No clarity on link between carding and gunfire
Hamilton police still compiling data in wake of new provincial law
Has “carding” legislation led to an increase in gun violence?
It’s a good question. Maybe even an excellent question. But there isn’t a solid answer right now and I’m not sure there ever will be anything definitive.
The best Hamilton Police Service can do, for the moment, is to say: “We do not have any evidence that can definitely make a correlation between COII (Collection of Identifying Information) and shootings,” according to Supt. Nancy Goodes-Ritchie when the issue was raised at Thursday’s Police Services Board meeting. So let’s break that down.
It was raised by board chair Lloyd Ferguson, who said people have told him they are concerned about the number of shooting incidents we’ve had in our city recently — 40 in 2017 (up from 22 in 2016) and three so far this year.
He asked if the spike in shootings has been caused by the controversial new provincial COII (pronounced “coy”) legislation brought into effect a year ago.
This is often referred to as carding or street check legislation.
However, Goodes-Ritchie explained that carding and COII are actually two different things. Carding, the way it used to be defined, was “broadly interpreted as community interaction for investigative purposes,” she said.
It was virtually any random interaction between police and members of the public in which records were created and kept on file.
Historically, racialized groups have been disproportionately carded by police across Ontario. The new legislation aims to prevent police from targeting or harassing visible minorities by imposing strict rules on engagement.
Police can no longer collect identifying information on someone not under investigation, on a person stopped arbitrarily or on someone due to race or location in a crime-heavy neighbourhood.
Goodes-Ritchie said police can still randomly stop a person and talk to them. But if an officer asks for identifying information, COII kicks in.
“COII doesn’t prohibit us from interacting with the community,” she said.
Five years ago, Hamilton officers “carded” 4,803 times. Last year, they did just five COII checks.
“Five? Over the whole year? Only five people? Why such a low number?” asked board member Walt Juchniewicz.
The complicated answer from Goodes-Ritchie was that 2017 was a transition year when the new law was being implemented, officers were being retrained and police were learning how to make COII “applicable on the street.”
But also that comparing the old carding numbers to COII is like apples and oranges.
Of the five people included in the COII stats for 2017, one was black, another was “perceived” to be black by the officer, and then each of the rest were perceived to be Filipino, Indigenous and white.
So how does all this fit in with shootings? Is the city less safe now? asked Ferguson.
Acting Chief Dan Kinsella said there isn’t enough data to determine if there is a correlation between COII legislation and shootings.
There is only one year of statistics.
“It is too early in my view to make any kind of determination. We need more time.”
Kinsella did acknowledge that “we’re up in our shootings, for sure.” He added that most of them are “targeted” and “drug related.”
But that doesn’t mean there is zero risk to the general public.
“Usually (the shooters) know who they’re after,” Kinsella said.
“But that doesn’t prevent stray bullets from flying through the air.”
So is Hamilton an anomaly with the spike in shootings and the low number of COII? asked Ferguson.
No, said Kinsella. Shootings are up and COII checks are down around the province.
Are Hamilton police officers talking to random members of the public as often as they were five years ago and stopping just short of asking for identifying information?
Or has the new legislation had a chilling effect, making officers less likely to engage?
“I don’t think our officers are choosing not to engage. I think our officers are engaging very much today as they have all along,” Goodes-Ritchie said.
How does she know? What proof is there?
Well, there isn’t any really. Other than anecdotally. There are no statistics kept on all random interactions, just the few that fall under the new rules.
Ferguson met recently with Justice Michael Tulloch, who is assessing the impact of the COII legislation.
The board chair says he asked Tulloch to look at the possible correlation between COII and shootings.
Perhaps Tulloch can find a way to answer some of the questions hanging out there. If there is a relationship between COII and increased gun violence, we need to address it. If not, let’s move on.
‘‘COII doesn’t prohibit us from interacting with the community. SUPT. NANCY GOODES-RITCHIE