Police in Canada Are Tracking People’s ‘Negative’ Behavior In a ‘Risk' Database
Police in Canada Are Tracking People’s ‘Negative’ Behavior In a
‘Risk' Database
The database includes
detailed, but "de-identified," information about people's lives culled
from conversations between police, social services, health workers, and more.
Feb 27 2019, 10:19am
·
Police, social services, and health
workers in Canada are using shared databases to track the behaviour of
vulnerable people—including minors and people experiencing homelessness—with
little oversight and often without consent.
·
Documents obtained by Motherboard from Ontario’s Ministry of
Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS) through an access to
information request show that at least two provinces—Ontario and
Saskatchewan—maintain a “Risk-driven Tracking Database” that is used to amass
highly sensitive information about people’s lives. Information in the database
includes whether a person uses drugs, has been the victim of an assault, or
lives in a “negative neighborhood.”
The Risk-driven Tracking Database (RTD)
is part of a collaborative approach to policing called the
Hub model that partners cops, school staff, social workers,
health care workers, and the provincial government.
Information about people believed to be
“at risk” of becoming criminals or victims of harm is shared between civilian
agencies and police and is added to the database when a person is being
evaluated for a rapid intervention intended to lower their risk levels.
Interventions can range from a door knock and a chat to forced hospitalization
or arrest.
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