The province's police watchdog has received 2 complaints.
The province’s police watchdog is collecting data from communities about race and discrimination committed by police. Director Michael King said in an email to boir news, “race-based data collection will assist SIRT-NL in identifying and monitoring inequalities stemming from racism, bias and discrimination, and to inform our interventions to improve equity in justice system access, quality, experience and outcomes.” He says, “We are currently working with several communities and organizations to develop a protocol for the collection, maintenance and use of this data. This process must be completed before we begin collection.” To date, SIRT-NL has received one racism-related complaint, which resulted in an investigation that was concluded and can be viewed at sirtnl.ca They have received a second complaint, which is currently being reviewed to determine whether the matter falls within the SIRT-NL mandate.