The Ottawa Police Service is considering tracking arrests made due to mistaken identity and whether racialized people are disproportionately affected, according to a report being presented at Monday’s police board meeting.
The report comes after an inquiry launched last March by Alta Vista Coun. Marty Carr, who also chairs the police board.
Carr asked if OPS collects data on wrongful apprehensions, how many involved racialized individuals and what measures exist to reduce these cases.
The OPS responded that it currently does not “maintain a specific tracking system for apprehensions resulting from mistaken identity” and that it would consider collecting “race-related data” on such arrests.
“I want to see more than just consideration,” Carr told CBC News.
Questions remain unanswered
Carr submitted her inquiry shortly after CBC reported on the violent February 2024 arrest of Kane Niyondagara, a Black man wrongly identified by OPS as a murder suspect in Orléans.
Niyondagara said police shocked him with a stun gun, pinned him to the ground, punched him in the face and handcuffed him before realizing their mistake.
“I was concerned when that happened,” Carr said, adding she was surprised the two-page report took nearly nine months and still didn’t answer most of her questions.
The report provides no statistics on arrests involving mistaken identities.
“We know that there’s at least one, right? I would have preferred to have a little bit more of an answer, even if they did not have a method to track [them],” Carr said.
The report notes mistaken arrests are “extremely rare.” When they do happen, officers must promptly release the person and explain the reason for the arrest.
The incident is then documented in a report for a supervisor to review.
“There is an increased focus on how we address human rights and systemic racism, specifically addressing how we’re policing marginalized and vulnerable communities,” said Carr.
“Even if it happens once it’s worth taking a look at why it happened. We want to make sure there’s no worrisome trends.”
A commitment to better track mistaken identity arrests needs to be “a top priority for OPS,” said Omar Khamissa, chief operating officer of the National Council of Canadian Muslims.
The OPS report outlines that officers must either witness an offence or establish reasonable grounds that one has taken place before making an arrest.
If there are no immediate safety concerns or the offence is minor, the officer may verify the suspect’s identity before arresting them.
But when there are safety risks or the offences are violent, the officer will arrest the suspect first and confirm their identity later.
‘Not surprising but disappointing’
“There needs to be a systemic shift in terms of the guidelines, and where they are right now is not enough to make sure something like what happened to [Niyondagara] cannot happen again,” Khamissa said.
Ambiguity in guidelines can lead to wrongful arrests and the weaponization of policy against racialized communities, Khamissa added.
“It is not surprising, but it is disappointing. And when I say disappointing, I mean this in a very fair spirit, and also one that truly wishes a better police for everyone,” said César Ndéma-Moussa, president of the advocacy group Roots and Culture Canada.
In 2008, Ndéma-Moussa said he experienced a case of mistaken identity at the hands of Montreal police, one that was very similar to what Niyondagara went through.
“It’s [the] life of a Black man. You suffer racial profiling by police,” Ndéma-Moussa said. “We shouldn’t have Black people living that reality where any police interaction is a potential one that can be deadly.”
Comprehensive training, assessment and education are all necessary for the OPS to address deep-seated problems of systemic racism and excessive use of force, he said.