Peel police try to deflect responsibility for 111% increase in use of force with ‘racist’ report that blames Black community

A recently released report from Peel Police papers over the racist behaviour of its officers and bastardizes data that show a disturbing 111 percent increase in use of force last year and ongoing harm to the region’s Black populations. Instead, it tells a success story for Chief Nishan Duraiappah and the force’s other police leaders.

Cutting through the way the report was presented by Peel Police in media releases, the data show that 28 percent of use-of-force encounters by officers in 2024 involved Black residents, while they only made up 9.87 percent of the population in Peel (the police department only patrols Brampton and Mississauga; Caledon is policed by the OPP).  

Peel police justified the disturbing data, and the use of force on Black individuals at three times the rate compared to their share of Peel’s population, by using overtly racist stereotypes that shocked community members and experts.

The report claimed, according to analysis, “data clearly indicates that any population that has the following risk factors are most likely to have a Use of Force encounter: Youth (under 30) and male; Unstable home life; Addictions and mental health; Basic need challenges; Prior police arrests ; Nature of crime – gun, gangs, drugs and/or organized crime”.

Only the Black “population” experienced use of force at a highly disproportionate rate (whites represented 29 percent of the population but only 25 percent of use of force cases; South Asians made up 38 percent of the population but were only involved in 33 percent of use of force encounters). Peel police concluded, based on voluntary interviews with 10,000 people taken into custody last year, it was because Blacks have issues with addiction, gang involvement and unstable home life that they were more likely to have force used against them.

There was no data or any other evidence provided from the voluntary questions that explains or connects how the background of Black individuals is directly correlated with the high rate of force used against them. Similarly, there is no evidence or analysis of the data that might explain why whites facing those same challenges apparently don’t have use of force applied at a similar rate.

The report’s claims have been described by advocates and experts as unscientific and harmful. They shift blame away from the overwhelming reason described in North American research conducted over the last two decades, that racist behaviour by police officers is the reason why they commonly use force against Black people, while when encountering white suspects such force is used more infrequently.

Increasingly common video evidence has supported criminology research that suggests biases (unconscious and conscious), racism and discriminatory attitudes are a significant cause of disparities in police conduct.

The Peel Police force’s claims fail to address its own decades-long problem with systemic anti-Black racism across all its officer ranks. 

“The police have no business having any conversation about upstream, community, societal factors that are causing them to increase their use of force,” Notisha Massaquoi, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto, told The Pointer. “The two things are not correlated in any kind of way. What is correlated with use of force is racist ideology, racist culture.” 

Massaquoi co-chaired the Anti-racism Advisory Panel for the Toronto Police Services Board, which led to the creation of the first mandatory, race-based data collection policy for a Canadian police force.     

The use of force report released in September by Peel Police includes a “disparity analysis”, completed alongside academics collaborating with, and paid by the force. It claims external, societal factors are the main reason officers used force 1,763 times last year, more than double the number compared to 2023. The report fails to address decades of data, disturbing cases thrown out by judges, others the force had to apologize for, human rights tribunal rulings, media investigations, a sweeping external audit and an Ontario Human Rights Commission initiative that for years have repeatedly exposed Peel Police’s systemic anti-Black racism and its culture of widespread discrimination. 

In June of 2023 the Ontario Human Rights Commission had seen enough, and after previously launching a sweeping initiative to eradicate systemic racism within Peel Police, it demanded action.

“Today, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), Peel Regional Police (PRP) and Peel Police Services Board (PPSB) announced the development of initial recommendations to help address systemic racism and discrimination in Peel Regional Police… . The recommendations are based on leading practices for dismantling systemic discrimination within institutions, and feedback received from community members during consultations with Peel residents in 2022 and early 2023.

The recommendations have been shared with PRP’s community-led Anti-Racism Advisory Committee (ARAC) for input to ensure that they are impactful and will lead to better outcomes for everyone in Peel Region.”

