Peel police made 159,000 street checks
Cops performed carding stops on 1 out of 46 Peel residents between 2009 and 2014
Peel Regional Police have conducted 159,303 street checks over the past six years, according to data obtained by the Star ahead of Tuesday’s public meeting in Brampton to address the controversial practice, known in Toronto as carding.
Brampton MPP Jagmeet Singh said the statistics are one more reason to end street checks outright, calling the Liberal government’s current review, which includes the public meeting, “meaningless.”
Street checks, like carding, involve police stopping individuals on the street, often in high-crime areas, and gathering personal information that is entered into a police database even if the subjects are not part of an investigation. Critics argue the practice disproportionately targets members of racialized groups, amounts to racial profiling and leads to mistrust of the police.
Singh, the provincial NDP’s deputy leader, was calling for a ban before the legislature took its summer break, but then the Liberals announced that a review would be held to help create a new set of policies to govern the practice.
“The Liberal government process itself, from the outset, was flawed and, to me, meaningless,” Singh said, saying that merely regulating carding/street checks is “the wrong path” and that the practice should be eliminated. The government and police, he said, “are disrespecting the work of all the lawyers, experts, community groups and citizens (who oppose street checks). They’re saying: ‘We don’t care about your concerns.’ This practice sends a message that certain people don’t belong.”
Toronto lawyer Howard Morton is an outspoken opponent of a practice he believes is a violation of Charter of Rights protections against unreasonable search and seizure and arbitrary detention.
Morton is the legal counsel for a new anti-street checks group calling itself the Peel Coalition Against Racialized Discrimination (Peel CARD).
“Carding and street checks are a Charter of Rights violation; you cannot regulate a Charter violation,” said Morton, who is also a member of the Law Union of Ontario, which has taken a strong stance against carding. The two practices “are identical,” he said, and the government’s current review could actually hurt the efforts of those seeking change.
“We’ve had a consultation with the province (last week). My biggest fear is they’re simply going to do whatever the police wants them to do,” Morton said. If the province simply regulates some of the rough edges without protecting citizens’ rights, it will be a huge setback, he added.
Peel Police Chief Jennifer Evans has acknowledged the need to resolve the street check controversy. “I look forward to engaging with the community on this issue and to the development of a solution that will contribute positively to public safety and ensure public trust,” Evans said in an email to the Star on Monday.
In June, Evans and Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who sits on the Peel Police Services Board, got into a spirited debate at a board meeting when Crombie called for a full review of the force’s street checking practices. Evans defended the force’s policy as the parallel issue of carding in Toronto was dragged into the spotlight. Crombie, however, successfully tabled a motion to ask for a full review, which she expects in the fall.
“Let me begin by reiterating how encouraged I am that Peel Police Services Board members voted unanimously to undertake a full public review of the practice of street checks in Peel Region, during our June12 meeting,” Crombie said in an email to the Star. “As the debate over carding and street checks continues to unfold at the local level, I welcome news that the provincial government is using the summer months to undertake its own consultations about this important issue.”
Peel’s 159,303 street checks between 2009 and 2014 average out to one check for every 46 residents during each of the six years. With files from Jim Rankin and Jacques Gallant