- Published: October 2, 2022
- Updated: October 2, 2022
- University / College: Carnegie Mellon University
- Language: English
- Downloads: 17
Racial profiling is the act of suspectingor the targeting of a person using the basis of the race of such a person tofurther the idea of stereotyping about the race of such a person withoutfocusing on the individual suspicion of such a person.
It is prudent thatracial profiling by the police has been fueled by racial segregation and thesame has had a negative impact on the police force because of the reduction ofpublic confidence on the police which has then affected the operation and theactivities of the police in the modern society. In this manner, there is a needto examine the same and identify how it affects the daily lives of thepopulation, people under the greatest threat of the same, and suggestedsolutions that can bring a long-term solution and improve living conditions ofthe population. It is prudent that the issue of racialprofiling is widespread in Canada and Toronto has been the center of the vicethereby establishing the need to examine the same with the view of creating along-term solution.
Despite governments rolling out various inquiries toexamine the same, a lot less has been done because there is no action takenagainst the police with the view of ending the vice (Hayle, Wortley, & Tanner, 2016). Theblacks decry discrimination against them and the poor police in the city, amatter which has made live difficult for them in Canada. According to OntarioHuman Rights Commission (OHRC), ‘ public interest inquiry’ into the racialprofiling by the Toronto police only proves what the blacks in the city knowsbut offers not the solution to challenges that the blacks face. The conduct ofToronto Police Service (TPS) has been under scrutiny for a long time (Zack, 2015). Racial profiling police in Canada is a critical issue, and theauthorities need to find a long-term solution to the same because it affectsthe daily lives of blacks, limits their engagement in economic development andthreatens unity between the blacks and whites in Canada.
To help in addressing the issue of policeracial profiling in Canada, there are questions that help to address the issueand create a solution to the same, and some of them include: 1. Why hasthe issue of police racial profiling lasted for so long in Canada? 2. What isthe role of the police in ending racial profiling? 3. Howdoes political leadership influence the issue of police racial profiling? 4. What isthe evidence of racial discrimination by the police? 5. Who are the people under the greatest threat? Seeking solutions to the above questions wouldhelp to get a holistic overview of the police racial discrimination in Canadaand suggest solutions to the problem and improve quality of lives for the blackcommunity (Bell, Hopson, Craig, & Robinson, 2014). First, in soliciting answers to thereasons why police racial discrimination has lasted for long in the country, one issue that comes out is that the police force is not determined to endpolice racial discrimination in the country and research reveal that the policeonly get to do the right thing when they receive pressure from politicians. However, it is on very rare occasions that politicians force them to act to endracial discrimination (Lewis, 2015).
Lack of willingness of politicians in thecity and the province is the reason behind the widespread cases ofdiscrimination and why it has remained a problem ravaging the society for along time. According to the Ontario Human RightCommission, the issue of police racial discrimination in Canada has affectedgenerations and those who faced the form of discrimination in their youth stillwarn their grandchildren about the vice in the society. The long-term vice incountry suggest a never-ending problem thereby suggesting a dark future for theblacks in Canada; this is because the problem has been allowed to continue fordecades without a solution being sought (Peirone, Maticka-Tyndale, Gbadebo, & Kerr, 2017). The other reason why policeracial discrimination has overstayed in Canada is that there is lack ofdiversity in the police force and a majority of the police are whites therebymaking it challenging to develop initiatives to tackle the menace in thesociety. Finally, there are no or weak policies on police racial discriminationthat can help in eliminating police racial discrimination in the countrythereby making it challenging to prosecute perpetrators of the same (Mosher,& Akins, 2015). The police can play a great role in endingthe vice in the society, and this calls for their active engagement incommunity welfare and works with different organizations to end the vice. Inthis manner, there is a need for the police, TPS, to become actively engagedwith various stakeholders among them being the non-governmental organizationsand take actions on the reports and inquiries (Marshall, 2017).
