Peel police chief must back down
Re Stop ‘street checks,’ Editorial Sept. 29 Taxpayers and citizens should not have to tolerate outright defiance by public servants who believe they are above the law and beyond the lawful instructions of their superiors.
Peel police Chief Jennifer Evans’ refusal to obey her board’s recommendation to suspend her force’s practice of “carding” amounts to wilful insubordination and is completely unacceptable.
Carding is a police-state tactic that has no place in a society where citizens — even minorities — have rights. It should be banned permanently.
Evans is on the wrong side of the law and history and should be fired. Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders, take notice. Richard van Abbe, Toronto
Who does Jennifer Evans think she is? The board, her employer, ordered her to stop carding and she refused? Does she think she has some special papal dispensation to do as she pleases?
It is time to say that we do not live in a “police state!” Gordon J. Chong, former Toronto councillor and Police Services Board member, Toronto
Police chiefs in Ontario claim that police services boards cannot establish and enforce (or prohibit) such policies. They rely on the legal prohibition that prevents boards from giving directions to chiefs of police “with respect to specific operational decisions or with respect to the day-to-day operation of the police force.” The purpose of that restriction is to prevent boards from interfering with the investigation of offences and the laying of charges. However, the boards are specifically mandated to “establish policies for the effective management of the police force.”
Carding is the very type of “policy” that police services boards are mandated to create and enforce, or to prohibit. It has nothing to do with investigation of offences or the laying of charges.
The Peel Police Services Board should override the chief’s veto and order her to suspend carding. If the chief wants to challenge that order in court, that would be an ideal opportunity to resolve this contentious issue. Mark Wainberg, Toronto
According to the Police Act, the police board cannot exercise any authority over the police. So are we to assume that the police report to no one and are therefore a power unto themselves? Is that not the definition of a police state? Rick Tufts, Toronto
“Know when to walk away.” That tidy caveat offered by Peel’s police chief made me think. Being a white-haired, Caucasian senior with a cane, it might be possible. One thing is clear though. The chief doesn’t know when to fold ’em. Don Graves, Toronto
Two valid ways to extend police carding:
1) Stopping business officials and spec- ulators near Bay St. to check for investor fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and stock manipulation.
2) Stopping and recording politicians entering Queen’s Park to check for political corruption, hidden emails and financial mismanagement. Roy Brady, Peterborough, Ont.