Halifax Police trying to recruit more Black officers but hasn’t addressed systemic issues: advocate

Halifax Regional Police began their 2020 recruitment campaign this week, but it’s not what some people were expecting in the midst of a continent-wide Black Lives Matter movement.

“Recruitment by itself, although this might be a good thing to have more numbers from the African Nova Scotian and First Nation communities, certainly will not put to bed the hotbed of racism in the Halifax police service,” says Raymond Sheppard, an African Nova Scotian social justice and human rights activist.

Sheppard tells NEWS 95.7’s The Todd Veinotte Show that he first heard about the campaign through word of mouth.

“I first thought it was to set up an advisory committee from the community and I was all for it,” he says.

But once Sheppard looked closer and discovered the recruitment program was aiming to recruit more officers of colour, he knew they were only doing lip service to diversity.

“People are in a sense of denial because it protects them. This is what a lot of Caucasian, European Canadians want to hear,” he explains. “They don’t want the difficult conversations, they want to rest at night and say oh I did a wonderful job and I helped these little people and all that crap.”

Last year, HRP Chief Dan Kinsella issued a public apology to the African Nova Scotian community for street checks, but Sheppard says there has been little to no follow-through on tangible actions.

“First, having competency training for police officers, addressing some issues in the community, and putting in place a system that could keep track of complaints against police officers,” suggests Sheppard as some first steps.

Over the past few weeks, Sheppard has been following the protests and rallies across Halifax and the world and says that he’s come to believe taking some funding from the police would have benefits.

“In the beginning, I did not understand exactly what that meant, but now after a few weeks have gone by, I believe defunding police is a good thing,” he says. “To take some of the monies that are given to police and put into active programming like mental health services for instance in the African Nova Scotian community.”

But Sheppard says increased competency training and diversity training for police officers is important, and doesn’t agree with abolishing them entirely. “I believe both things are achievable,” he adds.

The Halifax-based activist says that the time of acknowledging racism but doing nothing about it has passed. “It’s largely lip service. Stand behind your word with actions or else your word does not mean diddly squat,” he says.

Shappard hopes to see HRP take action in the future to change things at a systematic level, rather than hiring more diverse officers to mitigate the problem.

“I think taking some of the major money from police, would be a signal that you’re actually being proactive,” he says.

Consider a career in policing. Yes, YOU! @HfxRegPolice will soon be recruiting for our 2021 cadet class. If you want to give back to your community & make a difference, this opportunity might be for you. Stay tuned for more info. Applications open July 6. https://t.co/TCYl9Lxhpr pic.twitter.com/brN30PJ0B7

— HRP Recruitment Team (@JoinHRP) June 24, 2020