Police seek applicants for ‘race-based data collection’ advisory group

Regional police will look to the community as it begins to accept applications for an advisory group, as part of its Race-Based Data Collection Strategy.

Waterloo Regional Police Service aims to select the group by the end of the year so it can begin public consultation on police race-based data collection.

Amanda Williams, data analyst for equity, diversity and inclusion, at the Strategic Services Branch at WRPS, said the group will help build community trust and monitor the success of the strategy.  

“We hope that if we do this engagement piece right, members of the community will feel comfortable enough to approach the race-based data collection strategy team with their ideas of best practices,” Williams said at Wednesday's police services board meeting.

“We are looking for applicants who are able to identify issues and solutions to the issues relevant to their community so that we can start to make change, and move policing services forward.”

Williams said they welcome all applicants who can be critical of the delivery of police services while identifying solutions to those issues.

The advisory group will consist of community adults and youths with diverse lived experience and historical knowledge of Waterloo Region.  

In January, WRPS entered into a three-year academic partnership to support the service’s implementation of a Race-Based Data Collection Strategy.

It's intended to “produce concrete actions and accountability mechanisms to address systemic racism and discrimination and continue to inform the evolution of goals and objectives achieved at WRPS.”

The Race-Based Data Collection Strategy collects, examines, separates and sorts race-based data to help identify racial and related disparities in police-civilian interactions. The goal is to help eliminate systemic racism in the delivery of police services.

The aim is also to promote transparency and accountability, and enhance Black, and other racialized and Indigenous communities’ trust in policing throughout Waterloo Region.

This involves working with WRPS members, community members, and the policing community to gain a better understanding of the context underlying the data.

The call for applications for the community advisory group will take place in November and will close after four weeks.

Board member, Ian McLean, said that the search for applicants should reach a wide audience.

“I think it’s important to get this out wide and not just in the WRPS zone because that way, we can a get more reflective and diverse group to choose from. This is truly a community project,” McLean said.