Random carding by police officers needs to end, judge says in report
Civil rights advocates praise findings, which now go to province
TORONTO — Police and the public need to be able to clearly distinguish between valid street checks by officers and random stops that should be abandoned altogether, a judge tasked with reviewing the province’s regulations on the issue said Friday.
Justice Michael Tulloch said misinformation and confusion have taken root over the years, with the key distinction being lost between street checks and a specific subset known as carding.
As part of a 310-page report issuing recommendations for the provincial government, Tulloch called for police forces to stop random street checks in which a person’s information is demanded, adding they disproportionately harm people from racialized communities, waste police resources and do nothing to address crime.
But Tulloch argued street checks can have real investigative value as long as they take place when police have clearly defined grounds to stop a person, question them and potentially retain identifying information.
“It is far better to use our limited resources to focus on individuals who are reasonably suspected of committing an offence rather than using valuable manpower to question thousands of people not reasonably suspected of anything,” Tulloch told a news conference.
“The negative impact of random carding, particularly on Indigenous, black and other racialized communities, combined with the limited evidence that it is an effective police tool, brings me to only one logical conclusion, and that is that random carding should end.”
Anti-racism and civil rights advocates welcomed the report, saying Tulloch’s findings confirmed what marginalized communities had been reporting for decades. But some questioned the premise that misinformation was to blame for the persistence of random street checks, particularly against racialized people.
“We’re seeing a huge resistance from police departments actually . ... This is something that our communities — as people of colour, black and Indigenous folks — need, but we’re struggling to actually get them to implement,” said Ravyn Wngz, of the group Black Lives Matter.
“I feel like it’s intellectually dishonest to say ... ‘Oh, there’s just been confusion.’ I don’t think that’s the case.”
Knia Singh, a lawyer and former Toronto mayoral candidate who has spoken out about his experiences with carding, urged the government to adopt Tulloch’s recommendations.
“I think with public outcry and the comprehensiveness of this report, it will be difficult for them to turn a blind eye to it,” he said.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association expressed similar sentiment, saying the province would be “hard pressed” to ignore such a clear and damning document.
“It’s a stake in the heart of a dead, destructive policy — carding — and it’s the definitive work on ... why it’s ineffective and why it should not be pursued by any police force in Canada,” executive director and general counsel Michael Bryant said.
The Progressive Conservative government said it plans to review the report as part of an overhaul of policing legislation and will be guided by its findings.
Tulloch was asked to turn his attention to carding in 2017, months after the then-Liberal government made moves to eliminate what it described as systemic racism in law enforcement.
The rules say police must inform people they don’t have to provide identifying information during street checks, and that refusing to co-operate or walking away cannot be used as reasons to compel information. The aim was to end arbitrary stops, especially those based on race.
Tulloch said officers are justified in stopping people if they have clearly defined grounds to believe something is amiss, citing as an example someone trying to pry open a window of a home in the middle of the night.
Such circumstances would clearly merit further questions, he said.
Officers should spell out their reasons for the stop to the person they are addressing, as well as in their report on the interaction, Tulloch said.
He drew the line, however, at random stops, saying they have a detrimental effect on the relationship between law enforcement officials and the communities they serve.
“The long-term impact of randomly carding people in these communities is the alienation of entire communities from the police and a resulting lack of trust in and co-operation with the police,” he said.
Tulloch’s support for nonrandom street checks was echoed by the Police Association of Ontario. “It is most unfortunate that, over time, the intended purpose and its effectiveness as a crime prevention and solvency practice has been lost,” president Bruce Chapman said. “That being said, the PAO has been clear that our members have never and will never support the practice of arbitrary detention or racially biased stops.”
Tulloch also called for greater public education so that people are aware of their rights when it comes to interacting with police.