Carding, which is officially known as the Community Contacts Policy, is an intelligence gathering policy of the Toronto Police Service involving the stopping, questioning, and documenting of individuals when no particular offence is being investigated. The information collected is kept on record in the Field Information Report (FIR) database. Field Information Reports include details including the individuals skin colour, the reason for the interaction, location, and the names of any associates, to build a database for unspecified future use. Officially, individuals are not legally detained, but this distinction is not clear. Carding contributes to a disproportionate amount of black and Indigenous people being recorded in law enforcement databases.
Regina Police Chief Evan Bray claims that the distinction between carding and police-civilian interactions depends upon whether or not the information collected is recorded. Kevin Brookwell, a spokesman for the Calgary Police Service, claims that the term carding originated in Eastern Canada. Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis asserted that the term "carding" originated in the U.S., and that a street check is not stop and frisk. Waterloo Police Chief Bryan Larkin claims officers card individuals to determine how people connect to each other.
In summer of 2014, the Toronto Police discontinued the use of physical hard copy cards (TPS 306 Form), officers were directed to enter the information captured during community engagements into their memobook as Community Safety Notes (CSN), which may be retained for a maximum of seven years. Ontario's 2014 Counter Terrorism Plan directs police to ensure carding intelligence "is shared regularly with key partners", including Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Video Carding (police policy)
Aliases
- Street Check Reports
- The Peel Regional Police refers to the practice as a "street check" and enter information gathered from "street check reports" into a database that Peel police maintains. The Edmonton Police Service also uses the term street check report.
- Collection of Information In Certain Circumstances (CIICC)
- Espanola Police call this practice "collection of information in certain circumstances" (CIICC).
- Check-Up Slips
- The Calgary Police Service has a practice of collecting Check-up Slips.
- Street Intelligence Reports
- The Lethbridge Police Service has a practice of gathering Street Intelligence Reports.
Maps Carding (police policy)
Scope
Ontario regulations constraining carding came to effect at the beginning of 2017, changing the scope of carding in Ontario cities.
Prior to 2017
- The PACER report indicates that from 2009 to 2011, there were 1,104,561 persons entered into the Toronto Police Service Field Information Report (FIR) database.
- In 2009 the Vancouver Police Department made 11,507 entries for street checks into the BC PRIME database.
- The Ottawa Police Service entered 45,802 people into the Ottawa Records Management System (RMS) database from 23,402 street checks in the years 2011 to 2014 In 2012, Andrew Tysowski discovered that while innocent of any crime, the Ottawa Police Service had collected and stored some of his personal information for six years.
- The Hamilton Police Service published the annual number of street checks its ACTION team completed in its 2013 year-end report to the service's oversight board: 5,423 Street Checks in 2011, 4,803 in 2012 and 3,684 in 2013, records of these activities were recorded in the service's NICHE database.
- Since 2005, Halifax Regional Police officers have submitted 68,400 street checks of 36,700 individuals. Information is stored in Versadex, a Halifax Regional Police database also used to store other information.
- The Waterloo Regional Police have conducted 68,400 street checks between 2005 and 2015. Stops in the region increased from 1339 in 2005 to 8500 in 2013. Records capture date, time, and personal information such as address, height, weight, sex, and race.
- Since 2006, Niagara Regional Police officers have submitted 157,315 street checks.
- From 2009 to 2014, the Peel Regional Police conducted 159,303 street checks, recorded on PRP17 cards, and a freedom-of-information request by a Peel Region resident revealed that black people were three times more likely to be stopped than whites.
- Between 2011 and 2014, the Edmonton Police Service carded 105,306 individuals, an average 26,000-plus people per year. In Edmonton, carding information is stored indefinitely. The Police Service has acknowledged that "police do not inform people they have the right to walk away" and take the position that "some of the responsibility should be on individuals to know their rights".
- In 2014, the London Police Service performed 8,400 street checks and entered 14,000 people, vehicles and properties into their database, of those identified, 71% were white, 7.7% were black and 5.3% were of First Nation heritage.
