TREATMENT DIFFERS BY DIVISION

If you're caught with cocaine in Toronto's downtown entertainment district,
chances are you'll walk away with a ticket to appear in court. Get caught
in Regent Park, and you're much more likely to take a ride to the station
and be held in jail.

Six years worth of drug arrest data, obtained and analyzed by The Star,
shows officers in low-income, heavily policed areas go harder on the people
they arrest for simple drug possession than officers in other divisions.

The Star looked at how police released over 10,000 people facing a single
count of simple drug possession and found, city-wide, blacks were treated
more harshly than whites. The difference in treatment became greater, and
more harsh, depending where, and in which of the city's 16 policing
divisions, the arrest took place.

In 51 Division -- a busy downtown station that has struggled to build
bridges with a multicultural community -- those charged with possessing
cocaine are treated more harshly than anywhere else in the city.

Since 1997, just over 40 per cent of blacks charged with one count of
cocaine possession were held for a bail hearing, while only 20 per cent of
whites were locked up until they could be brought to court.

Head west one police district into 52 Division -- home to the entertainment
district, financial core and a growing number of condo dwellers -- and the
treatment is amongst the most lenient of any division in the city. Just
over 15 per cent of blacks were kept overnight in that police district,
versus 8.8 per cent of whites.

Go west one more division, into Parkdale's 14 Division, and blacks were
held for a bail hearing 24.7 of the time, while whites were held 16 per
cent of the time.

Although far fewer people were detained or held for bail hearings, similar,
station-to-station patterns were in place for those charged with possession
of marijuana.