A shrewd balance
Ontario’s regulations to fix police “carding” have two notable strengths: They’re enough to make a rogue cop think twice before attempting to bully someone and they’re open to enhancement.
Taken as a whole, the new rules mark a significant step forward in maintaining Ontarians’ civil rights and protecting the province’s visible minorities. At the same time, they include sensible provisions that preserve the ability of police to investigate and prevent crime.
Changes are to take effect on Jan. 1, after the province has developed a training program that all officers in Ontario will need to complete before the new rules take effect. That training is to instruct police on how to comply with the regulations and will also cover such topics as racism, bias awareness and discrimination.
Given the significance of what’s coming, it seems reasonable to take time to ensure that officers of every rank understand how the new rules are to be applied.
Police still have a right to ask people for information, but there are strict limits on how to go about that, including what officers can’t do. For a start, Queen’s Park is banning what Community Safety Minister Yasir Naqvi calls “the arbitrary and race-based collection of identifying information.” Amassing such data lay at the core of traditional police carding, or “street checks,” and it’s a welcome relief that this will no longer be tolerated.
Under the new rules, officers must inform any person they stop and question, on a voluntary basis, of his or her right to avoid giving any identifying information. Police are required to provide a reason for their request and it can’t be based on race or simply because the individual is in a high-crime area. And police must offer to hand someone they stop a document that includes the officer’s name, badge number, and where to file a complaint.
Coupled with the planned new training program, these changes should have a very real effect on street-level policing. To ensure progress is made, the province has wisely included mechanisms to fine-tune and improve these regulations. An “independent reviewer” is to be appointed to study the impact of the new rules and recommend upgrades two years after implementation.
In addition to that, chiefs of police are required to complete an annual report that includes the number of attempts at information collection, the race of individuals stopped and neighbourhoods where these interactions occurred. Where problems emerge, a chief must submit proposed fixes to the local police board.
The province’s regulations on “carding” should go a long way toward protecting civil liberties while also establishing sound mechanisms for future improvement. Some critics would have preferred to see faster, more profound change, but this strikes a shrewd balance that serves Ontario well.
New Ontario rules to stop arbitrary police practice are promising