Deputy Chief Keith Forde
By michelle-lee The Afro News Ontario
The Toronto Police Service (TPS) hosted a one day conference titled “Racially Biased Policing: Trends and Progressive Solutions”. Attending the conference were more than 250 officers from 25 services across Ontario. The keynote speaker was Deputy Chief Keith Forde who prefaced his address by saying that he hoped officers would feel uncomfortable during some of the day’s discussions – “understand, the discussions that will be the most painful are the ones that will have the deepest impact”. Although in 2002 former officers including Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino, Mayor Mel Lastman and Union President Craig Brommel flatly denied racial profiling existed, Forde said he was “intimately familiar with the topic” based on his experiences “as an officer, a Deputy Chief and a Black man”. He praised current Chief Bill Blair for admitting that racial profiling did exist and vowing to work hard to change the systems that were complicit in upholding inequalities. Since Blair’s appointment in 2006, the TPS has developed ways to combat the problem said Forde who added “now we have a better and more positive relationship and understanding with Toronto’s diverse communities which helps us to better relate and work together”. Scarborough Centre Representative Michael Thompson, who is the only Black councilor at City Hall, said of the conference, “I am pleased to see that the Chief and others are prepared to address the issue. That can only be a positive opportunity”. Community leaders in the Black community also applauded the TPS for initiating an open dialogue on the issue.
