Police In Canada Are Tracking People's 'Negative' Behavior In a 'Risk' Database (vice.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Police, social services, and health workers in Canada are using shared databases to track the behavior 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. Data from the RTD is analyzed to identify trends -- for example, a spike in drug use in a particular area -- with the goal of producing planning data to deploy resources effectively, and create "community profiles" that could accelerate interventions under the Hub model, according to a 2015 Public Safety Canada report. Saskatchewan and Ontario officials say the data in the database is "de-identified" by removing details such as people's names and birthdates, but experts Motherboard spoke to say that scrubbing data so it may never be used to identify an individual is difficult if not impossible.

Comments

Re:Not sure about Canada

[Mashiki]

Stop and Frisk in Toronto was one of the main drivers of crime downwards. Since Toronto stopped this in high crime areas, the crime rates are screeching ever higher now. Even went as high as the Supreme Court of Canada, that ruled that in particular circumstances such as high crime areas, it's an allowable behavior. It is a form of oppression, but here's what's weighted by the courts: "Does the action create a positive or negative effect for the community." This is weighted as societies rights to be safe vs the rights of the individual. This is a broader action then "detaining any 'close to' suspects in the case of an indictable offence(felony)." To give you another example, in Canada RIDE programs(anti-drunk driving) are a fundamental charter violation and an illegal search. The courts specifically stated that the rights of society to not be hit, injured or killed by the offender or possible offender outweigh the fundamentally guaranteed rights against an unlawful search.

Now to the article at hand, the entire premise of this is based on crime reduction. Let me give you an example, if you're living in Toronto(Ontario) you're more likely to be shot or stabbed then 10 years ago. Crime is a serious issue, more so that there are areas that are degenerating into ghettos ala the US type. In Regina(Saskatchewan), there are entire parts of the city that are ghettos. Crime is staggeringly high(for Canada), it revolves around a single group of people in most cases(aboriginals), this is similar in the US where cities have serious black crime problems in particular areas for example. Regina for instance, has(or had) the highest rape and murder rate in Canada with Winnipeg(Manitoba) catching up second or Toronto. In Winnipeg's case, similar problems similar groups of people, with similar issues leading to generational crime for instance. I.e. broken homes, no fathers, poor education, heavy substance abuse, etc.

Enjoy the shit show.