In this issue:
1. Police and Artificial Intelligence
2. More provincial funding for guns and gangs
3. The death of Albert Johnson in 1979
Toronto Police Accountability Bulletin No. 134, November 24, 2021.
This Bulletin is published by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition (TPAC), a group of individuals and organizations in Toronto interested in police policies and procedures, and in making police more accountable to the community they are committed to serving. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca
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In this issue:
1. Police and Artificial Intelligence
2. More provincial funding for guns and gangs
3. The death of Albert Johnson in 1979
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
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1. Police and Artificial Intelligence
The Toronto Police Services Board has drafted a policy on artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and is asking for public feedback by December 15.
The draft Policy establishes a risk-based approach to considering new AI technologies, apparently the first of its kind in Canadian policing, with no established models or best practices around the world. It divides technologies into high risk, medium risk, and low risk to the public, not permitting high risk technologies, medium risk only with Board permission.
The draft policy is found at https://tpsb.ca/consultations-and-publications/artificial-intelligence-policy-consultation
TPAC raised the issue of AI in a meeting with the chair of the Board in March 2020 (See Bulletin No. 119, April 3, 2020) after Toronto officers were found to be using facial recognition program without authorization, but we were unable to get much info about how the police services used AI. We also reported in Bulletin No. 114 (June 25, 2019) on a study by the Broadbent Institute on the use of Big Data by Canadian police. The Toronto police did not reply to our request at the time that they identify which AI programs they were using.
2. More provincial funding for guns and gangs
Premier Doug Ford recently announced his government will invest $75.1 million over the next three years to combat gun violence and crime. “Gun and gang violence will not be allowed to thrive in Ontario," Ford said at a news conference ahead of the June election. "There can be no mercy when it comes down to cracking down on these crimes. We need boots on the ground, we need more police officers on the ground. They've been stressed out, their budgets are always under review, always being chopped," Ford said. This last statement is patently false, as police budgets have not been reduced as long as TPAC has been monitoring them in Toronto, and elsewhere.
"We need to put money back in there to have the women and men in uniform out there going after these gangs and guns,” Ford said. “It's very simple."
The province says the move is aimed to dismantle criminal activity, enhance investigative supports, increase collaboration throughout the justice sector and stop the flow of illegal guns across the border. The money will go toward establishing the Office of Illicit Drug Intelligence, disrupting drugs coming into Ontario and towards helping with firearms analysis and tracing enforcement in an effort to stop gun traffickers, it says.
In September CBC found that more than 85 per cent of drug possession charges in Ontario were dropped before trial in the past year, a more than 40 per cent increase compared to 2019. See https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/drug-charges-dropped-unprecedented-rate-ontario-1.6162632
"Imagine if more gun violence solutions were truly aimed at upstream causes? noted University of Toronto sociology professor Jooyoung Lee. “Instead, leaders here and elsewhere keep waiting until young people are injured or killed to get tough.”
This announcement was little different from the announcement of the province in 2007: see https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/7727/targeting-guns-and-gang-violence
The Ford government’s strategy ignores the many recommendations of experts, investigations and reports going back decades – which emphasize the need for more investments in marginalized communities; such as jobs and training for Black, Indigenous and other racialized youth, better wages and job protections, affordable and safe housing, and less police harassment and surveillance, among other structural changes.
One skeptic noted: In several years the province will issue something along these lines: `October 2032 - Please be Patient, We'll Get it Right This Time: Ontario Bolsters Funding to Address Gun and Gang Violence ‘
3. The death of Albert Johnson in 1979
In August 1979, Albert Johnson, a 35 year old Black man, after yelling in the laneway at the back of his house, was chased by Toronto police into his home. Police broke down his door, then shot him to death. He was the eighth person to be killed by Toronto police in a 13 month period.
The Black community began a series of large demonstrations to protest the death of Johnson and others. Mayor John Sewell spoke out strongly about the police actions, urging the police authorities to change basic policies so this did not happen again. He was vilified by the media and by many political leaders. Roman Catholic Cardinal Carter was asked to report on police/community relations and his report field at the end of October was very critical of police regarding racial issues. He also noted that many people feared retaliation from the police if they filed complaints.
New information has now come forward about these events. Johnson had been harassed and beaten by police in the past, and had made several complaints to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, saying he feared being killed by police. The OHRC wrote the police commission (as it then was) and to the police chief outlining Johnson’s complaints. Johnson was killed four days after the police had received that letter, as though police conformed to Cardinal’s Carter experience that the police retaliate against those who complain.
The two stories from the Toronto Star can be found at:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/10/23/a-black-man-a-fatal-police-shooting-and-a-widow-who-didnt-back-down-the-1979-case-that-electrified-the-city-and-launched-a-movement.html
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/11/07/the-killing-of-a-black-man-by-toronto-police-was-ugly-so-was-the-political-reaction.html
4. Subscribe to the Bulletin
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this Bulletin, please send a note to info@tpac.ca with the instructions in the subject line or in the text of the message. Our e-mail list is confidential and will not be made available to others. There is no charge for the Bulletin. Our website is http://www.tpac.ca .
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