EPS pamphlets will explain carding

Force is working on recommendations from external review, acting chief says

Edmonton police will distribute multi-language pamphlets explaining street checks after a review of the controversial practice.

At Thursday’s Edmonton Police Commission meeting, police service officials responded to recommendations from an external street check review released in June.

The practice, known as carding, came under scrutiny last year after Black Lives Matter released data suggesting black and Indigenous Edmontonians are disproportionately stopped and questioned by police, despite not being suspected of a crime.

The review, prepared for the police commission by Simon Fraser University criminologist Curt Griffiths, did not draw that conclusion, instead saying internal police data on the racial background of people stopped in street checks was of too poor quality.

Griffiths ended up making 17 recommendations to reform the practice, including monitoring for “problem officers,” addressing privacy issues related to street checks, increasing diversity within the service and starting a “public dialogue” about street checks.

Acting Chief Kevin Brezinski told commissioners police have acted on some of the recommendations.

“Of those 17 recommendations, we have addressed some of them,” he said. “Others are a work in progress. We’re looking at a number of things. Public education on what is a street check, I think that’s very important.”

He said police are preparing pamphlets, to be distributed online, in seven different languages.

“Anything we can do to educate the public I think would be helpful,” he said.

A poster included with a commission report Thursday said a street check is a “conversation between a police officer and a citizen” that may lead to a written report, and that the information “could be instrumental in solving a crime.”

Conversations can include “a check to see if a person needs assistance,” it reads, or “a discussion about suspicious activity or recent crimes in the area. The citizen might not be involved in the activity but could have related information.”

It also said participation in a street check is voluntary.

“You do not have to participate in a street check if you do not want to.”

Griffiths’ report also recommended developing a “comprehensive” community policing plan, reducing a “disconnect” between front line police officers and management on the purpose of street checks, and developing a plan to “inform/educate communities on the objectives and use of street checks in policing.”