Group sends letter to SIRT asking for investigation in use of police street checks

HALIFAX – A group including an African Nova Scotian lawyer and two social workers have called for an investigation into the Halifax Regional Police force’s use of so-called street checks, after numbers released earlier this month showed that black people were three times more likely to be stopped by police in the 11 years the data was collected.

Global News has confirmed a letter penned by social workers Robert Wright and Lanna MacLean and Dalhousie legal-aid lawyer Shawna Hoyt has been sent to the province’s Serious Incident Response Team, responsible for police oversight in Nova Scotia, asking for an independent review of the street check practice and a look at why they seem to be disproportionately targeting the black population.

The letter was also addressed to the Human Rights Commission.

Global Reports in a statement, Hoyt said the group was interested in social justice and the numbers were not news to many African Nova Scotians in the Halifax-area, whom she said “have always known that they were being disproportionately targeted for surveillance by the police.”

Hoyt said the numbers “reveal decades of segregation and marginalization of African Nova Scotians.”

Ron MacDonald, the director of SIRT, told Global the while the issue does seem to fall outside its mandate, talks are continuing with how to proceed including with the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner.

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