Carding drops but proportion of blacks stopped by Toronto police rises

Toronto stats on carding (declining) and people stopped (increasing), and the police response. Having the data allows us to ask the appropriate questions; not having data reduced the potential for informed discussion on issues related to socioeconomic factors or biases:

It’s a pattern some police watchers describe as “disturbing” and a sign of “systemic discrimination.”

Toronto police, however, say they are working hard to eliminate prejudice in the force, but that the race of those carded will always be disproportionate because of factors such as socioeconomic disparity.

“This isn’t an exercise in social engineering,” Deputy Chief Peter Sloly said last week when asked why the proportion of black people being carded rose even as carding overall plummeted.

“We go where crime occurs. We go where the community calls us to go. And we go where our own sources of information tell us that crime or other safety issues are occurring.

”While acknowledging there is some element of racial bias in policing, Sloly said “we’re not going to take ownership of all of the social ills that befall us as a 24/7 service provider.”

Carding drops but proportion of blacks stopped by Toronto police rises | Toronto Star.