Waterloo region police partner with human rights experts to improve race data collection system

Two Ontario-based human rights experts are leading a new study into the Waterloo Regional Police Service's race-based data collection strategy with a goal to help reduce racial disparities.

The three-year partnership between the service and the researchers aims to improve the current data collection system by making human rights-centred changes.

"I think the ultimate goal is to ensure that if there are racial disparities, that they are as small as possible. And ultimately that they don't exist at all," said Les Jacobs, one of the experts in the study. He is a professor and vice president research and innovation at Ontario Tech University.

Jacobs said the research will look for existing racial disparities, analyze the purposes behind them and eliminate causes rooted in discriminatory practices or biases.

The study's first stage, which launched Monday, will begin with consultations with racialized communities.

Lorne Foster, who is director of the Institute for Social Research and research chair in Black Canadian Studies and Human Rights at York University, is co-leading the study.

Research process

The study will be broken down into four sections: Reviewing current practices, pitching recommendations, working with the service to implement changes and consulting with the community.

Jacobs said they'll be looking at developing more detailed and comprehensive data collection tools to better understand the circumstances around the situations that require data gathering.

"For example, to better understand the connection between the call for service involved in a particular instance. Was that, for example, a mental health call or a weapons call or a warrant call? And is that relevant for understanding what the race data suggests?" Jacobs said.

The goal is to use the tools when necessary during incidents involving use of force, traffic stops or arrests, he added.

Police Chief Bryan Larkin said the study is multi-year to provide the researchers with as much information as necessary to really assess trends and patterns. As well, Foster and Jacobs will work with three other Ontario police services — Ottawa, Toronto and Peel — in similar work to review race-based data collection strategies and equity, diversity and inclusion.

Larkin called the study "part of our path forward." He said it's hoped the study will help guide the police service in making changes to how it approaches situations, training and how they recruit and promote people.

"Moving forward, you need to prevent the past from repeating itself," Larkin said after the December police services board meeting, adding he anticipated the board would receive quarterly updates on the researchers' progress.

"I think it's going to provide some tremendous insight of the why, and then actually give us the path forward as to how do we actually address systemic issues, how do we address systemic biases and discrimination within our institution as well as how do we do better overall as community," Larkin said. 

Use of force incidents 

The province introduced the Anti-Racism Act in 2017, which mandated the collection of race-based data by public sector organizations. It aimed to eliminate systemic racism and remove barriers that contribute to inequitable racial outcomes.

In 2020, the province mandated police to collect race-related data of individuals on whom they have used force.

For the first time last year, the WRPS released a report highlighting these incidents. Between January and June or 2020, 244 people were the subjects in incidents involving use of force. About 66 per cent of the subjects were white and 16 per cent were Black.

According to the 2016 Statistics Canada census, up to three per cent of the region's population identify as Black.

"We're very confident that in the space of a couple of years, Waterloo will really have made significant strides," Jacobs said.