But within Peel Police, leaders do not want to talk about racist cops. 

Since his hiring in late 2019, Chief Duraiappah committed to increasing accountability and changing the culture at Peel Police that generated numerous scandals—discriminating against a decorated South Asian officer; handcuffing a 6-year-old Black child in school; widespread targeting of Black residents in “random” carding stops on the street to collect identifying information; repeated cases of racial profiling of Black residents; and shooting, tasing and harming Black residents at an alarming rate; to name just a few. A 2021 survey developed by the Ontario Human Rights Commission found half of Peel’s residents who responded believed systemic racism in policing is a problem and almost 60 percent agreed with the commission’s plans to reform the force’s discriminatory culture. 

“Systemic racism exists across all systems and continually affects service delivery to the communities we serve," Chief Duraiappah, claimed at the time. “The results of this survey and other community consultation activities are helping us develop a thorough understanding of the experience Peel residents have with police and that will help us implement the right remedies.”

But under his watch, change has been glacial, Duraiappah has refused to acknowledge the role of racism in data that proves discrimination, and the scandals have continued—a tactical unit was sent to a local school to break up a fight between Black teens and one of his own off-duty officers who allegedly triggered the incident; police brutality against Black residents has led to evidence and charges tossed out by the courts. Earlier this year, a judge, in tossing out evidence against a Black man whose vehicle was illegally searched by officers, declared: “racial profiling is systemic and intractable within Peel Police.” It was a stunning, disturbing acknowledgement by an officer of the court who had first-hand knowledge of racist behaviour by Peel Police officers repeatedly seen in cases.

The Peel Police services board has the legislative responsibility to ensure the region’s officers are policing residents “adequately” and “effectively”. Recent data show the number of times officers used force against local residents in 2024 increased 111 percent in just one year. Reports from the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) detail broken noses, femurs, arms and collar bones. Adults and youth suffered broken jaws and shattered teeth after being tasered to the ground. One man was hit by a police cruiser, shattering his ankle. If you’re a Black person living in Peel, you are three times more likely to be involved in one of these use of force incidents. 

But the Police Services Board doesn’t want to talk about racist cops. Instead, old notions that are either questionable, or lack recent data to show how they apply to current policing dynamics, are often used.

A recent press release declares: “Peel Police’s 2024 Use of Force Report Links Disparities to Crime Severity and Social Determinants of Justice.”

It is well established that disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalized individuals without stable living situations are more likely to become involved with the justice system, and therefore encounter the potential of force used against them. This link has been well known for decades. 

Even those involved with Peel’s latest study acknowledge the findings are not new.  

“The findings reinforce what research has long shown: disparities in policing are deeply connected to broader social and structural inequalities,” Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Associate Professor, University of Toronto said in a press release. Owusu-Bempah has been contracted by Peel Police for about a half-decade, informing their work to try and eliminate anti-Black racism. 

He did not respond to The Pointer’s requests to be interviewed for this story. 

David Bosveld, who has led much of the sustained advocacy for Peel’s Black communities and is a member of the Peel Police Anti-Racism Advisory Committee, has deep concerns with the new analysis. 

He does not argue with the well-established conclusion that vulnerable and marginalized people are more at risk of negative police interactions, but he says it should not take away from what Peel Police are mandated to address. 

“The police culture issue is still the central issue. Black people experience policing, surveillance, and various entry points into the system in more detrimental ways than people of other races by almost every metric you can look at, but the power and culture of policing makes any disparity far more dangerous for folks from under-represented and marginalized groups,” he says. 

Peel Police has a legally binding agreement with the Ontario Human Rights Commission to eliminate anti-Black racism from the force. A key way this needs to be addressed, according to recommendations from the OHRC, is through reducing the highly disproportionate use of force against Black residents. The OHRC recommendations require Peel police to identify “the potential role of racial profiling or bias in incident response and use of force decisions”.

