Cops interacting less with public since street check rules change: Chief
Niagara Regional Police officers aren’t interacting as much with the public as they used to since the province changed how police handle street checks, also known as carding, says Chief Bryan MacCulloch.
Carding was used by police services across the province as a way to gather intelligence on the streets by stopping people and asking questions even when there was no offence being investigated. Police would record why they questioned a person, the location it took place, any associates and the skin colour of a person.
Opposition to the practice was widespread, with it being called unlawful and unconstitutional by many. It was also seen as targeting black men in larger urban centres. New regulations came into effect in 2017, which required police officers to inform people of their right not to provide identifying information during interactions when investigating general criminal activity in a community, inquiring into suspicious activities to detect offences, and gathering information for intelligence purposes.
Officers were also required to provide a reason for requesting any identifying information from an individual, and that the reason not be arbitrary, based on race or being present in a high-crime neighbourhood.
People stopped could decline to speak with police, and officers were not able to use that as justification for further questioning or other action.
Niagara police services board chair Bob Gale, at its Thursday meeting, asked how things are now that the regulations are in place.
“It’s the law of the land, now legislation in Ontario and we’ll comply with that legislation,” MacCulloch said, but added, “There are some unintended consequences that resulted from that legislation.”
Numbers of interactions between police and people on the street, the chief said, are low.
“We never want to discourage our members from having interactions with the public … but we want to adhere to the legislation as well.”
Gale asked about a review of the legislation.
MacCulloch said Justice (Michael) Tulloch is reviewing it and assessing whether the province got things right or not.
He said Tulloch is to speak with Niagara police about the issue.
Tulloch is holding meetings with stakeholders including police, police associations, community groups and individuals until the end of April.
Board member Vaughn Stewart asked if there is a belief among police chiefs in Ontario there would be a tweaking of the legislation after Tulloch’s review.
MacCulloch said there’ is likely to be some improvements.