Opinion: Systemic Changes

Recommendation # 17- Racial & Social Profiling- of the consultation report of the Office de consultation publique (OCPM) of Montreal directly aims to effect a fundamental change in the organizational culture of the Service de police de Montréal (SPVM), through the review of the mechanisms and methods of selecting the leadership of the service as well as the next generation of its police officers. We are talking about systemic changes here.

In my opinion, the successful implementation of the elements of this recommendation is a sine qua non condition for the success of the application of the other recommendations of the OCPM, not only for the SPVM but for all public safety agencies in Montreal.

Organizational culture

Organizational culture refers to a set of informal social behavior patterns that affect communications, decision-making and interpersonal relationships among other things, which come from deeply held values, assumptions, and norms of behavior in society at large. An organization can have multiple subcultures, each reflecting the unspoken norms, values and assumptions of members at different levels of the organization.

According to article 48 al. 2 of the Quebec Police Act, in carrying out their mission, police bodies ensure "shall ensure the safety of persons and property, safeguard rights and freedoms, respect and remain attentive to the needs of victims, and cooperate with the community in a manner consistent with cultural pluralism. Police forces shall target an adequate representation, among their members, of the communities they serve." In this regard, it is the Director who is responsible for overseeing the activities of the police service and its culture, in accordance with the Law as well as the objectives, priorities and policies of the Public Security Commission as well as the Ministry.

The impact of systemic racism and discrimination on diversity within law enforcement

In Montreal, although “visible minorities” represent 33% of the metropolitan population, only 8% of the SPVM police officers reflects this population. Over the past 15 years, the number of “visible minority” police officers at the SPVM have increased by approximately 3%.

The under-representation of visible minority police officers among all police services in the Canada can be attributed as much to flaws in the service's recruitment strategies and practices and to systemic barriers (as in citizenship requirement to become a police officer in Quebec), as to the resistance of members of minority communities to pursuing a career in organizations perceived as discriminatory towards them (as in racial profiling) and towards the small number of police officers from those same communities.

For example, in 2007, a study conducted by UQAM revealed that once in office, racialized police officers from the SPVM revealed that they also suffered various forms of discrimination and racism, including limited chances of promotion, assignments to tasks. specific and predominantly ethnic neighborhoods, racist jokes, insults, attitudes of suspicion and rejection. Thirteen years later, in June 2020, black police officers from the SPVM asked the police union Fraternity to look into the problem of systemic racism, which the SPVM has already officially recognized, and "listen" to the racialized minority of its members. These police officers denounce systemic practices such as the persistence of the use of the term "Street Gang" which stigmatizes the entire black population, the hiring of cadets from regions remote from Montreal who have no experience of living in a multi-ethnic and linguistic environment, and the fact that ? of its employees live outside Montreal and have no involvement in the communities they serve.

In May 2021, Commander Patrice Vilcéus, (a Black SPVM officer) encourages the SPVM to change its culture:

“I believe that we should honor our values of integrity, respect and commitment to ourselves, but also to the citizens that we serve, including by condemning racial profiling. “ “And perhaps, become the example to follow ?”?

The law allows police services to use strict or absolute security clearance as a condition of employment, asserting that it is a fair test that is rationally linked or essential to determining the suitability of potential candidates.?However, this poses major problems for applicant originating from highly policed disadvantaged groups, as they are often unwittingly associated with criminality. For example, following the Villanueva incident, Prof. Mathieu Charest consulted the register of SPVM "street checks" forms, between 2001 and 2007, and obtained the register of individuals who are members or sympathizers of the SPVM street gangs, a bank of 10,000 names ! Such situation obviously narrows the pool of available "suitable" candidates from those communities. It is therefore important to ensure that the assessment of a file of a racialized applicant is conducted without discriminatory bias.

Particular vigilance is therefore necessary in the event of rejection of racial minorities unfairly associated with "criminality" resulting from systemic racism in the criminal justice system, or with the widespread but often secret use of information relating to the misconduct of minors and less serious criminal charges such as violations of city ordinances (incivilities). Vigilance is also necessary when minorities are subject to excessive background checks and scrutiny because of their religion, or they are from ethnic origins arbitrarily linked to terrorism.