Police should crack a whipon the police officers that show explicit bias in the delivery of policeservices and offer uniform services to the population. Additionally, the policecan improve the relationship with the community and collaborate with them to endthe cases of police profiling against the black community (Seigel, 2017). Byimproving the relationship with the community, the police will have an easytime identifying the challenges facing the community and the community willsuggest ways of ending the vice to the police. Furthermore, the police force should beactively involved with the police and provide necessary report and data tohighlight areas that face the biggest threat of police profiling. Besides, thepolice force should devolve more funds and resources to fighting of policeracial profiling by providing office space for recording the forms of racialprofiling which help to acquire raw data on the same (Khenti, 2014).
Additionally, having a watchdog can help to monitor the conduct of the policeand prosecute officers that profile the black community with the view ofdiscouraging others to desist from the same. Finally, the Toronto police shouldprovide documents under legal obligations to the Ontario human rights code(Kitossa, 2014). With regards to the political leadership inthe country, it is prudent that politicians can play a great role to end policeracial profiling. One of the duties of politicians is to enact stringent lawsand tough punitive measures against the police officers who further racialprofiling (Bell, Hopson, Craig, & Robinson, 2014).
The tough punitive measures would helpto discourage police racial profiling and create a long-term solution to thevice. Additionally, the political class can also rally the people to strengthencivil rights movement and advocate for equal rights for all races and preventcases of discrimination in the country. Furthermore, politicians can use theirauthority in the political class to force the police to make the necessarychanges and stop the cases of discrimination in the society (Zack, 2015). Thepolitical power can play a great role in Canada and such authority can help inending the vice in the society and improve lives of the population.
Moreover, the conduct of the politicalclass during and after campaigns also play a role in ending police racialprofiling in Canada. In this manner, the police should be role models to thecommunities and act in accordance sensitize the population on the importance ofa unified society to as to boost unity and end racial segregation. Politiciansshould not base their political affiliations on the races, but such should bepolicy-based, the result of the same is a better society (Lewis, 2015). Finally, there is a need for politicians to encourage uniform development inthe society without any form of favoritism in the provision of services to thepopulation and boost diversity in the population.
The evidence of police racial profiling inCanada is the discriminative stopping and questioning of drivers where thepolice tend to stop black drivers while allowing the white drivers to pass theroad check without questioning (Hayle, Wortley, & Tanner, 2016). The other evidence of profiling is theuse of force against the blacks when the police carry out routine checks; thesame force is not applied on the whites in the same cases. The other evidenceof police racial profiling is a high number of arrests and charges among theblack races; this is in addition to the forms and conditions of release forvarious offense categories among them being possession of drugs obstruction ofjustice or police assault (Marshall, 2017). Furthermore, the police usually apply selective justice for minor offenses suchas causing disturbance and failure to comply with bail condition. The people that usually fall victims ofpolice racial profiling are black women and the blacks that are mentallychallenged, and this is evident in the disproportionate use of brutal forceamong such groups of people.
In this manner, the effect of such cases ofdiscrimination is widespread thereby leading to the need to create a long-termsolution by working with both government agencies and the population (Kitossa, 2014). Learning about police racial profiling the in Canada helps to identifythe effects of the same which informs strategies required to end the vice andcreate a society that encourages growth and development for all. There is aneed for additional research to identify solutions that can be used to end thevice and create a society where everyone can live and grow (Seigel, 2017). Finally, there should be an overhaul of the police force in Canada to weed outthe officers that encourage racial discrimination and encourage diversity inthe police force. ConclusionExamining the cases of police racialprofiling in Canada helps to highlight the cases of racial profiling and thechallenges that the victims go through in their daily lives.
It is prudent toacknowledge that a lot is needed to create a long-term solution and everyoneneeds to participate in changing the social fabric of the society to boostinclusivity and unity in the society. Additionally, the civil right movementshould improve their activities and participation in the society and advocatefor equal right in the society and eliminate any cases of discrimination. Thesame suggestion is directed towards the government of Canada which is seen tobe dismissing the cry of the black population for decades thereby allowingperpetuation of the vice. In this case, the government of Canada should setstringent policies to help curb police racial profiling and take punitivemeasures against police officers that encourage racial discrimination.