By TIMOTHY APPLEBY
Friday, April 1, 2005 Page A13
Enough already -- no more rhetoric, no more public inquiries. Discriminatory police behaviour has been studied to death and what's needed is concrete action to combat it, says the president of the Association of Black Law Enforcers, Sergeant William (Chris) Bullen of York Regional Police.
Sgt. Bullen was dismayed but not surprised to learn of an in-house Toronto Police Service meeting late in 2003 where dozens of black officers said they had experienced racial profiling, both on and off the job.
"This exists and we've long said it exists," said Sgt. Bullen, leader of the York force's recruitment office and head of the Canadawide ABLE, which has about 1,000 members.
"I have the pulse of my membership and this is the reality for black law enforcers right across the province, particularly in the GTA."
The 42 black officers at the closed meeting represented the 300 of Toronto's 5,500 uniformed officers who are black. Aired via documents and notes leaked to the Toronto Star, their complaints described a range of discriminatory actions by colleagues, notably involving non-white motorists being pulled over for no good reason.
The only remedy, Sgt. Bullen said, is for Toronto's next police chief to declare, "I will listen to criticism and I will act."
Interim Chief Mike Boyd, who holds the reins until a successor to Julian Fantino is named, promised yesterday to do just that.
"I don't see a quick fix to this but I have to acknowledge this is a serious issue, and where we find it we're going to root it out," he said. "It will just not be tolerated."
In response to the published leak, Chief Boyd met yesterday with the rest of the force's management team.
"And the consensus was that we need to do more, and to move forward."
He agreed that some racial-minority officers "feel they don't have equal opportunities."
But public perceptions may be worse than the reality, he said, suggesting that too often -- particularly when pulling over errant drivers -- police officers fail to explain themselves adequately, leaving the impression that racism was the trigger.
A message seeking comment from the Toronto Police Association was not returned.
It's not just black police officers who voice complaints about discrimination, Chief Boyd concurred. He heard the same at a citizens meeting in North York as recently as Wednesday night.
"And policing worldwide is dealing with this."
So what will he do in the next few weeks, while the Police Services Board ponders selection of a permanent chief, (a job Chief Boyd has made no secret of pursuing)?
Talk to the force, white and non-white, he said.
"Learn the facts, hear their experiences and learn more about the scope of this, because I need to get to the bottom of it."