Hamilton Police Services Board doesn’t support judicial review of housing advocates arrests

The Hamilton Police Services Board says it does not support any additional review of the arrests of housing advocates in November at J.C. Beemer Park and the Central Police Station.

The decision comes before community members could make their case to the board and call for a judicial review.

Over a three-day period in late November, six Hamilton housing advocates and supporters were arrested, some for obstructing police and assaulting an officer.

Later that week, police arrested protestors outside their Central Station.

Lyndon George, Executive Director of the Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre, says work needs to be done to repair the relationship between police and members of the community. “Trust is key in policing and that is not there right now particularly from the Black community after these incidents occurred,” said George.

On Monday, the police services board said they don’t have the powers to investigate and that it’s beyond their mandate.

“There isn’t the breadth of information that we’ve received at the board level that would require or have us ask for any additional reviews.” and “We already have appropriate agencies looking into this, the SIU and the OIRPD,” said board chair Pat Mandy.

George is expected to present to the board next month and call for an independent review but says the decision was already made by the board before they had a chance to make their case.

“It speaks volumes. What it says is regardless of what you say, we’ve made our decision. And that is not how you build rapport in communities. It’s not how you build trust,” he added.

In a written statement, the board said, “The incident in question is before the courts for judicial determination based on facts and evidentiary record.”

Ontario’s police watchdog has already dropped its investigation saying the injuries of a woman arrested were not serious and do not fall within the mandate of the Special Investigations Unit. The board said on Monday it does not support any additional review of these incidents “beyond what is currently underway.”

George will continue to call for those charges to be dropped. “I am going to be delegating to the board but I am going to be talking to other Black leaders in the community about what we can do collectively. These are issues that are impacting our broader community – the talk about trust. So we are going to be looking at other options about what we can do next,” said George.

More than 100 people have called for an independent investigation.