Peel police board ditches director
Mayors say the force needs to go in a more progressive direction
After promising to make “progressive” changes to policing in Peel, the board that oversees Canada’s third largest municipal police force has fired the man who influenced many of its decisions for 25 years.
“People like (the Star) challenged us to be progressive, we just want to go in different directions,” police board chair Amrik Ahluwalia said Monday, following the “termination” of Fred Biro’s employment by a board vote on Friday.
Biro had served as executive director of the Peel Police Services Board since 1991. Police critics have told the Star that he had become instrumental in charting the course for the force, one that Ahluwalia pledged to change when he was elected chair in January.
“We want to serve the people in a different way. We appreciate the service Mr. Biro has given to the board for more than 20 years. We just want to go in a different direction,” Ahluwalia said.
Reached at his Mississauga home, Biro declined to comment. The move could mean more headaches for Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans, who was supported by Biro on issues such as the controversial practice of “street checks,” also known as carding.
Evans has faced fierce criticism for her pro-carding stance, as calls have mounted from the community to have the board exert its control on this issue. The Peel police service has been plagued over the past decade by controversies concerning racial profiling incidents, police misconduct and officers who have misled the courts, according to judges. Some issues: Data obtained by the Star in August under a freedom of information request showed that only 13 per cent of uniformed officers were visible minorities in 2010, while 60 per cent of Brampton and Mississauga residents were visible minorities.
In 2012, Superior Court Justice Deena Baltman slammed Peel drug squad offi- cers for an “illegal search” and committing “perjury, en masse” in a drug case. The force’s internal affairs bureau faced heavy criticism.
After a yearlong fight to obtain internal disciplinary records, in September the Star reported on the behaviour of some of the roughly 60 Peel officers disciplined for misconduct since 2010, such as sexual harassment.
After being overlooked for a promotion in 2013, Staff Sgt. Baljiwan (B.J.) Sandhu testified to the Human Rights Tribunal in November about alleged systemic discrimination he faced over almost 25 years in the force.
The force is challenging Sandhu’s claims. When Ahluwalia, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey indicated they were ready to ban street checks, Biro advised them at a police board meeting in September that Crombie’s motion might not be allowed because police boards are not permitted to make “operational” decisions. The point is contentious; legal experts have argued that carding is a “policy” matter, not an operational one.
The board, after a vote on the issue, instead “requested” that Evans suspend the practice, but she refused to comply.
An email from Biro to Evans and board members — obtained through a freedom of information request — sent days before the 2015 board meeting where Crombie and Jeffrey first confronted the chief about the force’s carding practices, included a newspaper article praising carding as an “invaluable source of intelligence for police.”
The Star later analyzed data from 159,303 Peel police carding entries from 2009 to 2014, which showed that black individuals were more than three times as likely to be stopped and carded as whites.
The province stepped in earlier this year and introduced new regulations to govern police carding.
Ahluwalia was elected chair in January by fellow members of the board, amid calls for fundamental changes to the force. Ahluwalia promised, on the day he gave an emotional speech as the new chair, that he would fight to make the force more progressive.
“This most recent decision, I believe, reflects the new direction our board is headed towards in an effort to better reflect the needs of our changing community,” Jeffrey said Monday, when asked about the decision to remove Biro.
“The composition of the police services board itself has been evolving since the 2014 election and has been systematically moving in a new direction.”
The board also parted ways with its manager, Lea Steenhoek, in the same move.
Crombie echoed the views of her board colleagues, saying the move mark a shift for Peel police.
“We thank them for their many years of public service, but the board decided it wanted to go in a different direction.”