When The Pointer asked the OHRC for comment on this ongoing disparity in use of force, what it means for the ongoing partnership between the two organizations and whether the OHRC was satisfied with the work Peel Police has done so far, the organization refused to comment. A week after acknowledging The Pointer’s request, spokesperson Nick Lombardi said “Unfortunately, the OHRC cannot fulfill your request at this time.” He did not respond to follow-up emails. 

The latest Peel Police report recognizes that internal factors (officer bias, institutional practices and organizational culture) can feed these disparities in use of force incidents—but then refuses to address it, fails to account for discrimination in its use of force conclusions for 2024, and appears to brush it aside. 

Race is not even mentioned in the disparity analysis as being a risk factor for having force used against you by a Peel officer—despite the disproportionate risk posed to the region’s Black populations. In 2024, Black residents were involved in 28 percent of all use of force incidents in Peel. They only make up 9.87 percent of the region’s population. 

Race is not mentioned in the latest report from Peel Police as being a risk factor for having force used against you by a police officer, despite clear evidence showing Black individuals are at a much higher risk.

(Peel Regional Police)

Despite this harmful reality faced by many Peel residents, the report attempts to downplay the role of police behaviour in these interactions. 

“These disparities are not always the result of intentional discrimination,” the report claims, pointing to factors like age, gender and socioeconomic status. 

This section of the report then gets confusing. It mentions race, suggesting conscious and unconscious bias play a role in use of force incidents. What’s not explained is how race can be a driving factor in the disproportionate use of force against a particular demographic, and not be the result of discrimination.

“There is no such thing, as far as I’m concerned, as unconscious bias, it’s very conscious, it’s very aggressive, it’s not migro-aggressions in any kind of way,” Massaquoi says. “This is how you’ve been socialized, this is how you’ve been trained and when you’re going into a community that has one of the largest Black populations in Canada, and your engagement with that community is very poor, you’re not working in a collaborative way with the Black community in Peel. So, dealing with social, economic factors that communities might be experiencing to help them reduce criminality is a very racist way of thinking about this.”

During his presentation to the board, Owusu-Bempah stressed they are still committed to addressing the "institutional discrimination”.

“We also need to look at the social factors,” he said during the September 26 meeting.

This focus can be incredibly discriminatory, Massaquoi says, changing the focus to “‘It’s about them (the Black community). It’s about what they are doing and what they are forcing us to do’, as opposed to, ‘we don’t have proper relationships with this community, we do not see them as valuable citizens that we need to protect and we’ve been trained from very young to incorporate that ideology into our way of thinking and our way of policing.”

It’s easy to see how this leads to problems. 

“You come out of a school system in Canada where you learn nothing about Black people in a positive way. And then I put you through the force training and send you out on the street to police those people. That’s not going to end well.”

Chief Nishan Duraiappah committed to eliminating anti-Black racism within the Peel Regional Police. Recent data show Black residents continue to experience force by officers at a disproportionate rate.

(Peel Regional Police) 

The disparity analysis is not the only issue with the report, or Peel Police’s public messaging about the data. 

Peel Police rightly point out the 28 percent of use of force incidents involving Black residents is the lowest it has been since 2020—when Black individuals were involved in 31 percent of reports. The disproportionality peaked in 2022 at 34 percent. The service also accepts in the release that this means Black residents “continue to experience force nearly three times more than their share of the population”. 

What these statistics hide is the reality that Peel Police are harming more Black residents than they have since 2020. As the total use of force incidents have increased, Black and Middle Eastern residents—who account for 4.7 percent of Peel’s population and 7 percent of use of force incidents last year—are the only two demographics to see consistent increases in the number of people who have had force used against them since 2021. 

In 2020, 247 Black residents experienced harm at the hands of a Peel Police officer—Jamal Francique and D’Andre Campbell were both killed by Peel police that year. The SIU cleared the officers in both tragedies. The following year, the number dropped to 227 residents. It was the last time that number decreased. In 2022 it jumped to 237; 276 in 2023 and 537 last year—a 94 percent increase. 

