Just days after the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission delivered its landmark report on street checks last March, DeRico Symonds took to the streets. Despite the report’s finding that Black people in Halifax were six times more likely to be stopped by police than their representation in the population would suggest, and the Black community’s […]
Halifax Regional Police (HRP)
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Three sidewalk vigilantes who can’t wait for the city to figure out what to do about sidewalk safety
I t’s as easy as look left, look right, they say. In Halifax, not so much, and fed-up citizens are taking matters of safety on sidewalks into their own hands. Matt Spurway, Doug Carleton and Martyn Williams say Halifax’s flawed traffic design, policies and infrastructure are partly to blame for unconscionable and avoidable traumatic injuries […]
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HRP to purge street check data by December 2020
At this week’s board of police comissioners meeting Halifax police chief Dan Kinsella said HRP is keeping its plan from June 2019 to purge all data and metadata regarding street checks in December 2020. In March 2019 the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and Scot Wortley released their report on street checks which reported on […]
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Sexual exploitation conference calls for more attention to the “root” of the problem
A conference being held by Saint Mary’s University’s criminology department on September 14 promises to bring fresh perspectives to the topic of sexual exploitation in Nova Scotia and beyond. Organized by human trafficking abolitionist and survivor of sexual exploitation Cheyenne Jones, the Buyer Beware panel aims to bring awareness to what Jones considers the origin […]
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Radical Imagination project looks for new spot to screen after Central Library clash
Update July 5: After discussion with Åsa Kachan, CEO of Halifax Public Libraries, The Radical Imagination Project screenings will take place in the Halifax Central Library, without a presentation from HRP as previously requested. The Radical Imagination Project has screened films and hosted discussions about radical ideas that emerge from social change and movements at the […]
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Radical Imagination project looks for new spot to screen after clash with Library
The Radical Imagination Project has screened films and hosted discussions about radical ideas that emerge from social change and movements at the Halifax Central Library for the past four-and-a-half years. But it won’t be returning this fall, according to Alex Khasnabish, director of the project and professor of sociology and anthropology at Mount Saint Vincent […]
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HRP and RCMP say ‘not yet’ to Board of Police Commissioners apology request
Slow and steady appears to be the tactic taken by those in power since Scot Wortley’s street check report was released in March. At Monday’s Board of Police Commissioners meeting, interim police chief Robin McNeil explained why the HRP won’t be apologizing just yet for the harm caused by street checks, saying it would be […]
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Youth members of street check report working group are fed up and have walked out
T rayvone Clayton, DeRico Symonds, Shevy Price and Kate Macdonald have walked out of the Wortley Street Check Action Working Group. Their statement, released Monday, explains: “During the third meeting, we became aware of the intended purpose of the working group,” it says. “This information we received counteracted with our beliefs and the communities’ beliefs […]
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Halifax announces Dan Kinsella as next regional police chief
T he long-awaited replacement for retired regional police chief Jean-Michel Blais will be Dan Kinsella. Currently the deputy chief of operations for the Hamilton Police Services, Kinsella doesn’t officially start until July 1. Residents will have to wait and see if he’s the future face of change in the Halifax police force. “He just rose […]
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Street check suspension buying time before regulation
Last week justice minister Mark Furey announced a moratorium on street checks “until further notice.” The decision followed Scot Wortley’s report for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission that found Black men people are six times more likely to be street checked by police than white men and a strong recommendation from the Board of […]
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Halifax Police swings its Big Truck Energy
Halifax Regional Police wants to add a new tool to its belt. At the Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Monday, HRP’s inspector Jim Butler quickly made the case for needing an armoured rescue vehicle (ARV) added to the HRP’s fleet. He said an ARV would give officers the ability to perform duties during high-risk […]
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Police Commission makes recommendation to suspend street check practice
UPDATE: On Wednesday, April 17, justice minister Mark Furey directed police across NS to suspend street checks of both pedestrians and passengers in vehicles until further notice. The Halifax Board of Police Commissioners put its weight behind ending the practice of street checks at this week’s meeting following Scot Wortley and the NS Human Rights […]
