As an Indo - racial profiling in connection to personal experiences PDF

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racial profiling in connection to personal experiences ...

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As an Indo-Canadian I have been subject to many instances of surveillance while shopping in rural areas of Ontario, especially at a young age. As I recall, at the approximate age of 16 years old, I was shopping in one of London, Ontario’s largest malls, more specifically the Masonville’s Roots store where I was being followed by a store employee. During the time of the visit to the store, I interpreted the store employee following me as good customer service. It was only until after, when I was going to write them a review on Google where I came across many negative comments regarding the store, most of them being from customers who had been followed because of the colour of their skin. After reading the reviews, I was in shock and thought I was a victim of racial profiling. At the time, I regretted purchasing any products from the store ever again. As I matured and got into the workforce, specifically being a Loss Prevention Investigator at Wal-Mart Canada Corp., I understood why I had been followed in London many years ago. One of the many responsibilities as a Loss Prevention Investigator is to conduct surveillance on any possible suspects and apprehend them in accordance to the store policies and the Criminal Code of Canada. I had well over 300 apprehensions in the 2.5 years I worked with Wal-Mart Canada Corp., not because I surveyed individuals on the basis of their skin colour, but on the basis of their movement patterns throughout the store. Movement patterns such as looking around for employees, looking down to avoid cameras, or even being dressed up in specific kinds of clothing’s are some of the grounds to conduct surveillance on an individual. During the incident that took place in Masonville’s Roots store many years ago, the movement patterns I portrayed such as avoiding eye contact with employees lead them to believe that I may be a suspect. For my defence, I was a shy 16-year-old who avoided any kind of social interactions. Since I have first-hand experience in conducting surveillance in retail stores, I understand the kinds of movement patterns to avoid, thus changing my behavioural pattern, subconsciously, throughout private places. In today’s society, the media portrays law enforcement in a negative connotation, which is why you may have seen some online videos of customers recording undercover Loss Prevention Agents and accusing them of following them throughout the store due to the colour of their skin. In the article, “effectiveness of formal and informal surveillance in reducing crime at grocery stores,” written by Sami Kajalo and Arto Lindblom, it is stated that, “formal surveillance is effective method to reduce vandalism, disturbance, and shoplifting… Security guards were perceived to be the very effective formal surveillance.” In other words, having covert or overt surveillance throughout a private place, such as a retail store, is a great deterrent in preventing shop theft and keeping safety in its highest of regards. Regardless of the mass attack on law enforcement, including security guards,...