Average person is rarely stopped

Martin Regg Cohn’s take on “carding” shows that he certainly hasn’t been speaking with anyone from the law enforcement agencies. As a retired police officer, I wasn’t alone in keeping track of known criminals with field observation cards. These were very effective in determining who was seen with whom, where and when. The average person, or those described by Cohn as “innocent people,” were and are rarely stopped. I don’t know of any police officer who, as described by The Spectator’s View Jan. 5, would do “random street checks.” There was and is always a reason for doing field observations. The criminal element throughout Canada is made up of people from all walks of life, and for The Spectator or anyone else to say that “racialized people” are targeted disproportionally is untrue. Cohn and The Spectator should have spoken with various police officers before accepting Tulloch’s biased report at face value.

Hans Schmiedeberg, Burlington