Collecting correct race data difficult, police chief warns

Officers doing street checks could be put in awkward situation: Cooper

Saskatoon’s police chief says it would be difficult to record accurate race data gathered during street checks due to an officer’s perception of race.

Police Chief Troy Cooper told other members of the Board of Police Commissioners during Thursday’s meeting that it would also be an awkward conversation for an officer to have if he or she is trying to interact with the public in a way that’s not offensive.

“We understand it would make it easier for us to audit policy application but, practically speaking, it’s probably something that’s really quite difficult to do with any accuracy at all,” he said after the meeting.

A final decision has not yet been made whether to include race or ethnicity on contact interview forms that Saskatoon officers must fill out.

“What we know currently, of course, is that there’s two lines of thinking around that and one of them is that it’s valuable because you can audit and the other is that it’s impossible to accurately do it,” he said.

“I think those conversations, we’ll consider them, the board will consider them and arrive at a decision to what our training and what kind of data we’re going to keep and for how long.

“I think there may be other ways to audit the application of the contact interview than by measuring or attempting to measure race,” he continued.

The discussion came after the board received a letter written by University of Saskatoon law professor Glen Luther in response to a survey meant to gauge public response to the Saskatchewan Police Commission-created contact interview policy. The most recent survey was answered by 22 respondents out of the 150 groups and individuals approached for feedback.

In his letter, Luther urged the police service to keep track of the race of people officers interact with.

“The apparently long-standing policy not to do so, simply allows the numbers of marginalized people stopped by the police to remain invisible to you, the body tasked with overseeing the police service. It is essential that this statistic be collected for accountability purposes,” he wrote.

The contact interview policy itself was introduced by the SPC in June, and put a definition to a law enforcement practice commonly called “carding.”

But the policy also appeared to put limits on the kinds of situations the contact interviews could be used in, such as when a person’s actions or demeanour raises concerns about their safety or if they appear lost or confused. Officers can also initiate street checks if a person’s presence in an area comes into question, for example being in an industrial area when everything is closed.

The SPS has one person assigned to tailoring the training to officers in Saskatoon and the training is expected to be complete early 2019. The service has also designed a system for collecting and purging the data collected during street checks.

The service’s 465 sworn members may be pulled in for training in groups on days they’re on duty, and Cooper said the SPC appears to be planning to deliver the training in the form of a video.

Members of the public will have a chance to see what the training will include. Cooper said it’s valuable for the public to understand why street checks are conducted, what it is and what police are doing with the data to demonstrate its usefulness, and this thinking applies to training, too.

“We need to be transparent about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it and I think the training is a big part of that.”

The Board of Police Commissioners is planning an Oct. 9 public consultation at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, starting at 7 p.m. Board members are seeking the public’s input not only on the street check policy, but also on cannabis in the community, de-escalation techniques in dangerous situations and the newly formed Safe Community Action Alliance.