Calgary police release race-based data, spurring calls for policy changes around data collection

The Calgary Police Service released new race-based data on Wednesday, marking a first step in new processes to track various forms of contact between officers and members of the public measured specifically by race.

The data includes race-based information collected in five different categories: missing persons, officer contacts, victims of violent crime, offenders of violent and property crime and use of force.

The race data analysis report highlights trends by applying the concepts of disproportionality and disparity to interactions with police when compared to the percentage of the same racial group in Calgary's population from the 2021 Statistics Canada census.

It's something the Calgary Police Commission (CPC) says it's been waiting for, as it hopes the outcome of the reports will be used to inform policing practices and the ways information is collected in the future. 

"These are data that I've been asking for since I was appointed to commission in 2020," said Heather Campbell, chair of the CPC's finance and audit committee, during the police commission meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Race data was obtained from the Calgary Police Service's (CPS) records management system, where interactions that require documentation are inputted by police officers. The race information is based on the officer's perception and not self-identification, and officers are not mandated to include race information when submitting reports. 

Additionally, race data that had what CPS describes as "conflicting race descriptions" — such as race collected as white on one record and Indigenous in another — was reported under the "racially ambiguous" category. 

In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for CPS said 63 per cent of officers, on average, across all categories, provided race data.

Key findings suggest Indigenous and Black individuals are overrepresented — meaning disproportionately affected when compared to the population of Calgary's Black and Indigenous communities — in categories such as officer contacts, police's use of force, as well as both victims and offenders of crime, according to the data analysis. 

The report indicates Indigenous persons are 2.5 times overrepresented as victims of violent crime.

It also found that young people aged between 12 and 17 are heavily overrepresented in missing persons reports. Female Indigenous youth, particularly those with a repeated history of going missing, are the most overrepresented group in the missing person data.

However, even in presenting the report, the CPS acknowledged that there are limitations to the data that require its findings to be understood in the context of how it was collected. The organization says it recognizes this data alone is not representative of the whole picture or personal lived experiences. 

"We're not declaring this work done, we're not declaring it achieved. What we are saying is that we've started and we are going to continue," Deputy Chief Chad Tawfik told reporters Wednesday.

"There's a lot of opportunities to look at this and do some different things. I think part of that's going to be guided by what happens at the national level, at the provincial level."

Tawfik says the challenges with data collection stem from a variety of limiting factors, such as a lack of federal or provincial policy mandating race data collection, or the CPS's own internal systems limiting officers to a set list of racial identities to choose from.

Police transparency

One Calgary criminologist says focusing on the minutiae of individual numbers and percentages isn't the point of the report, as the general takeaways point to larger structural and societal issues that he says need to be addressed in police forces across the country. 

"This is a really good example of a police agency trying to be transparent, trying to tell the truth. Kudos on the Calgary Police Service for doing that. But … we've known this truth for a very long time, let's get on with the reconciliation. Let's get on with the solutions that address the problems that we all know exist," said Doug King, a criminal justice professor with Mount Royal University.

"The bigger question is, what are we going to do about it?" 

King said this specific data had limitations that "shrink the reliability" of some of the statistics, specifically in terms of how it was collected.

However, he also believes the findings shouldn't be undermined just because there are many caveats to consider in terms of the collection of data. Instead, he believes it will prompt calls from both within the police force and externally for better structure and policy implementations surrounding how demographic data is collected.

"I do think all police agencies in Canada should be collecting this information. If I had the opportunity to make one agency do it, I'd compel the RCMP to do it," said King.

CPS's race data analysis report comes without any statistical significance, meaning the study doesn't follow the same rigour that would be required for academic research. The data also doesn't come with explanations or explorations of what's causing these numbers.

Police have 'a lot of work to do,' says advocate

Michelle Robinson — an Indigenous community member, Sahtu Dene advocate and host of the Native Calgarian podcast — is critical of the data, adding she believes the reports don't provide enough in-depth social context around why certain percentages are higher among Indigenous populations.

"There's a reason for the poverty, there's a reason for the shoplifting, there's a reason for that, and not giving that context I think is very difficult for the average layperson who actually doesn't care about the social context," Robinson told CBC News.

She said Calgary police officers have "a lot of work to do" before the data can make an impact.

"That said, this should be absolutely done in Alberta at all orders of government, at all municipal police forces," she said.

"I just don't trust the police to do it in a good way at this point."

For her, the most significant part of the report was its suggestion that Indigenous people — specifically Indigenous women — are disproportionately impacted as victims of violence and violent crime. 

"I would argue that number is much higher, mainly because we [Indigenous people] don't report. I don't report, I can't report. I know every time I talk to a police officer I'm at risk of death," said Robinson, adding she's hoping to see further accountability around police actions and uses of force. 

Calls for more, better data

As part of what the CPS refers to as its commitment to anti-racism, this collection, analysis and reporting of data is a starting point, it says, for the organization's improvement strategies to understand any disparities in its services.

CPS says this data has already resulted in the creation of an Indigenous community navigator position in the missing persons unit, and that it will continue to guide future policy decisions.

"The data is just the data, to be honest. It's telling us at a high level what, who we're dealing with there. And I think it's in discussions with the community and then going deeper where we need to go about what that data means," said Chief Mark Neufeld when speaking to the CPC on Wednesday.

"This is our first foray into this and we're proud of the fact that we've been able to bring it forward, but it's just starting to inform conversations in ways that we weren't informing them before."

What's more, Campbell — who is also the former co-chair of the Government of Alberta's Anti-Racism Advisory Council — applauded the report after it was presented during Wednesday's meeting, saying she was appreciative that the Calgary police service took the initiative to compile the data. 

Speaking directly to Neufeld, Campbell asked that the CPS encourage other police chiefs in Alberta to adopt a similar analytical approach.

"Our data in Calgary will become meaningless unless there is comparative data from other jurisdictions, improved data integrity for everyone and collaborative solutions and consequential changes," said Campbell. 

"Race-based data is nothing to fear. In fact, it's actually a moment where Alberta's policing bodies could demonstrate leadership with sufficient courage to respond to the communities and people they serve."

Following the discussion, the police commission also passed a motion for CPS to produce a report on the conversations with community partners and the activity within the police force now that the data has been published. That report is scheduled to be ready in January 2025.