Report details systemic racism within London Police Service
A report into systemic racism at the London Police Service (LPS) paints a picture of officers who treat non-White people in a domineering and rude way, often stereotyping commu‐ nities and using excessive force while dismissing vic‐ tims' suffering.
In particular, Indigenous people reported their medi‐ cines not being respected during searches, people of colour said they were treated without empathy, and do‐ mestic violence survivors said they felt unsupported by police.
Meanwhile, police officers from within the Black, Indige‐ nous and people of colour (BIPOC) communities told re‐ searchers there was "subtle and covert" racism within the organization, while White of‐ ficers, particularly men, be‐ lieved they were victims of "reverse racism" and claimed that recruitment and promo‐ tion criteria were being relax‐ ed to promote diverse peo‐ ple and women at the cost of effectiveness and quality of service.
"I can't say I'm surprised at any of the findings. In policing across Canada and in many institutions across the province and country, there are systemic issues that we have to look at," Police Chief Thai Truong told CBC News on Wednesday.
The look at police culture, conducted at the behest of former police chief Steve Williams in 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, was released to CBC News after a freedom of information request. Inter‐ views with Londoners and with officers, as well as sur‐ veys of both groups by Hina Kalyal, a research analyst who works for the police ser‐ vice, were compiled and writ‐ ten up in 2021, Truong said.
The report would have been released eventually, the chief said, but CBC's request prompted its publication on‐ line earlier this month. Among the findings:
BIPOC respondents found officers to be "rude, dismis‐ sive, demeaning, judgmental and unresponsive." One-third of participants felt their com‐ plaints had been dismissed and downplayed by officers and half reported experienc‐ ing "outrage, anger, disem‐ powerment, frustration and disappointment" after being disrespected by officers. Some Londoners said they felt stereotyped as unfit par‐ ents or suffering from drug or alcohol addictions be‐ cause they were not White. Several Indigenous London‐ ers said their medicines were treated disrespectfully during searches and that officers didn't listen to their explana‐ tions about the sacred items.
People who were treated re‐ spectfully and with dignity during interactions with offi‐ cers said they didn't mind being given traffic tickets or other citations.
There's a commitment to do better among officers said Rick Robson, the executive di‐ rector of London's police union. "We recognize that there are issues that need to be resolved," he said. "I don't think these findings will be surprising to anyone."
A second phase of the systemic racism report tried to determine whether dis‐ crimination exists within the police service and limits ca‐ reer opportunities such as promotions for officers. Di‐ verse officers told re‐ searchers they were dissatis‐ fied with their career growth and detailed a culture that relied on favouritism and bonding between White members that excluded oth‐ ers. Other findings included:
Black, Indigenous and offi‐ cers of colour said they be‐ lieved they had limited career development and growth op‐ portunities. White officers
claimed they were the ones being discriminated against to accommodate women and more diverse officers. "The White members (men) claimed that the organization was relaxing the recruitment and promotion criteria to fa‐ cilitate the BIPOC members and women, at the cost of or‐ ganizational effectiveness and the quality of service de‐ livery by the London Police Service," the authors of the report wrote.
Standards have not been lowered for female or diverse candidates, Truong told CBC News, adding that more edu‐ cation is needed to change that perception among mem‐ bers - and that the organiza‐ tion needs to change to bet‐ ter reflect the community it serves.
"They think that we're low‐ ering our standards for di‐ verse individuals and females getting hired and that simply isn't true," Truong said. "The same goes for promotions. If you look at the senior leader‐ ship ranks alone, among in‐ spectors and superintenden‐ ts, we have one diverse se‐ nior officer (out of about 20)."
Educating officers about the importance of interacting with people with dignity is important, Robson said. However, officers see people at some of the worst times in their lives, and officers can strive to do better. "As a soci‐ ety, we need to do a better job of addressing issues of stereotyping and assump‐ tions based on culture."
There are no staff sergeants that identify as Black, Indigenous or a person of colour, he added.
"In the senior ranks we are not reflective of our com‐ munity," Truong said. "It doesn't mean that because we don't have diverse leader‐ ship there are no diverse leaders that are qualified. It means that for 170 years, our organization has hired pre‐ dominantly white males. and now we're in 2024 and the community has changed drastically. If you want a police service to service their community, they need to re‐ flect the community they ser‐ vice."
Truong was hired as Lon‐ don's 21st police chief in 2021 and is the first person of colour to hold the posi‐ tion. He appointed Treena MacSween, the highest-rank‐ ing police Black woman of‐ ficer, as one of his deputy chiefs earlier this year.
Truong says he's already been working on changing the systemic racism that ex‐ ists within the police service at all levels and welcomes outside experts to help him figure out how best to do it. He wants to increase the amount of training officers get with local officers after they finish at the Ontario Police College from three weeks to seven weeks.
"I need a fresh perspec‐ tive. It's very difficult to change culture from within but it's important to set ego aside and really dig down and look at where we are and how we can change for the better," Truong said. "We will never be a perfect organiza‐ tion, but we will strive for perfection. We have to be‐ cause the better police ser‐ vice we are, the better we are for this community."
An outside lens, with ex‐ perts from Fanshawe College and Western University, could help move that along, he added.
"If someone came in and said, 'We've looked at this and some of our experts want to do a full review and study. Let's look into how the organization feels truly. Let's look into the policies, the procedures. Let's look into all of it,' I would be completely open to that."