2022 report shows Ottawa police disproportionately used force against Black and Middle Eastern residents

The overall percentage of use of force incidents against racialized people decreased in 2022 compared to previous years.

Published Jan 19, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read

Ottawa Police Service HQ on Elgin Street. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA

Black and Middle Eastern residents of Ottawa were over-represented in the Ottawa Police Service’s use of force incidents in 2022.

That’s according to the force’s latest use of force report, set to be presented to the Ottawa Police Services Board on Monday.

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“Consistent with previous Use of Force reports, race groups are described as having ‘disproportionately high incidences in Use of Force’ when their proportion is above a ratio of 1.2 times,” the report says.

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Black residents make up eight per cent of Ottawa’s population, but were involved in 25 per cent of police use of force incidents, the report says, or 3.1 times their share of Ottawa’s population. Middle Eastern people represent six per cent of the overall population but were subject to 10 per cent of use of force incidents, at 1.7 times their share of population. Indigenous people were not over-represented, the report says, making up two per cent of incidents and four per cent of the city’s overall population. White people were involved in 58 per cent of incidents and make up 68 per cent of the population.

The report says eliminating systemic racism and implicit bias is a priority for the police service.

“In addition, the OPS has committed to improving the experiences of Black, Indigenous, racialized people and various equity-seeking groups in their encounters with OPS members and the criminal justice system more broadly,” the report says. “To this end, the OPS collects and reports on race and identity-based data.”

The overall percentage of use of force incidents involving racialized people decreased in 2022 compared to previous years, the report adds: 42 per cent of all incidents, compared to 48 per cent in 2021.

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The percentage of Black people involved has been decreasing since 2020, when they were involved in 28 per cent of incidents. In 2021, Black people were subject to 26 per cent of use of force incidents, and it was 25 per cent in 2022.

Ottawa Police Service use of force data by race for 2020-2022. SOURCE: Ottawa Police Service

Calls relating to mental health were most frequently associated with use of force, the report says, at about 22 per cent of all incidents.

The report notes mental health calls were related to nine per cent of use of force incidents against Black people and 17 per cent of calls involving other racialized individuals. The most common occurrence in which OPS used force against a Black individual was in response to a weapons-related call, and the most common occurrence type for other racialized subjects was “suspicious person or circumstance,” the report says.

OPS officers used conducted energy weapons, commonly known as Tasers, 82 times in 2022.

In the majority of incidents, force was used to make an arrest and most incidents “involved displaying a signal or firearm rather than applying force,” the report says.

The police service has long tracked its use of force data, but only began reporting the race of those involved in such incidents in 2020.

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In total, OPS officers used force against one more individuals in 245 incidents in 2022, which represented an average of 1.14 incidents per 1,000 dispatched calls. One person was fatally injured, four incidents resulted in serious injuries, 42 produced minor injuries and 19 involved minor injuries to OPS officers.

“Use of Force incidents are often associated with two types of triggers: the subject possessing a weapon and/or the subject’s behaviour during the incident,” the report says.

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