Police note-taking mostly on white and young men

WATERLOO REGION — Waterloo Regional Police have released information on officers’ intelligence notes, which show that most note-taking was done on young and white men.

It’s the first time police have released any information related to intelligence notes taken by officers.

The notes were categorized by “perceived” race and by age. The report did not show a correlation between age and race.

Of the 1,747 intelligence notes collected in 2017, 1,286 were written on people who were described as white.

Black followed with 160 notes, 28 for Arab, 27 for Latin American and 21 for Aboriginal. In some notes, race was not specified.

An intelligence note is an officer’s observations or information on a person where there is no interaction with the person. The information can be observations by an officer or someone else.

The purpose of an intelligence note is to gather information on an individual, police said.

Intelligence notes also include a person’s name and other factors identifying them.

The report was presented to police board members at a recent meeting at police headquarters.

Police Chief Bryan Larkin said the intelligence note is information on an individual that the officer knows and recognizes. It is not a random stop such as a street check.

Larkin said intelligence notes track organized crime, street gangs and human trafficking.

Insp. Jennifer Davis told board members that the visible minority population of Waterloo Region accounts for 19 per cent of the total population.

And the intelligence notes on race show that the individuals police collect information on is just below 19 per cent, she said.

The report showed that most of the intelligence notes were recorded in Cambridge, followed by Waterloo.