nationally before this can fall into place,” Bray said.