Ottawa Police Service: Lawsuit alleges police wiretapped, surveilled Black officers [Video]

A $2.5 million lawsuit alleges Ottawa police wiretapped and surveilled five of its own Black, Somali officers, hasn’t told them why and accuses the service of being an institution “rife with racism and discrimination that over-polices the racialized communities it has pledged to protect.”

The civil action was filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice by constables Liban Farah, Mohamed Islam, Abdullahi Ahmed, AhmedKhador Ali and Feisal Bila Houssein in 2023 against the Ottawa Police Services Board and three unnamed members of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS). In addition to the five officers, there are three civilian plaintiffs who are family members of two of the officers. 

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As first reported by CBC, the lawsuit alleges three wiretaps and a general warrant which included video surveillance were obtained “based on racist and stereotypical assumptions about …