SPVM gun squad called anti-Black
Late last year, the SPVM created a squad called Quiétude to investigate gun crime, but a study by a Concordia professor found that what they’ve mostly been doing is arresting Black men – 74% of its arrests, in fact. In most cases, if these people were charged with anything, it was not for firearms offences.
Chris 18:03 on 2020-10-15 Permalink
If I’m reading the articles right, this 74% figure comes from 23 of 31 arrestees being black. 31 is a pretty small sample size to draw any larger conclusions from.
nau 21:18 on 2020-10-15 Permalink
If I’m reading the article right, the squad made 31 arrests in the time period studied. The study looked at all 31 arrests. A sample of 31 when the total number of arrests to study is 31 is not a small sample. In fact, the word sample doesn’t really apply.
Michael Black 22:29 on 2020-10-15 Permalink
“Investigate gun crime” sounds like they are studying crimes that involve guns that have already happened, or trying to track down illegal guns.
31 doesn’t seem like much, especially if most arrested didn’t have guns. Were they looking for people who looked like they had guns?
And to arrest 31, how did they find those? Did they stop 310 people to find those 31?
Chris 22:51 on 2020-10-15 Permalink
nau: many people don’t read past the headline/summary. My point is that 23 of 31 arrestees vs say 2300 of 3100 arrestees, or even 3 of 4 arrestees, would be rather different stories, even though all could be summarized as 74%.
nau 08:43 on 2020-10-16 Permalink
Chris: Sure, and my point for the people who didn’t read the article was that the 31 wasn’t a sample, it was the whole existing population available for study. Yes, larger numbers tell a different story. 2300 of 3100 suggests that longstanding police unit has a racial bias problem. 23 ot 31 suggests that brand new police unit has a racial bias problem. I imagine the professor in question is motivated to draw attention to this “new” problem so it could hopefully be resolved before having to wait the 396 months needed for total arrests to reach 3100 (at the study period arrest rate).
MarcG 12:16 on 2020-10-16 Permalink
The numbers are actually worse if you look at not just Black folks but non-whites: 25 of 31 – 80.6%. Michael asks a good question: how many people were harassed and not arrested and what did they look like?