Street checks are an integral part of policing

Last week a local lawyer working with the group Progress Alberta held a news conference and alleged the Lethbridge Police Service is engaging in a discriminatory practice known as carding. They went on to allege this practice was disproportionately targeting black people and First Nations. These allegations are based on data obtained through a Freedom of Information Request but the problem is the raw data was not sufficient to do the calculations that were done and as a result the numbers are skewed.

For whatever reason, Progress Alberta only sent the news release to a few select media agencies. The chosen who attended the news conference asked LPS for a comment and were provided with a very detailed statement that explained the service’s policy on street checks, pointed out the discrepancies in the numbers being asserted as fact and highlighted the Service’s efforts with respect to bias-free policing including officer training. Some media were more responsible as far as including this information in their stories, but others opted for the sensational.

I can advise that our analyst is currently working on a comprehensive analysis of the numbers and I will provide the facts to our Police Commission on Wednesday during our meeting. In the meantime, I’d like to clarify our policy as far as what a street check is and why and how we do them.

A bonafide street check is essentially a field interview that results in the completion of a street check information report — an intelligence gathering tool. But a street check report is not completed every time the police simply talk to someone or ask them questions. Under the Police Act “the preservation and maintenance of the public peace and the prevention of crime within the municipality” is our duty. This is really not much different than Sir Robert Peel’s principle of policing (authored in 1829) which states: “the basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.” I have yet to meet an officer who is clairvoyant or psychic so we must engage with the public and speak with them in order to learn information that will help us achieve these duties. Watch an old episode of The Andy Griffith Show and you will see that even in 1960s Mayberry the police have always talked to people to learn things. It is a practice that is fundamental to policing.

Street checks are conducted with respect to individuals observed under suspicious circumstances or if the nature of their actions and presence in an area raises the possibility of criminal activity. This includes people who are known to be involved in criminal activity, individuals who may be able to supply information about criminal activity or individuals checked during an investigation and who are believed to be involved in criminal activity.

Here’s an example. If we have a rash of break and enters in the industrial area and we know that businesses are being targeted between 2:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., it is good old-fashioned police work to speak to people in that area at that time who may or may not have a legitimate reason to be there and document the encounter. Similarly, if issues with car prowling occurring overnight in a residential area have been reported and witnesses have described the perpetrators as being a group of young people on bicycles with backpacks – our officers will be looking for people matching that description to talk with them.

Street checks also include known criminals. When observed, it is not uncommon for these individuals to be checked — and often repeatedly checked. Street check reports are submitted to help identify areas the offender frequents, travel patterns, associates, etc. — information that can ultimately lead to search warrants, arrests and crimes being solved.

The term “carding” has been given an evil connotation and my personal belief is that some want to dupe the public into thinking it is like the “stop and frisk” and racial profiling arguments that were used in the U.S. A street check is not “stop and frisk.” It is a tool to gather information.

The Lethbridge Police Service is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. CALEA was born in the U.S. and brought together the International Association of Chiefs of Police, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement, the National Sheriffs Association and the Police Executive Research Forum. The Commission consists of lawyers, academics and police leaders who are continually assessing policies to enhance and advance best practices. Part of why it was formed was to address race-based issues that manifested in the late 1960s and the 1970s. More recently, events in Ferguson and Baltimore have been topical at CALEA and standards are continually evolving so that we are always assessing what we do to ensure we remain fair and impartial. We conduct an annual review of our biasfree policing policies and our members receive training. The LPS has been accredited for 20 years and remain committed to these high standards.

Allegations around carding are not new. It has been discussed at the Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police (AACP) with the Solicitor General, albeit the Alberta discussions started about 12 months after the issue first erupted in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). I was a Chief in Ontario when the carding debate started there and I have remained a member of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police to monitor the progression of this and other issues. What I have observed in my career is whenever the police become a target or society’s punching bag it generally starts in the GTA, gets a lot of coverage and then spreads from there to the west. The challenge is that policing in Alberta is very different than in the GTA so it cannot be a simple application of an issue born in the GTA.

The LPS is currently part of a working group between the AACP and Solicitor General to review street check practices and any recommendations that result will ultimately guide our operations going forward. Until then it is irresponsible to have a knee-jerk reaction to a sensationalized story.

As police officers, we have a duty to public safety, crime prevention and addressing criminality and that duty does NOT see colour or race. Every officer respects the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as our guiding principles in Canadian policing.