Claims of racial bias dog Montreal police

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Source: The Globe and Mail

Montreal’s police force is on the defensive over a leaked internal report that suggests it is engaging in widespread racial profiling.

The force has been facing mounting pressure from visible minority groups over anecdotal reports of racial bias.

Research compiled by a criminologist at the Service de police de la ville de Montreal (SPVM) indicates nearly 40 per cent of black youths in the boroughs of Montreal-North and St-Michel were stopped at least once and asked for identification between 2006 and 2007, relative to 6 per cent for their white peers.

A survey of 163,000 “contact reports” also showed sharp increases (126 per cent in one borough) in the numbers of black people submitting to police checks between 2001 and 2007 as anti-gang crackdowns ramped up.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/claims-of-racial-bias-dog-montreal-police/article1667416/