Police need more diversity training: CRARR

Montreal police need better diversity training, according to two people behind a complaint filed against two officers that have been censured by the Quebec Police Ethics Committee.

The ethics committee ruled Feb. 23 in a case involving officers Isabelle Nault and Roger Charbonneau, stating they made inappropriate and inconvenient remarks to black people in Dollard des Ormeaux on Nov. 11, 2004, after responding to a 911 call by neighbour who mistook two men who were helping homeowner Gemma Raeburn clean out her garage. Comments from the officers, who were pointing their weapons, included "bullets don't see colour" and "if you don't like it here, why are you here. Why don't you go back to your own country?"

Raeburn and Fo Niemi, head of the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR), told The Chronicle they are satisfied with the ruling but hope the case highlights the need for better diversity training for police officers. "I feel the case demonstrates how prejudice can show itself," Niemi said. "These things happen on a normal basis even if the person in not fully conscious of it. Officers have to be careful about stereotypes and biases."

Raeburn said the ruling is a step in the right direction. "I hope this will raise the standards of law enforcement in Quebec," she said, adding it is common for Montreal police to target black people for no apparent reason. She pointed out an incident involving her son, 20, who was pulled out from a Pointe Claire bar last year and then questioned by police. When told of the incident, she called the local station to find out why her son, a university student, was questioned when he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. She said she was told her son was questioned as part of a "random check."

Raeburn said Montreal police need to "handle minority cases better."

Insp. Paul Chablo of the Montreal police department, however, said officers already take courses on diversity training at the police academy and in CEGEP police-tech programs. As well, once they are hired by the department they are also told about the ethnic makeup of the city before they hit the streets to patrol. He said the case in Dollard is an isolated incident and that it was the only case involving inappropriate or inconvenient remarks in three years. Chablo said the Dollard case cannot be labelled 'racial profiling' since police were responding to a 911 call. "The language used is at issue, someone did call for the police," he said.

As for the officers pulling their firearms out, he said police are trained to deal with the seriousness of a call. "Problems exist but these are isolated cases," he added.

Meanwhile, the two officers have 30 days to appeal the ethics committee's ruling. As for their possible sentence, they could face a reprimand or a suspension.