Peel police have moved away from the most deadly forms of force. An officer did not discharge their firearm in either 2023 or 2024—a success that goes hand in hand with officers using deescalation tactics in 96 percent of use of force incidents. Yet in 2024, these deescalation tactics were used less with Peel’s Black communities. In 2023, deescalation was used in 98 percent of cases, falling slightly to 95.8 percent last year. 

The use of deescalation tactics with Peel’s Black communities decreased in 2024.

(Peel Regional Police)  

Many forms of use of force are on the rise. 

Instances of tasers being drawn (but not fired) jumped 132 percent; tasers were fired 52 percent more (202 times compared to 133 in 2023). Both “soft” and “hard” physical control increased, 149 percent and 99 percent respectively. Handguns were drawn and pointed 549 times (a 69 percent increase); rifles were drawn and pointed 334 times (58 percent jump); and handguns were drawn, but not pointed, 280 times (164 percent more than 2023). 

Pepper spray use jumped 47 percent; impact weapons were used 200 percent more often; the ARWEN—an anti-riot weapon— was deployed 700 percent more often (15 times). A total of 681 officers were involved in the 1,763 use of force incidents last year, a 70.7 percent increase from 2023. 

Many of these are not simply one-year spikes. Peel Police officers have been drawing and pointing their firearms on an increasing basis for each of the last three years. The number of times officers pull out their tasers on an annual basis has been increasing since 2021; the number of times they were fired saw increases in every year except 2023 when it dropped to 133 people tased, from 264 the year prior. A total of 202 people were tasered by Peel police last year. 

Less lethal than a firearm, these interactions can still be brutal. 

An SIU report describes one such incident involving police chasing a youth involved in an alleged auto theft in Mississauga. 

“The Complainant ran south across Thomas Street and onto the grounds of the plaza on the southwest corner of the intersection. He continued around a bank building in the plaza and onto the west sidewalk of Winston Churchill Boulevard, around which time the probes of a CEW discharge struck him in the back. Moments later, as he continued to run, he was struck again in the back by CEW probes. This time, his body locked-up and he fell to the ground, striking his face. The impact resulted in (six) broken teeth and a fractured jaw.”

Many forms of use of force by Peel Police officers are on the rise.

(Peel Regional Police) 

According to police, one of the main drivers of this disturbing 111 percent escalation in use of force last year is a “significant increase” in organized crime activity, including 72 percent more shootings and 93 percent more weapons calls. Data from Statistics Canada show violent crime increased across Peel by 17 percent last year. 

But this connection between increasing crime severity causing officers to use more force is not consistent. 

In 2021, violent crime increased dramatically across Peel as pandemic restrictions were eased. That year, violent violations jumped 25.5 percent. So, according to the argument Peel Police are positing for 2024, use of force should have increased as well.

It did not. 

In fact, despite such a startling jump in violent crime in 2021, use of force incidents actually decreased 11.6 percent. 

Once again, advocates claim the misleading data, the focus on the disparity analysis and the ongoing narrative from Peel Police are a distraction from the real issue that they are failing to address anti-Black racism within the organization. 

“Police must not spin this issue into one of social determinants alone. Anti-Blackness is foundational to policing including in Peel and dismantling requires a reimagining of purpose, process, policy and culture,” Bosveld says.

So what needs to change?

The first step is ensuring the data provided to Peel Police is being verified and analyzed by independent experts, advocates say. 

In response to questions, Peel Police officials explained the data is "independently verified” by leading academics, referring to Owusu-Bempah and his team, including Professor Lorne Foster, Professor Les Jacobs and Alex Luscombe.

In a subsequent email, Peel Police’s media team acknowledged that Owusu-Bempah and “all of our professors” work on contract. The value of that contract was not shared. 

