Ottawa police will begin collecting racial data on drivers they pull over as part of a settlement agreement between the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Ottawa Police Services Board.
The settlement stems from a 2005 traffic stop of then-18-year-old Chad Aiken who filed a human rights complaint, claiming that police pulled him over because he is black. The commission and the police reached a partial settlement in the summer of 2010 and the commission released the latest settlement today.
Officers conducting traffic stops will have to collect information for two years on the race of drivers they stop. At the end of those two years, the data will be provided to the commission.
“Racial profiling exists across our society,” Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau told a press conference, “and police is no exception.”
Ottawa police already have a racial profiling policy and training in place, Bordeleau said, but this program is new.
“I’m very confident in the professionalism of our members,” said Bordeleau, “and I have no doubt that at the end of this project, they will demonstrate that the Ottawa Police Service is a bias-free policing organization.”
Police won’t start collecting the data for another year because they need to devise a methodology for identifying racial types.