- In 2010, the Calgary Police Service carded 47,000 people, while in 2015 around 27,000 people having been carded.
- In 2014, the Saskatoon Police Service stopped nearly 4,500 people, about 1.7 per cent of the city's population. In 2015, 735 street checks were conducted. In Saskatoon, street check records are kept for ten years.
- In 2014, the Windsor Police Service generated 953 street check reports, the service averages 1,265 street checks a year.
- In 2015, the Lethbridge Police Service filed 1,257 carding reports, and 1,007 in 2016. Though 80 per cent of the Lethbridge's population identify as caucasian, 60 per cent of the recorded carding incidents in Lethbridge involved non-caucasians.
- In 2015, the Edmonton Police Service filed 27,155 carding reports, and 22,969 in 2016. During 2016 in Edmonton, Indigenous women were 10 times more likely to be stopped by officers.
After 2016
- In 2017, the Hamilton Police Service filed 5 carding reports.
- In 2017, the Ottawa Police Service recorded 7 carding stops.
Controversy
Opposition to carding is widespread, with testimony and a news organization investigation indicating that when practised in Toronto it primarily targets black persons. The Law Union of Ontario submitted that carding implements a systematic violation of people's Charter rights, human rights, and privacy rights. The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman believes the practice of carding is illegal. On November 18, 2013, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association denounced carding as "unlawful and unconstitutional" to the Toronto Police Services Board.
On May 7, 2015, in Elmardy v. TPSB, Ontario Superior Court Justice Frederick Myers ruled "One who is not being investigated for criminality is allowed to walk down the street on a cold night with his or her hands in the pockets and to tell inquisitive police officers to get lost without being detained, searched, exposed to sub-zero temperatures, or assaulted."
On October 23, 2015, Ruth Goba, Interim Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Commission Rights Commission, stated that when Hamilton Police Chief De Caire requires police officers to be "stopping, talking and investigating young black males", the Hamilton Police Service is implementing a textbook description of racial profiling. On April 26, 2016, Hamilton Councillor Matthew Green, a public official in Hamilton opposed to police carding, was carded by the Hamilton Police Service.
After a fact finding mission in October 2016, the United Nations' Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent expressed concerns that racial profiling is endemic to carding strategies and practices used by Canadian law enforcement.
On November 8, 2016, during question period, Mike Ellis, MLA for Calgary-West, stated that carding violates Section 9 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
On January 9, 2017, Halifax Regional Police released statistics showing police were three times as likely to card blacks than whites. Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil responded, "I don't think it's acceptable anywhere. I think I was startled, like most Nova Scotians, by the stats that were brought out". Mayor Michael Savage said the numbers concerned him, and he would press the force to gather more information to determine why the checks were done and what police were looking for. In April 2017 the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission announced that it will lead an investigation into the practice of carding in Halifax.
Oversight
There is an ongoing debate around what ability police boards have to influence carding operations:
- The Hamilton Police Services Board moved to suspend the practice of carding while the province reviews, but it was stopped by the police service's lawyer. Instead the board moved to request an information report on best practices as it pertains to policy around Community Street Checks. Shortly thereafter, Chief Glenn De Caire refused to implement an interim policy governing carding that was adopted from the Toronto Police Services Board.
- The Peel Police Services Board passed a recommendation that the chief stop carding, but the Chief Jennifer Evans said she will not follow their recommendation.
- On November 22, 2016, the London City Council formally asked Chief of Police John B. Pare to ban the London Police Service practice of random street checks.
On August 13, 2015, the London diversity and race relations advisory committee met to discuss carding practices in the city, unexpectedly, the London Police Service officer dedicated to race relations did not attend the meeting.
