N.L. police watchdog to start collecting race-based data

Police and Public Trust, a CBC News Atlantic investigative unit project, scrutinizes the largely off-limits police complaint and discipline systems across the region. Journalists are using access to information laws, and in some cases court challenges, to obtain discipline records and data.

Newfoundland and Labrador's police watchdog is beginning to collect race-based data to look for inequity in civilians' interactions with police. 

Michael King was appointed the first civilian director of the Serious Incident Response Team  — which investigates dealings with police that involve serious injury, death or sexual assault — in 2019.

King, who shaped the oversight body after it became active in 2021, said information on who files complaints will be crucial in identifying racial bias in the justice system.

"That will inform our interventions going forward in order to improve the equity and the quality of justice in Newfoundland and Labrador," said King in a recent interview.

"It's not a simple exercise to determine how you're going to collect the data. It's a more complicated and lengthier process than you might think and it involves collaboration."

King said he has reached out to leaders in Indigenous communities and organizations to determine the best way to collect, gather and maintain that information. 

"Our team is about holding police accountable and if there are particular patterns that exist within police agencies involving criminal behaviour, we need to know that so we can better serve the people, the better deal with these cases."

Memorial University of Newfoundland criminologist Adrienne Peters said in general terms, data collection is crucial in understanding flaws within the justice system, including policing. 

Peters, who worked for the RCMP in British Columbia to gather and interpret data, said there seemed to be a hesitancy in the province, including by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, to agree to take part in her studies.

"To move forward to understand an issue or a challenge or a problem or an obstacle, whatever it might be, you have to thoroughly research and understand it," Peters said in a recent interview. 

Sulaimon Giwa, associate professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland's school of social work, said tracking race-based data benefits marginalized communities two-fold, beginning with SIRT-NL acknowledging that these kinds of injustices happen in the first place. 

"Once we track and we acknowledge that there's malfeasances that are actually taking place, then it also allows us the opportunity to be able to offer remedial alternatives or remedial actions to be able to begin to address those issues as they're surfacing," Giwa said.

Giwa encourages SIRT-NL to not just consult, but also invite marganalized communities and organizations to participate in the development of policy surrounding race-based data collection.