London police use force against Black, Arab, Indigenous men disproportionately, data shows

London police use force more often against Black, Middle Eastern and Indigenous men than against white men, a researcher's deep dive into the data shows.

"Before 2020, we did not have any numbers because police services were not collecting that race-based data," said Kojo Damptey, a doctoral student at McMaster University in Hamilton who got a grant from the University of Toronto to analyze use-of-force data from the province's major cities.

"It's important to analyze that data and speak to some of the concerns that Black, Indigenous and racialized communities have been talking about for years."

Police services in Ontario submit their race-use-of-force data annually to the province and the solicitor general makes that data public, Damptey said. Ontario passed the Anti-Racism Act in 2017, forcing public institutions to be collecting race-based data, allowing researchers such as Damptey access to the figures starting in 2020.

"London is pretty consistent with all the other cities," he said. "Indigenous folks, Black men and Middle Eastern men experience use-of-force at higher rates, particularly when it comes to men between the ages of 18 to 24."

Half of the men aged 18 to 24 years old in London who had force used against them by a police officer were Black or Middle Eastern, Damptey said. They also show 13.8 per cent of men and boys who had force used against them by an officer were Middle Eastern, and 6.5 per cent were Indigenous.

When Statistics Canada collects data, it uses "Arab" as the category that police services categorize as "Middle Eastern." CBC News is using Middle Eastern because the numbers in this story are from the police services.

Indigenous people make up just 2.6 per cent of London's population, according to the 2021 census. People identifying as Black make up 3.5 per cent London's population and people identifying as Arab make up 4.2 per cent. The total visible minority population is 20 per cent, according to the 2021 census.

Black, Indigenous and racialized communities are experiencing greater use-of-force when they are interacting with police officers," Damptey said. "We see a clear pattern. When Black and Indigenous and other minority communities interact with police, they experience force at disproportionate rates."

It's important for communities to have their anecdotal experiences backed up by data, he added.

"We want police services to be accountable. We want them to change how they behave when interacting with Black, Indigenous and racialized communities," Damptey said.

"We want to share this data publicly so people can approach their police boards, their city councillor, their mayors and their police services so they can inspire some change."

CBC News requested an interview with London police about the numbers Damptey analyzed. A spokesperson declined to comment, saying 2024 use-of-force data would be released at the next police services board meeting on July 16.

"Immediately following the meeting, we would be happy to arrange for someone to speak with you about any questions you have with respect to the 2023 results you shared today, along with any new questions you may have from our 2024 statistics," Sgt. Sandasha Bough wrote in an email.

"This should provide you with additional data to draw from, as you will have two years of statistics available."

Damptey said he will be doing his own analysis on the 2024 numbers when it is made public province-wide in August.