A two-year study of police traffic stops in Ottawa has revealed — to no one’s surprise — that cops in the nation’s capital disproportionately pull over Middle Eastern and black drivers. Since police across Canada are being exposed for similar practices, their hollow excuses about a few bad apples are becoming less effective. Instead, our police increasingly argue that prejudiced police behaviour is well-intentioned, and therefore cannot be labelled as racist. Police stopped black motorists, who also represent less than 4 per cent of all drivers, 8.8 per cent of the time. Bordeleau’s argument — and that of police forces across Canada who engage in racist profiling — is that police should stop drivers, especially racialized drivers, for non-criminal offences because they might uncover crime in the process.

Source: The Star October 27, 2016 10:24 UTC