Montreal police fail to address racial profiling, report says

A newly released report shows Montreal police have failed to achieve many of the objectives they set for themselves in a plan to address racial profiling five years ago.

Police commissioned the reportfrom experts in 2015 to analyze how well it had done in putting into action a two year-plan to address racial and social profiling.

The report's leadauthor isMyrna Lashley,a McGill psychiatry professor and chair of theCross Cultural Roundtable on Security.

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Lashleysaid she believes Montreal police are making an honesteffort to address racial profilingbut miss the mark in many areasincluding training programs, hiringvisible minorities,funding outreach programs, and transparency.

"The police don't understand the lives of the people they're policing," Lashley said. "They have difficulty putting themselves in the shoes of the person standing in front of them,"

The report was based on asurvey of more than 150 officers and a dozenin-person interviews.

Training 'inadequate'

Lashley said police officers told her half-day sensitivity training programs they received were not enough.

"A lot of them felt that it was inadequate," she said."Some said that they hadn't had anything formally since they left CEGEP.Ahalf-day training, 10years ago or whatever it was these things have got to be renewed."

Some officers sought training programs online on their own because they said they felt the training from Montreal police had little to offer, she added.

"A lot of it is 'check the box' type thing.There's nobody putting you into an experiential situation," she said.

Complaints not tracked

The report found that Montreal policedon't have a centralized record of the number of racial profiling complaints, something that was recommended in the coroner's report looking into Fredy Villanueva's death fouryears ago.

Some complaints go to the police ethics commission while others to go to the Human Rights Commission, said Lashley.

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"I don't know if there's any way, the way things are set up right now, to get a full overview of the data," she said."You need a way to pull all that together."

Lashley also noted Montreal police's ongoing challenge in recruiting visible minority officers.

In 2015, only sevenper cent of officers werevisible minorities whileStatistics Canada found visible minorities make up32 per cent of the city'spopulation.

Successful programs cut

The report found that police programs that were successful in building bridges with visible minorities were underappreciated and underfunded.

Some, such as asports program involving officers and young people in Montreal North, have also beencut.

"If you don'thave the money I guess you have to cut somewhere but the SPVMhasgot to go and make that case and say 'we need a better relationship with the community you've got to give us that money,'" she said.

Lashley said little gestures like this what she called "soft policing"may not geta lot of attention, but they make a big difference.

A civilian oversight body to help set police objectives and priorities, such as the police services board in Toronto, could help address the problem, she added.

But she saidoverall police officers need to get to know the city better.

"We want them to come to our festivals," Lashleysaid. "We want them to come learn about our meals, come learn about our customs."

"Don't just come into our neighbourhood when there's police work to be done.Come and spend time with us."

Mayor promises action

The report, which was completed in June 2015, was only made public recently.

Mayor Valrie Plante said Thursday things will change under her new administration.

"It's now our duty to do a thorough follow-up because it's important for Montrealers to feel safe, whoever they are," Plantesaid.

Montreal police say they are currently analyzing the recommendations from the report and will "see how to integrate them in the next plan with the goal of improving our polices practices and to combat social and racial profiling."

Culturalshift needed

While Lashleybelieves police efforts are sincere, she said an incident from her own lifea few weeks ago shows thata major cultural shift still needs to happen.

She said she greeted police officers a few weeks ago at coffee shop and they didn't respond.

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"I thought to myself: 'Does it cost you anything to say good morning?'This could have been the beginning of you making a connection with a community member," she said.

They should have been happy a black woman is reaching out to them, she added.

"Nobody's yelling at you," she said."I'm treating you as another human being.I'm reaching out to you."