The Calgary Police Service releases 2023 Race Data Analysis

In 2020, the Calgary Police Service (CPS) made a commitment to collect and report on race-based data. Driven by community consultation, and the belief that true transparency and equity are the foundations of trust, today we are fulfilling our commitment to Calgarians with the public release of the 2023 Race Data Analysis and the 2023 Race Data Analysis of Use-of-Force Subjects.

“For four years, we have worked concurrently with our partners nationally on the development of data standards while developing our own interim methodology,” says Chief Constable Mark Neufeld of the Calgary Police Service. “Today we are sharing the results of the analysis conducted by the Calgary Police Service as additional efforts towards a national framework remain underway.”

The reports provide a comprehensive overview of demographic data collected during various interactions between CPS officers and the public. The 2023 Race Data Analysis compares the 2023 findings with data from 2018 to 2022, highlighting trends and applying the concepts of disproportionality and disparity. The 2023 Race Data Analysis of Use-of-Force Subjects compares the 2023 findings to the 2022 data.

Key Concepts

Disproportionality refers to the state of being either underrepresented or overrepresented. In our reports it is expressed as a ratio, derived by comparing the percentage of persons in a particular racial group in the dataset, to the percentage of the same racial group in Calgary’s population from the 2021 Statistics Canada Census.

Disparity refers to a state of being unequal. It is used to identify unequal treatment or outcomes experienced by different groups in their interactions with the CPS.

The two reports include the collected data and subsequent analysis into five different categories: missing persons, officer contacts, victims of violent crime, offenders of violent and property crime and use of force. While we recognize the community’s interest in race data in relation to traffic stops, this information is not available as the data-entry systems used provincially do not currently have the capability to capture race data.

Race data was obtained via the CPS records management system, where interactions requiring documentation such as criminal reports are inputted by officers. This information is based on officer perception and not self-identification.

Report insights

Missing persons

On average, the CPS receives approximately 5,000 missing persons reports per year.

Youth aged 12-17 are heavily overrepresented in missing person reports, comprising seven per cent of Calgary’s population but more than 50 per cent of such reports.
Female Indigenous youth with chronic histories are the most overrepresented group.
Despite the disproportionality, more than 99 per cent of all missing persons are located, regardless of race.

Officer contacts

The CPS uses a tool referred to as an officer contact to record information of potential intelligence value following a lawful interaction with a member of the public. Not all officer contacts involve aspects of criminality; in fact, officer contacts may result in offering supports and resources.

The proportion of officer contacts involving Indigenous individuals doubled from eight per cent in 2018 to 16 per cent in 2023. This increase appears to be correlated to the increased deployment of resources focused on safe public spaces.
Overrepresentation of Indigenous subjects in public calls-for-service contacts declined from 3.8 times in 2018 to 2.7 times in 2023.
Indigenous females are significantly overrepresented in officer contacts, with a disparity increasing from five times in 2018 to 13.7 times in 2023 compared to White females.

Victims of violent crime

Violent crime involves harming or threatening to harm an individual. These crimes include offences such as assault, sexual assault, robbery and threats.

Indigenous individuals are 2.5 times overrepresented as victims of violent crime.
Indigenous female victims of assault, robbery, and sex offences are disproportionately higher than their population proportion.

Offenders of violent and property crime

Property crime involves unlawfully obtaining, attempting, or damaging another person’s property. These crimes include offences such as break and enter, vehicle theft, fraud, and property damage.

Approximately 30 per cent of offenders are repeat offenders.
Indigenous individuals are six times, and Black individuals are two times overrepresented among offenders.
Males account for 75 per cent of offenders, with almost half being White.

Use of force

The use-of-force categories illustrates both over and underrepresentation. The racial composition of those arrested is relatively proportionate to use-of-force subjects.

Indigenous females and males are overrepresented, 6.8 and 4.5 times, respectively.
Black males were 2.39 times overrepresented.
Racialized males and females were underrepresented.

We recognize that the data alone is not representative of the whole picture. For some, this data may not align with their lived experience. Consultation between community partners, the Calgary Police Commission, the CPS Advisory Boards and Circle, and our external Anti-Racism Action Committee has taken place throughout the development and ahead of the public release.

With the public release of the reports, it is essential to maintain ongoing dialogue while we operationalize the data analysis. This data will better equip officers in their interactions with the community, enhancing organizational understanding and awareness to guide future policy decisions. We also recognize that ongoing engagement with community is vital to better understanding the path forward to continue building trust and strengthening relationships with all Calgarians.

The release of these reports is one step in a much longer journey.

“The collection of race-based data has been a priority for our Commission, and we are grateful to everyone that has worked hard to get us to this point,” says Shawn Cornett, Chair of the Calgary Police Commission. “Race-based data helps us better understand areas where some communities are experiencing policing differently than others, and it makes it possible to track the effectiveness of the ongoing work in this area.”

“While the release of these reports is a big step in the right direction, we know it is not the last step. There will be a lot more analysis and hard work ahead that this data will make possible.”

We will continue to evolve the process while exploring the data further to inform decision-making and to explore potential biases or systemic issues that may be embedded within the CPS’ policies, procedures, and practices. As a result of the analysis of the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in missing persons, the Service has recently used the data to inform the need and subsequent creation of an Indigenous Community Navigator embedded within the Missing Persons Team.

We continue this work alongside other law enforcement agencies and Statistics Canada to work toward a national race data collection and analysis framework. These reports, and our future analysis will be shared with partners as we collaborate to gain a broader understanding of the communities we serve, and to inform structural and systemic change at provincial and national levels.

The CPS remains committed to transparency, trust and the safety of all Calgarians.

The reports and additional information are available here.