January 29, 2024
Retired Canadian police superintendent Merith recounts his experiences as a Black man on the force in his searing debut. As a teenager in the early 1970s, Merith was profiled by a white police officer in a parking lot, and the encounter prompted him to join law enforcement himself in order to “provide a level of policing that would incorporate character, decency, respect, and fairness that this man and others like him would not provide.” When he entered the profession after graduating from Humber College Institute in 1980, he found the road more difficult than he expected. From white coworkers who were openly outraged at the thought of a Black man in uniform to a near-constant barrage of racial jokes and deep institutional biases, Merith writes at length of the constant “needling” he experienced as he climbed the ranks of Ontario’s York Regional Police over several decades. He also outlines specific reforms he implemented as superintendent and would like to see expanded, including diversity-forward recruitment tactics that promote “officers of colour representing the mosaic of province,” and training that emphasizes caution when it comes to the use of lethal force. Throughout, Merith nimbly balances critique and pragmatism, claiming pride in his service while asserting that “until equity and justice for all are applied in the manner consistent with the meaning allocated to those words, we the aggrieved, in and out of uniform, beaten and bruised but not defeated, will never stop fighting for change.” This poignant account examines a thorny set of issues with clear eyes and bracing authority.