Racial representation and profiling:

From the outset, several studies strongly question the argument that the recruitment of minority police officers contributes to improving relations with the public, hence reducing racial profiling. These studies argue that the quality of police community relations depends more on the organizational context in which the recruit is called upon to exercise its function than his minority status. As many police officer s and students in police techniques can testify, applicants from the AEC Police Diversity or "conventionals" often face an unwelcoming hostile environment during their police studies at Cégep and at the Québec Ecole nationale de la police. This situation continues during their career with their chosen police service. These racialized police officers hear on a regular basis that they are "job thieves" or that the hiring criteria have been lowered to hire them.

The Oxford Handbook of Recruitment , written by Daniel M. Cable, states that "an organization's ability to recruit minority candidates is based on its reputation or image of diversity." He adds that if an organization wishes to target candidates from minorities, it must have a positive image of diversity. For example, if a public security service is perceived to have a bad reputation among its racialized officers or members of minority communities, it will have a hard time attracting diverse candidates. Organizations that are successful in attracting diverse candidates normally have a reputation among officers of color for being welcoming and accepting of all their members, regardless of race. Marketing to communities of color should therefore feature the community service aspects of the job as opposed to the tactical aspects. Recruiting videos with fast-paced music and lots of SWAT lights and action, isn't necessarily the best type of recruiting strategy to target diverse applicants!

For example, as specified in a report from the Quebec Ministry of Education in 2010, exercising the work of a police officer in a metropolis such as Montreal requires that the evaluation of the attitude of an applicant towards cultural and social diversity is done in a primordial and unavoidable way. In addition, certain events, often tragic and generally highly publicized involving the public security services of Montreal (profiling incident at the STM , the arrest of Me. Kwado Yeboah and the arrest of Mamadi III Fara Camara, the Pierre Coriolan case and the death of Sheffield Mathews , as well as the events in Montreal-North surrounding the death of Freddy Villanueva ), concerning police interventions with certain clienteles (visible and religious minorities, homeless people, people suffering from mental health problems), have demonstrated that openness to diversity is essential to be an agent of peace in the 21st century.

Peace officers must be open, even welcoming, to all the citizens they will be called upon to protect and serve. It is therefore imperative that the psychometric tests used when staffing a position contain an implicit association test to seek to know the average level of unconscious bias of applicants for public security services. To be a peace officer in a multicultural and ethnic environment such as Montreal, it is essential that implicit bias tests filter out those who may have prejudices beyond acceptable standards for their role.

Knowledge and recognition of the problem of racial and social profiling

In addition to having knowledge and recognition of the problem of racial and social profiling as well as mastering the skills necessary to lead an organizational culture change, public safety agencies must be fully committed to eliminating the practice of racial profiling as well as to diversify their service.

In June 2020, the SPVM recognized systemic character of racism and discrimination, and a month later the police service adopted a policy on police stops. The SPVM's policy marks an important cultural shift and formally frames the organization’s police arrests. This is the first Quebec police service to adopt such a policy.

“A culture change takes time. And it takes several small gestures, not a single gesture. We are part of a major cultural change in the organization, "Sylvain Caron, director of the Police Department of the City of Montreal (SPVM), in an interview with La Presse.

In a report unveiled in February 2021, the Commission de la sécurité publique de la Ville de Montréal made 25 recommendations to the SPVM to fight racial profiling, including a policy of "zero tolerance" towards any discriminatory or profiling act on the part of its agents. and avoid the biases that lead to a disproportionate number of arrests in certain communities.

In April 2021, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), received the Rights and Freedoms Prize awarded by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ), for these efforts in equal access to work. Among the measures put in place by the STM to promote real equality in employment, we must include the involvement and participation of all hierarchical levels in the promotion of an inclusive workplace free of discrimination, including visibility and partnership actions to attract applications from under-represented groups and achieving gender parity within the management committee.

We must be proud of the STM for having distinguished itself for several decades as a champion of equality and equity within its institution . Over 35% of its inspectors are visible community members. It is these good practices that we should use as benchmarks for other public security institutions falling under the BDRS mandate.

The actions listed above are solid steps taken by Montreal's public safety agencies, to minitage the practice of racial and social profiling and truly reflectthe population they serve. My job will be to follow up on those efforts and those additional calls to action from the OCPM. One of the objectives sought by the security services must certainly include diversity in the hope of transforming organizational practices and, in doing so, improving relations with so-called ethnocultural communities. It goes without saying that the culture of an organization, including making the attitude towards diversity, is an essential and incontrovertible component for the elimination of systemic racial profiling. In doing so, there is nothing more important to successfully diversifying a service than having committed visionary leadership. Over the past two years, important actions have been taken by the SPVM. Where there is a will, there is always a way!