According to Massaquoi, this could raise questions about the true independence of this work. During her three years working to craft the race-based data collection policy for the Toronto Police, the academics were not paid.

“This is their work, this is their specialty,” she says. “I personally didn’t even take parking money, because I need to be independent.”

This was cemented in the TPS policy, which dictates analysis of the race-based data should be carried out by “an independent academic or other organization”, which then reports to the board “with its independent findings arising from an examination of the Service’s analysis and findings regarding the race-based data that has been collected.”

Peel Police’s own race-based data collection policy has no such language, and appears to contradict itself by ordering a “partnership with independent external experts”. 

This collaborative style approach to analyzing and presenting the data to the public leads many to believe this is not a truly independent analysis. The presentation to the police services board is not done solely by Owusu-Bempah, but completed alongside Staff Superintendent Dirk Niles. The report appears with Peel Police branding and insignias, making it easily mistaken by the public for a document created by the police service, instead of a report that is meant to be truly independent. 

Even police leaders acknowledge this is not a truly independent process. 

During the September 26 Peel Police Services Board meeting when the data was being discussed, Deputy Chief Anthony Odoardi described the report as a “cooperation” between the Peel Police, the Anti-Racism Advisory Committee (ARAC) and academic partners. 

While Peel Police officials assured The Pointer Owusu-Bempah “has full independence in interpreting all data”, they admit the final report is “a collaborative effort by PRP Human Rights Project Team with ongoing input” from external academics. 

Neither Owusu-Bempah or Foster responded to interview requests. 

Having been involved with this difficult work for a number of years, Massaquoi admits that her beliefs have shifted. When she started her work with Toronto, she believed education was the solution. 

That hasn’t worked, she admits. 

“You can educate them all you want, if there are no consequences to the bad behaviour nothing is going to change,” she says. “Now it’s about what are the disciplinary measures that are going to be put in place and the hard lines and the zero tolerance for the racist behaviour and the racist engagement with communities.”

In this regard, Peel Police have failed to be transparent. Many OHRC recommendations make it clear that performance metrics, both for officers and the Chief, need to be linked to anti-Black racism. 

As per the OHRC: “The Chief of Police should ensure that:  Performance management includes how well officers follow their training and procedures on body worn cameras, racial profiling, anti-black racism/discrimination crisis intervention and de-escalation and how accurately they report use of force incidents with particular attention to interacting with BIPOC communities and those experiencing a mental health crisis.” 

In military and police parlance, it’s known as leader’s intent, or commander’s intent. It refers to how what happens at the top trickles down to the rank and file. If those at the top are clear and concise about the mission, those tasked with doing the work will be able to do so effectively. 

When it comes to anti-Black racism, Chief Duraiappah’s intent is not clear. 

His words do not match his actions.

Before being sworn in as Chief of Police, he told The Pointer this work of addressing systemic anti-Black racism, would not simply be an exercise of checking boxes. He wanted to see real, structural change. 

In August 2020, he told a federal committee dealing with the issue of anti-Black racism in policing that “I'll be standing up systems to help identify discriminatory practices where they may exist, and implementing a series of protocols to dismantle them. I'll also be committing to a reporting cycle to my governance entity, which is the Peel Regional Police services board, to ensure full transparency and accountability in our operations.”

But since he has been hired, the Board has blocked efforts to create a committee specifically to deal with anti-Black racism; he has not listened to requests from residents for a line-by-line breakdown of budgeting process—which has increased at record levels; and he consistently refused to reveal any disciplinary actions taken against officers accused of bad behaviour. Officials did not respond to repeated requests from The Pointer to learn whether any of the officers involved in beating and tasering a Black man on the side of the road following a stop for impaired driving were disciplined in any way. The man was tasered repeatedly, and officers attempted to lie on the stand about the details of the case, despite clear body-camera footage showing what really happened. 

