Halifax Regional Police (HRP) want a military style armoured vehicle, and there is nothing the Board of Police Commissioners can do about it. Maybe you should give your favourite councillor a call.
I went to the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners meeting this afternoon when it recommended that street checks be suspended.. Afterwards I talked to some members of the African Nova Scotian community who think only a ban is good enough.
The Halifax Regional Police Department (HRPD) wants some $500,000 to buy an armoured vehicle, in what it calls “a logical next step in our critical response to major critical incidents.”
Robert Wright’s full response to the Wortley report, as delivered at this morning’s press conference at the Central library on Spring Garden Road. Robert Wright spoke on behalf of the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (DPAD), one of the organizations that long ago demanded a moratorium on the racist practice of police street checks.
There is nothing in Wortley’s report about police street checks we didn’t know, or could not have known, or should not have known before. Sure makes you wonder…
Police chief Jean-Michel Blais against all evidence denied that racial profiling and rude cops were ever a problem in the Halifax police department. It’s a good thing he’s retiring.
The CBC reports that the number of street checks by Halifax Regional Police has decreased over the last two years. However, that decrease has mostly benefited white people. The likelihood a member of a visible minority will be subjected to a street check has increased relative to a white person’s chances.
Kendall Worth reports how at times people on Income Assistance who have involuntary body behaviours like fidgeting or talking to themselves but are just minding their own business are being bothered by police or private security guards.”I recently learned of three people who had this happen to them in Halifax. As you will see, one of those three incidents ended up badly,” he writes.
Didn’t hear much about the police check study over the summer, but the NS Human Rights Commission recently launched an online survey asking all HRM residents about their encounters with police. We have long argued that what is needed is not yet another study, but an immediate stop to the racist practice, but maybe the survey has some redeeming qualities.
Halifax city employees who suffered racism, misogyny and bullying at work, can now call a tip line. As well, the process to hire a consultant to look at safe workplace issues has been set in motion. But are these measures designed to really fix this problem, or are they a distraction?