Police to release race-based data Toronto’s mayor says shows ‘clearly unacceptable’ situation | CBC News

Toronto police are set to release race-based statistics today on officers’ use of force and strip searches.

CBC News reported Tuesday that James Ramer, the service’s interim chief, will apologize to the city’s Black community when the data is released.

Ramer is set to speak around 10:30 a.m. ET and you’ll be able to watch live in this story.

The statistics — currently under embargo — relate to incidents that took place in 2020, the first year the provincial government began collecting race-based data related to use of force from police services. 

Toronto Mayor John Tory, speaking on CP24 Wednesday morning, said the data shows a situation that is “clearly unacceptable.”

Tory said it will show Black, Indigenous and other people of colour are more likely to be subjected to use-of-force than others. 

The collection of this race-based data began in 2017, after the Ontario government passed legislation that required several Ontario public sectors to start collecting it.

In the fall of 2019, the Toronto Police Services Board approved a policy on race-based data that would start with use of force and later extend to other police processes such as stops, searches, questioning and the laying of charges.

At the time, the board said the data would not be used to identify specific officers or manage their performance, but to “identify trends that contribute to professional development and organizational change.”