Chief Duraiappah ended his speech to parliamentarians by quoting renowned Black activist and professor Angela Davis.

“In a racist society, it’s not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist,” he said. 

It’s a bold commitment. Yet the Chief, despite acknowledging anti-Black racism has caused “a lot of hurt” and “we can not shy away from it”, he has failed to put that commitment into writing, despite it being a goal of the Peel Police plan to address these issues since at least last year. While quick to release public statements about high profile incidents, like after the killing of D’Andre Campbell, efforts to address the root causes of these issues, the anti-Black racism that clearly persists within the organization, are lacking, as the 2024 use of force report clearly shows. 

Members of the police services board are equally to blame for providing empty platitudes, and not taking real action. 

Following the 2020 murder of George Flloyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Nando Iannicca, the chair of the police services board, admitted  if video evidence of Floyd’s death didn’t exist, he would have a hard time believing the troubling story. 

“In the absence of the video evidence that clearly explains what happens, I really feel like a dumb privileged white guy because I’m largely incredulous that these things could happen, and yet they happen,” he said.

Yet during the September meeting when the use of force report was discussed, Iannicca had nothing to say about the alarming disparity that shows how Black residents in Peel continue to face serious harm. 

The reality was ignored by other members of the board as well. 

Al Boughton shared how he sat down with Staff Superintendent Niles “three to four months ago” and discussed the data. It’s unclear why, if the data was available so long ago, it was not released at that time. 

Despite this early access to the information, Boughton showed no concern about the disparity. 

“It’s always disproportionate, it has been since I’ve been on this board,” he said. 

Boughten went on to question whether “If we have a gang member who just happens to be Black and does this…it skews the numbers. It makes us, the PRP, maybe look not so good?” He also questioned whether repeat offenders or those out on bail are responsible for driving up the use of force incidents. 

“If these numbers that we don’t like are because of a revolving door in the justice system, I think the governments need to understand that so they can help us do our job.”

Board member Len Carby, the first Black man placed in the role, described the presentation from Niles and Owusu-Bempah as “thoughtful and detailed”. 

“I dare say we are leading this conversation around changes in policing,” he said. “I believe we are the benchmark.”

This is not how the community feels. 

“Black people are exhausted from having to work so hard and long for incremental change only to see it being reversed, while the problem of racial disparities and anti Blackness remains prevalent,” Bosveld tells The Pointer. “People who are aware are upset. Awareness is not on the same level as bail reform and car thefts, and unsafe communities, a narrative pushed by police and amplified to the public at every opportunity.”

Peel Police have been hearing this frustration through community surveys and consultations. Residents have described the harmful behaviour of Peel officers and it has resulted in strong calls for change—calls that go unheeded. 

Effecting real change will take connecting progress on anti-Black racism to the thing police leaders prioritize most: budgets. 

“You have to look at policing very specifically. What are the mechanisms that are going to force the hand of the police service? Money is a big one,” Massaquoi explains.  “We know with the police budgets they get big rewards every year with those increases, what if those increases were tied to performance issues such as addressing use of force against Black communities?”

She believes we’d see change quite quickly. “It’d be prioritized all of a sudden.”

Last year, Peel Police received the highest budget increase in the service’s history at 23.3 percent. This year, despite calls from residents for austerity to limit the impact on financially strained residents, Peel Police are still looking for millions more. The Police board approved the budget (which will go to regional council later this month for final passage) without any concerns.

Bosveld says people need to pay attention. 

“People are tuned out because police propaganda has been accepted as news and the local media has been decimated by job cuts,” he says. “We are in different times now and people are fearful and the police have positioned themselves as the barrier between safety and chaos and many people have adopted the narrative that we can just get some good officers and everything will be fine…Everyone deserves safety but the assumption that more police creates safety is flawed and unproven. Safety begins in the community with healthy neighbourhoods, good schools, good jobs and investments to uplift those amongst us who could use a hand up.”

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