Black Toronto police officer on what it’s like to be ‘of both worlds’

Toronto police Const. Dale Swift says he knows what it’s like to be on both sides of the anti-racist protests happening throughout North America.

Const. Swift says, as a former youth mental health worker, many teens turned to him to make sense of what happened to George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

“It actually really bothered me,” Swift says of the video posted online.

“I have a very multi-faceted role because I am of both worlds, I felt it was my responsibility to say something,” explains Swift, who is a community police officer at 33-division.

Swift put together a seven-minute video for his Instagram followers explaining his thoughts, adding that Floyd’s death has helped give Black people a louder voice.

“It effects everybody. As a Black person, with that tragedy happening, having a louder voice now, you feel like you’re going to be finally being heard, but it doesn’t stop there because now everyone is recognizing that it happens everywhere.”

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Swift has been an officer for 11 years. Working to bridge the gap between police and marginalized communities, “Swifty” grew up in Chester Le.

“Me growing up in Toronto housing, it was significantly hard, there were lots of challenges, I saw everything I was a part of so much, so I really didn’t think I was going to be a police officer and here I am now with the opportunity.”

As a Black man and a police officer, Swift says he’s proud of his service and his city for holding peaceful protests.

“We’re all in this together, no matter what your race or ethnicity is or socio-economic situation is. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, we’re legitimately all in this together — because racism affects everybody.”