Race card

Everyone has a bias but police officers are expected to focus on behavioural issues and not ethnicity, says the city’s chief of police.

Bob Herman, chief of Thunder Bay Police Service, returned from the annual general meeting of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Monday. At the meeting participants discussed issues regarding pension equity, standardizing wireless 911 service, access to drivers license photographs and racial profiling.

The OACP outlines resolutions on how to deal with the issues for police agencies across the province.

Herman said everyone has a bias but police are trained to focus on behavioural issues and not people’s ethnicity. He said the resolution by the OACP means the organization acknowledges that racial profiling does exist, but steps are being taken to reduce it.

"Racial profiling exists in every institution across the province," Herman said. "As police officers, we are human beings, so could we be susceptible to the issue of racial profiling? Absolutely. There has been some cases that went before the courts that have been dismissed based on those grounds."

Disciplinary action for officers charged with racial profiling could range form a loss of time, meaning working for no pay, or a dismissal from the force. The Police Services Act code of conduct outlines the necessary disciplinary actions, he added.

While racial profile may exist, Herman said the police service has taken steps to try to reduce racism within the police force. One step included the Diversity in Policing project aimed at identifying and reducing systemic racism, which caused the police to change some of its policies, he added.

"Thunder Bay is a multicultural society but certainly we deal a lot with the First Nation community," he said. "(We must be very aware) of what their needs are and what their issues are and ensure we don’t bring racial profiling into it."