Ottawa Police Services held a live question and answer session on Twitter this evening as part of its Traffic Stop Race Data Collection Project.
Beginning in April 2013, police officers who stop cars will be required to note their perception of the driver’s race.
This study is being conducted following a complaint by an Ottawa man to the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2005, alleging that police stopped his Mercedes-Benz because he was black.
Throughout the conversation on Twitter, OPS stressed that the project data will be collected based on the officers’ perceptions of the drivers and not their actual races.
“This project has already created a lot of positive discussion. We’ll study results [in April 2015] to determine next steps,” OPS replied when asked how the data will be analyzed.
Three professors from York University also joined the OPS in responding to questions on the social media website.
OPS are holding a public consultation session on the race data collection project on Jan. 31 and encourage interested community members to register and provide input.