Halifax — Halifax police officers are making an embarrassing admission today on the heels of a new report.
On Monday, new data was released showing that the Halifax Regional Police are 3 times more likely to stop black people for allegedly suspicious behaviour (also known as “street checks”) than white people.
About 20 percent of people stopped for checks are black, despite black people making up less than 4 percent of the city’s population.
Today, officials with the Halifax Regional Police made a startling admission at a press conference on the matter. Officers are saying that they stop black people more because they want to learn “cool new slang” as quickly as possible, so they can more effectively communicate with young people and non-white citizens.
“We were really caught off guard by new words like ‘fleek’ recently,” confessed community relations officer Blake LeBlanc. “We were like, ‘What the heck are the kids talking about?’ By the time it ends up on a Drake album, it’s too late. Every poser on the continent is saying it and what’s cool has moved on. We want to keep in very close contact with our black citizens who are always current with what’s hip.
“Do kids still say that… what’s ‘hip’? What’s ‘cool’? I don’t know. We are trying here, honestly.”
When asked if this amounted to racial profiling, officers admitted that it obviously was — but it’s just because they think “[black] people are awesome.”
“Yes, we are doing street checks on black people at a higher ratio, but that’s the only way we can get those folks to hang out with us,” said LeBlanc. “Otherwise, they avoid us like the plague.
“Maybe if they could drop by the police station more often, play some Xbox or whatever… just ‘hang,’ you know… then we wouldn’t have to abuse our power so much.”
I nearly peed my pants reading this