Regulation
On 16 June 2015, Ontario announced that it will develop a new regulation to regulate police street checks. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services have held a series of five workshop-style public meetings across the province:
- August 21, 2015 - Ottawa
- August 25, 2015 - Brampton
- August 27, 2015 - Thunder Bay
- August 31, 2015 - London
- September 1, 2015 - Toronto
22 October 2015, during debate in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Yasir Naqvi, minister of community safety and correctional services, announced that regulation banning random street checks will be in place by the end of the fall, and will become part of the Police Services Act of Ontario, and will include:
- Stronger guidelines for police who conduct street checks as part of an investigation or because of suspicious activity.
- Rules guaranteeing that charter rights are protected for anyone who is checked.
- Clear rules on how police can collect carding data, use the data, as well as the length of time the data can be stored.
28 October 2015, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, posted two draft regulations for public input on the random and arbitrary collection of identifying information by police.
30 November 2015, a coalition of community organisations and individuals issued a joint response to the draft Regulation, articulating a rights-based framework for policing aimed at prohibiting Community Contacts that are arbitrary and discriminatory, negatively affecting African Canadian, Aboriginal and other racialized and marginalized people.
8 December 2015, the Ontario Association of Chief of Police's Board of Directors unanimously passed a submission on Proposed Regulations to the Police Services Act: "Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances - Prohibition and Duties" and Proposed Amendments to the Schedule to O.Reg. 268/10 (Code of Conduct).
21 March 2016, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, filed Ontario Regulation 58/16: Collection of Identifying Information in Certain Circumstances - Prohibition and Duties, which sets out rules for carding. The Government of Ontario will also launch a multi-year academic study on the impact of carding.
24 March 2016, the African Canadian Legal Clinic, issued a press release stating that the new regulation "fails to fully and finally provide adequate protection for the fundamental rights and freedoms of African Canadians".
12 April 2016, the Board of Directors of the Toronto Police Association, issued a memo to its membership stating that the new regulation is "counterproductive to proactive community engagement and crime prevention".
17 November 2016, the Toronto Police Services Board, revised policy 250: Regulated Interaction with the Community and the Collection of Identifying Information to ensure compliance with Ontario Regulation 58/16, the Police Services Act of Ontario, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). In addition the policy restricted service members from accessing Historical Contact Data, except as needed to provide an auditable trail as required by law (e.g. evidence in a matter before the courts).
17 May 2017, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services appointed the Honourable Michael Tulloch, a Justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal, to conduct an independent review of Ontario Regulation 58/16. Tulloch's report into the challenges and validity of police carding is expected to be produced in January 2019. As part of this review, twelve public consultations are to be held between 1 February 2018 and 23 April 2018 in the Greater Toronto Area, and in Thunder Bay, Brampton, Hamilton, Ajax, Markham, Windsor, London, Ottawa and Sudbury.
On 24 August 2017, Kathleen Ganley, as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta, announced that the government will begin the process of drafting provincial guidelines for police street checks and the associated collection of personally identifiable information.
On 4 October 2017, Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers (Ottawa--Vanier) introduced a private member's bill (Bill 164, Human Rights Code Amendment Act, 2017), which expands human rights protections in a number of ways, including making it illegal to discriminate against individuals that have been carded by police.
Responses
In 2015, Christien Levien, a law school graduate, created Legalswipe, an app that draws from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association's "know your rights" handbook, and guides people through police encounters.
On 17 January 2017, University of Toronto criminologists Anthony Doob and Rosemary Gartner presented a report "Understanding the impact of Police Stops" to the Toronto Police Services Board, among the conclusions was that benefits from carding are "substantially outweighed by convincing evidence of the harm of such practices both to the person subject to them and to the long term and overall relationship of the police to the community".
Variants
In 2016, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, British Columbia, raised concerns that the Vancouver Police Department's Restaurant Watch program, (also known as Bar Watch or the Inadmissible Patron Program) is a new form of street check or carding.
See also
- Stop and frisk
- Stop and search, a UK equivalent.
- Stop-and-frisk in New York City
- Sus law
References
External links
- Canadian Civil Liberties Association's "know your rights" handbook
- Legalswipe
- Independent Street Checks Review
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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