The culture of policing in Peel is facing a radical change.

In January the civilian board that oversees the force elected a new chair. He immediately blasted a report commissioned by Chief Jennifer Evans that supported carding.

In April the board fired its executive director, the man who for 25 years had influenced many of its biggest decisions.

And now community leaders, sensing the time has arrived, want the board to deliver on the promise that new chair Amrik Ahluwalia made the day he took over: to make the Peel police force a model for the world. The board’s two most powerful members, Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey and her Mississauga counterpart, Bonnie Crombie, also want major changes.

It won’t be easy. Peel police have been dogged for more than a decade by a series of controversies, including dozens of cases of misconduct by its officers, allegations of systemic racism, and serious concerns raised by judges about the credibility of officers.

Meanwhile, Evans has shown she can stand up to the new board and some of the changes it wants.

“I am excited about the new board and the new chair,” said Sophia Brown Ramsay, programming director for the Black Community Action Network of Peel, who has met with the chief on numerous occasions. “The board is our civilian oversight. These people work for the people. And now, finally, the board is being bold. It’s frustrating to have a board that does not want to listen to the community it serves.”

She said it was even more frustrating to watch Evans do battle with board members over the controversial practice of carding, known as street checks in Peel. Last June the chief resisted Crombie’s and Jeffrey’s request for a report to justify carding. In September, when the board voted to have the chief shut down carding, Evans said no, claiming it was an invaluable policing tool.

Brown Ramsay called the recent decision to dismiss Fred Biro, the board’s longtime executive director, who supported Evans on carding, “a bold move.”

“This move shows the new chair and the new board is not just all talk,” she said.

Like many community leaders the Star spoke to, she wants the force to be more reflective of the people it polices, in two of Canada’s most diverse cities. She is also concerned about the cost of policing and the reputation of the force.

“There has been a trust issue between the police and the community for quite some time. That’s not good for policing, and it’s not good for the community,” she said.

Patti Ann Trainor, a Brampton resident and advocate for progressive policing, is among the voices calling for more replacements.

“I really think they have to replace the chief,” she told the Star. “Chief Evans and some of her senior officers, there's this arrogance that they have. They're not really listening, they're just not getting it.”

After being elected chair of the police services board in January, Ahluwalia told the Star his goals are the same as the chief’s. “We all want the same thing,” he said. “Sometimes our paths are different.”

Evans didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Biro was considered one of Evans’ most powerful supporters. After his dismissal, the man whom Ahluwalia replaced as chair of the board, Laurie Williamson, made some bold statements of his own.

“First they came to remove old, white guy,” he told the Toronto Sun, referring to his departure as chair. Then, he said, he was “absolutely stunned” by Biro’s firing.

“I am worried they could be coming next for the chief,” he said. He added that he was not supported for re-election as chair because of his pro-carding position. Williamson, a former car dealer and close friend of Hazel McCallion, could not be reached by the Star for comment.

Evans would not address Williamson’s comments, but the Star obtained an an internal email sent by the chief to the entire force the day after the comments were published: “In light of recent media coverage, I want to assure everyone that although there have been changes made at the Police Services Board office, I am working with Chair Ahluwalia … Please do not let rumours and/or media stories influence your commitment to this organization.”

Ahluwalia said Biro’s dismissal was a “progressive” move to help take the force in a new direction. He did not want to address Evans’ future with the force. Her contract expires next year.

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“We have made a start with staffing,” he told the Star. “It will be completed in the near future.”

He said the list of “challenges is large” and the board will be meeting in June with the chief and senior management to discuss immediate priorities for reform.

Mayors Jeffrey and Crombie were more specific about their goals.

“We need to continue with our efforts to ensure the composition of the police services matches the diversity of the Peel population,” Crombie said.

She also said she wants to focus on “technology to modernize policing and reduce the costs of policing” and to push for better provincial accountability for police boards. She said the province needs to review how it appoints people to police boards to make sure they are properly qualified.

Jeffrey said having a new chair “helps turn the page on what’s been happening over the last few years.”

“I think we’ve heard it through the carding conversations and I’ve heard it in other conversations . . .We want accountability and transparency in how complaints are handled, and certainly on the carding issue, we want to know that there’s a reasonable explanation for why people are being stopped.”

In September, after the Star released data obtained through freedom of information laws that showed black individuals were three times as likely to be stopped by Peel police in carding interactions than whites, Evans was asked why her force seemed to be targeting one group. She said she did not know, but would find out. The Star asked her again last week.

Last week, Evans issued a news release lauding her own force for becoming the first in Ontario to implement strict new provincial regulations that govern street checks.

Jeffrey said what she wants to see, beyond the new regulations, is a new police complaints process in Peel, “So the public have confidence.”

She also said she wants to address budgeting efficiencies and for the force to better reflect the community it polices, which is a guiding principle laid out under the province’s Police Services Act. Data from 2010 showed that visible minorities accounted for 60 per cent of the population of Brampton and Mississauga, but only 13 per cent of Peel police officers.

Ranjit Khatkur, chair of the Peel Coalition Against Racialized Discrimination, said now is the time for the force to start getting serious about listening to the community it polices, one that continues to change rapidly.

“There’s no question that the chief has to rethink how they’re doing business. You have many, many people in and out of Peel now keeping a close eye on the police. The community wants changes, the new board wants changes, the province has demanded changes to carding and is reviewing the Police Act,” she said. “So let’s see if the chief continues with her old ways, or if she wants to be part of the change that’s going to happen, whether she likes it or not.”

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