Jaywalking While Black is apparently a serious offence
On Sunday, about 9:05 p.m., I exited my house on the east side of Rosedale Ave. in Notre-Dame-deGrâce and walked across the street to where my car was parked. This was just 10 seconds after three black men in their 20s had crossed the street in the same area, which was not near an intersection.
I moved my car into my driveway and walked back up to my front door, by which time a police cruiser had pulled up opposite my house. Two officers exited the vehicle and detained the three men “for jaywalking” and demanded identification.
The three men began to loudly question the officers’ motives for detaining them.
Very soon, three additional police vehicles appeared, one of which was a supervisor’s van.
A total of eight officers questioned the three men, who were joined shortly afterward by two friends of theirs who had been attracted by the commotion.
After a period of about 25 minutes, during which one of the original two officers was occupied on her squad car’s computer while her partner asked each of the men in turn to turn out their pockets and demonstrate that nothing was concealed in their clothing, the men were each issued a ticket and proclaimed free to go.
Aside from the fact that this heavy allocation of police resources seemed excessive to me — three police cars and one van for a presumed jaywalking offence — what disappointed me, but unfortunately did not surprise me, was the apparent demonstration of institutionalized prejudice.
As a lone young white woman, I was able to walk across Rosedale mid-block just 10 to 15 seconds after the three young black males had done exactly the same thing. I was ignored while the three men were detained, questioned, and fined $37 apiece for a truly ludicrous infraction.
Perhaps the police were on the lookout for three persons of interest involved in another case who fitted the description of these three subjects; perhaps these particular men were known to the officers, although the content of their conversation did not suggest it.
Nevertheless, to me, this looked like nothing so much as a case of being detained for Walking While Black After Dark.
No matter the mitigating circumstances that might have justified the officers’ actions in their own minds, this is precisely the kind of behaviour that damages the reputation of the Montreal police force in the eyes of many Montrealers and contributes to a climate of mistrust and alienation between minority communities, in particular, and our law enforcement agencies.
Police intervention into minor offences such as the one I witnessed, surely not urgent matters in the officers’ minds, both represent and contribute to a broader disconnect between citizens and the apparatus of the state with which they interact.
To the officers in Montreal police cars 11-5, 11-10, 11-85 and especially 11-1: I applaud your apparent commitment to your work, yet it isn’t enough to have procedures and bylaws on your side. Although you surely operated in full compliance with the procedural requirements that delimit the scope of your powers, your failure here was one of situational judgment — even if an objective review of your actions would place you legally in the right.
A productive relationship with the community in which you work must be rooted in sensitivity, and in a healthy understanding of the difference between intuition and prejudice.