By Noah Stevens and Moustafa Towheed
Police injustice against racial minorities is a significant issue in Canada. Black, Indigenous and Asian people are consistently arrested and abused at a higher rate than white people. The Toronto Police Department released a report on the rate of use of force and strip incidents by race in 2020. “Black People were 1.6x, East/Southeast Asian People were 1.2x, Middle Eastern People were 1.2x and Latino People were 1.5x over-represented in Use of Force incidents relative to their presence in the population.” (Toronto Police Service, 2022, p. 49). In a 2022 study conducted by Statistics Canada, StatsCan reports, “According to the 2020 General Social Survey (GSS) on Social Identity, one in five Black (21%) and Indigenous (22%) people have little or no confidence in the police, double the proportion among those who identify as neither Indigenous nor a visible minority (11%).” The lack of trust from the community nationally reflects the injustice of police officers.
With the Canadian information in mind, we decided to explore whether national experiences were also reflected here in the Kingston community. Two reports dive into the past, present and future state of the Kingston Police regarding discrimination. The first report, released in July 2022, is a study by Roger Romero and several others titled ‘Kingston Speaks Inclusion Report’ and is publicly available. In this report, The KSI team consulted diverse Kingston community members for authentic feedback on the current state of policing in the city, particularly about police practices, community relationships, and community trust. The second report is The Kingston Police Department’s Annual Report for 2023 where they address the current state of police. Which report truly sheds light on the state of Kingston Police?
Yearly, The Kingston Police Department releases an annual report regarding the number of arrests and ‘use of force’ incidents that have taken place in the year. The report is mainly conducted by Scott Fraser, Chief of Kingston Police. The report is intended for the police to be as transparent as possible with the Kingston community. In the 2023 report, Scott Fraser writes, “The people of Kingston, including marginalized and/or disadvantaged persons, feel safer and are more satisfied with the Kingston Police.” (Fraser, 2024, p. 14) This seems great on the surface, but Roger Romero and the KSI team are willing to go below the surface.
The KSI Report was conducted in partnership with Kingston Community Health Centres (KCHC) and Kingston Police, over several months to amplify the opinions and experiences of the community and hear about the concerns of diverse Kingstonians with regards to Kingston policing. It is an unbiased study that made use of surveys, interviews, and focus groups with no agenda attached to it. The KSI team then relayed these experiences along to the Kingston Police. We interviewed the project lead for the KSI Report, Roger Romero, for a deeper understanding of the report and to see if he felt there had been appropriate change in the two years since its release.
Roger is a first-generation Canadian who came to Canada as a refugee. He currently works at a community health centre in Kingston, where he helps youth achieve their next step in life. We talked with Roger about what the Kingston Police can do to reduce inequality. Roger emphasized the fact that The Kingston Police Department has little diversity in the hiring of its employees, with most workers being white males. He believes the police need to realize the faults in their training and work towards correcting these mistakes. Roger also commented on the fact that the current police personnel are not equipped to support calls revolving around mental health, and the challenges that come with untrained officers helping vulnerable populations in the community. We also asked Roger about what a marginalized citizen can do when confronted by police. His advice is to be very careful and aware of what you say. Knowing your rights is very important in face-to-face situations. People don’t have to abide by officers’ instructions if not legally obliged.
Since the KSI team sent their report to the Kingston Police, there has been very little progress in the police accommodating any of the feedback from the community. Roger commented on how the Kingston Police Department spent money rebranding their cars shortly after the recommendations by the community, instead of taking action on some of the points community members felt were lacking. The City of Kingston Police have shown little accountability acknowledging the discrimination in the systems.
While both Kingston Police Department's annual report and Kingston Speaks Inclusion Report present informed views about the adjusted real ground of police in Kingston, they differ comparably in their perceptions of progress and accountability. The Police Department's report further propagates a tale of safety and satisfaction especially perceived by marginalized groups, and the KSI Report should narrate the counter-reality wherein community members are dissatisfied with insufficient diversity, poor mental health training, and efforts to change systemic discrimination. The KSI team's findings call for immediate action from the Kingston Police to listen and act on the citizens' voices. Unless that happens, there will only be an increasing gap between self-assessment by police and what the public experiences. The true state of policing in Kingston remains uncertain. Whether the Kingston Police Department will consider this an opportunity for real reform or continue to indulge itself through superficial changes that avoid tackling core issues remains unclear.
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