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Inquiry launched into police use of force: B.C. human rights commissioner

This expands on the 2021 report that look at mental health calls, detainment in 5 police jurisdictions
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B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender speaks in Vancouver on March 7, 2023. Govender announced Jan. 30, 2024 that her office has launched an inquiry into police use of force in the province. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C.sa国际传媒檚 human rights commissioner is launching an inquiry into police use of force against racialized people and people with mental health issues.

The Office of the Human Rights Commissioner announced the inquiry Tuesday (Jan. 30), which is aimed at quantifying the use of force by police agencies in B.C. The inquiry will build on the commissionersa国际传媒檚 2021 report sa国际传媒淓quity is Safersa国际传媒 that revealed a disturbing pattern of discrimination in policing in the province.

sa国际传媒淭here is a direct connection between equity and safety. We need police that exercise non-biased decision-making and also that we eradicate systemic discrimination from policing more generally. That will actually result in safer communities,sa国际传媒 commissioner Kasari Govender told Black Press Media.

She added the inquirysa国际传媒檚 aim is to better understand who is at the receiving end of use of force by police, specifically looking at demographic data and whether they can understand racial data from that.

sa国际传媒淎ny gaps that we identify in that data, may as well be recommended that they collect that information in the future,sa国际传媒 she told Black Press Media Tuesday.

The 2021 report used an expert analysis of data from five police jurisdictions sa国际传媒 the Vancouver and Nelson police departments and the Surrey, Duncan and Prince George RCMP detachments sa国际传媒 to show how Indigenous and Black people are sa国际传媒渆ither grossly or significantly over-represented in arrest and chargeable incident statistics.sa国际传媒 It also found that a great deal of police activity involves people experiencing mental health issues, sa国际传媒渋n which Indigenous, Black and Arab/West Asian people are also significantly over-represented.sa国际传媒

sa国际传媒淓quity is Safersa国际传媒 was developed as a submission to the Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act, which included several recommendations to the provincial government in April 2021. The first reforms from the committee are set to be discussed this spring after a delay in fall of 2023.

Govender said earlier work, and from listening to racialized people from across B.C, shows that potential disparities in policing demand monitoring and action.

sa国际传媒淭his (inquiry) adds an additional area of police activity, which is use of force. It looks at a different kind of policing activity, which is one of the most significant pieces of it. But it also really shifts some of the focus onto mental health, in particular, potentially a different proportion of the use of force against public mental health concerns.sa国际传媒

The commissioner requested the information from B.C.sa国际传媒檚 Public Safety Ministry, and she said her office has received all of the information requests. The ministry receives annual reports on use of force from police departments in B.C.

Govendersa国际传媒檚 office will analyze the data to sa国际传媒渄etermine whether it shows any disproportionate impacts to racialized persons or persons with mental health issues.sa国际传媒 She said she hopes to present a report by the end of the year or in early 2025.

sa国际传媒淚 anticipate making quite a targeted report with very practical recommendations as much as possible to allow the ministry or police to really make change, to really give them guidance on how to create change.sa国际传媒

Black Press Media has reached out to the Public Safety Ministry for comment.

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sa国际传媒 With a file from Tyler Harper

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Lauren Collins

About the Author: Lauren Collins

I'm a provincial reporter for Black Press Media's provincial team, after my journalism career took me around B.C. since I was 19 years old.
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