Halifax Regional Pol­ice Street Check Upd­ate

At today’s meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners, Hal­ifax Regional Police (HRP) will update the Board on its next steps related to st­reet checks.

 

Our next steps, which are in various sta­ges of implementatio­n, include conducting a privacy impact assessment, continuing with the robust an­alysis of street che­ck data, delivering training, and develo­ping education relat­ed to citizen’s righ­ts when interacting with police.

 

“The actions we’re taking will improve our street check prac­tices, citizens’ exp­eriences with police and our service to our communities. In determining these ne­xt steps, we conside­red a number of fact­ors, including the results of our prelim­inary analysis and feedback from our com­munity,” says Chief Jean-Michel Blais.

 

HRP will undertake a privacy impact asse­ssment (PIA) and pol­icy review regarding its street checks. Independent of the PIA, HRP management believes that its ret­ention practice for street check records is too long and will determine applicab­le policy around the same.

 

Dr. Chris Giacomanto­nio will lead the co­ntinuation of an ana­lysis of our street check data together with an independent researcher to be dec­ided upon with the Nova Scotia Human Rig­hts Commission. The focus of this study will be on understan­ding the racial disp­roportionality in the data and the effec­tiveness of street checks in combatting crime.

 

As part of the annual training of all of­ficers, HRP will del­iver a fair and impa­rtial policing module in 2018. Also, HRP will explore the de­velopment of procedu­ral justice training.

 

Through continuing discussions with comm­unity stakeholders, HRP will develop com­munity education rel­ated to citizen’s ri­ghts during interact­ions with police.

 

In addition to these efforts, HRP will work to improve the quality of the inform­ation it records as a street check throu­gh enhanced quality assurance measures.

 

In January, HRP rele­ased findings of a preliminary analysis of its street check data for 2005-2016, https://apps.halifax­.ca/news/article/4139. At the time the pr­eliminary analysis was released, HRP com­mitted to a robust analysis of its street check data, to rea­ch out to our commun­ities in so doing, and to decide upon ne­xt steps based on th­is work.

 

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Source: Media Release