Police plan diversity audit

By Micaal Ahmed

Last year’s death of Somali-Canadian Abdirahman Abdi while being arrested has pushed the Ottawa Police Service to put diversity issues within its ranks under a microscope.

At an Ottawa Police Services Board meeting on Jan. 23, the “Justice for Abdirahman” coalition called for an independent third-party examination into the diversity of the police force.

“There are legislations and certain procedures and certain ways in which the organization works that have a racial bias,” claimed Dahabo Ahmed Omar, a member of the coalition. “We’re not saying that all individuals are racist, or even that the organization is racist. We’re saying that there are elements of racial bias within the OPS.”

In response, Chief Charles Bordeleau said plans for an internal diversity audit were underway, with an external entity being involved as well. It wasn’t explained what the role of the external entity will be, or who it would be. The chief stopped just short of ordering an external audit.

“This is not what we asked for,” Omar said. “But it is a first step in the right direction.”

Abdi died in July 2016 after Ottawa Police responded to 911 calls about a man allegedly groping women in a café in Hintonburg. Witnesses said Abdi – who was suffering from mental illnesses – was then pursued, pepper sprayed and later punched by two officers who arrested him a few blocks away.

Abdi, 37 at the time, was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. His death led to a public outcry in the city, with many accusing the police of racism.

The Ottawa Police Services Board supports the audit announced by Bordeleau.

“The board is very supportive of the Ottawa Police carrying out a diversity audit,” said West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, the board’s chair. “As we saw with the results of their gender audit, this type of analysis can help highlight areas that need more work and investment.”

“I think it is fair to say that in general, racial profiling and prejudices exist in society, and therefore in policing as well. Our goal is for our police service to be bias-neutral and free from racial profiling,” El-Chantiry said.

No other details about the planned audit were revealed by police. Bordeleau, speaking through the Ottawa Police’s media relations department, said it was premature to discuss any details of the audit, but that it would be conducted this year. El-Chantiry said the plans for the audit were currently in development, and that it would be premature to discuss a timeline.

The police conducted a gender equality audit last year. It took about five months from start to finish, and found that women indeed faced discrimination within the ranks of the police. That audit was an external one, conducted by Carina Fiedeldey-Van Dijk.

Fiedeldey Van Dijk’s work in the gender audit could offer some insights into what could be gained with another audit of police conduct, Van Dijk said.

“The audit was conducted in two parts,” said Van Dijk. “One was done by doing a review of written documentation that the OPS submitted … which was several thousand pages across several hundred documents. The second part was interviews which were done with 20 OPS officers from different ranks.”

She said that while the framework for her audit could quite possibly be used for the diversity audit, there are other ways in which the audit could be conducted as well.