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Neither Ottawa’s police chief nor the head of the police association greeted the provincial government’s proposed new regulations for so-called street checks with any enthusiasm Thursday.
Describing the draft regulations as “complex,” Chief Charles Bordeleau said the would-be rules impose “significant new requirements” on police officers simply trying to doing their jobs.
Police Association president Matt Skof echoed that concern, suggesting the regulations would leave officers even more “frustrated.”
On Wednesday, Ontario Minister of Community Safety Yasir Naqvi announced regulations that will prohibit police from stopping individuals at random on the street — police carding, as it’s called — for the sole purpose of collecting and storing information.
“We’re saying that (a police stop) cannot be random, nor arbitrary, nor can it be based on race or the neighbourhood you live in,” Naqvi said.
Bordeleau and Skof questioned the assumptions behind Naqvi’s statement, saying police do not act arbitrarily or randomly in making street checks. “The Ottawa Police Service has always maintained that random and arbitrary street checks are illegal and are not practised by our officers,” Bordeleau said.
Skof concurred, maintaining that Ottawa police “do not engage in arbitrary street checks.”
He suggested the government has been listening to those who stand to benefit from restrictions on police street checks. “The most vocal opponents to the practice as it previously stood appear to have been given the biggest seat at the table.”
Skof worried the “blanket policy” will force officers to document voluntary interactions between police and civilians in other ways, making police work even more complex and imposing even more paperwork. Encountering someone on the street, officers might realize they have not followed the new procedures — since they did not anticipate conducting a street check — and that will force them to document those interactions in their regular police reports, he said.
Skof was equally skeptical that the new regulations would shield officers from racial profiling complaints.
Bordeleau, meanwhile, said department officials will review the draft regulations over the next few weeks “to determine the practical applications and project impacts on the scope, approach and budget.”
In the meantime, “our officers will continue the current practice in place until such time as the ministry’s new regulations are enacted.”
Naqvi’s proposed regulations follow years of debate over carding. A number of Ontario police forces have been hit with allegations that their street check policies reflect institutional racism and racial profiling.
Ottawa police officials have rejected that perspective, pointing out that officers encounter thousands of people every day. The problem, they argue, is that some of those they encounter tend to regard every interaction between police and civilians as a street check, regardless of the reality of a particular situation. In short, not every meeting between a police officer and a member of the public is a “street check.”
Police also argue that street checks often provide them with useful information that can help prevent or even solve a crime.
Darryl Davies, a criminologist at Carleton University, questions that claim, arguing there is “no empirical evidence that carding solves crimes.”
The “carding of citizens is not only discriminatory but a violation of the doctrine of the presumption of innocence,” he wrote in a recent letter to the Citizen.
With files from Shaamini Yogaretnam
rsibley@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
Describing the draft regulations as “complex,” Chief Charles Bordeleau said the would-be rules impose “significant new requirements” on police officers simply trying to doing their jobs.
Police Association president Matt Skof echoed that concern, suggesting the regulations would leave officers even more “frustrated.”
On Wednesday, Ontario Minister of Community Safety Yasir Naqvi announced regulations that will prohibit police from stopping individuals at random on the street — police carding, as it’s called — for the sole purpose of collecting and storing information.
“We’re saying that (a police stop) cannot be random, nor arbitrary, nor can it be based on race or the neighbourhood you live in,” Naqvi said.
Bordeleau and Skof questioned the assumptions behind Naqvi’s statement, saying police do not act arbitrarily or randomly in making street checks. “The Ottawa Police Service has always maintained that random and arbitrary street checks are illegal and are not practised by our officers,” Bordeleau said.
Skof concurred, maintaining that Ottawa police “do not engage in arbitrary street checks.”
He suggested the government has been listening to those who stand to benefit from restrictions on police street checks. “The most vocal opponents to the practice as it previously stood appear to have been given the biggest seat at the table.”
Skof worried the “blanket policy” will force officers to document voluntary interactions between police and civilians in other ways, making police work even more complex and imposing even more paperwork. Encountering someone on the street, officers might realize they have not followed the new procedures — since they did not anticipate conducting a street check — and that will force them to document those interactions in their regular police reports, he said.
Skof was equally skeptical that the new regulations would shield officers from racial profiling complaints.
Bordeleau, meanwhile, said department officials will review the draft regulations over the next few weeks “to determine the practical applications and project impacts on the scope, approach and budget.”
In the meantime, “our officers will continue the current practice in place until such time as the ministry’s new regulations are enacted.”
Naqvi’s proposed regulations follow years of debate over carding. A number of Ontario police forces have been hit with allegations that their street check policies reflect institutional racism and racial profiling.
Ottawa police officials have rejected that perspective, pointing out that officers encounter thousands of people every day. The problem, they argue, is that some of those they encounter tend to regard every interaction between police and civilians as a street check, regardless of the reality of a particular situation. In short, not every meeting between a police officer and a member of the public is a “street check.”
Police also argue that street checks often provide them with useful information that can help prevent or even solve a crime.
Darryl Davies, a criminologist at Carleton University, questions that claim, arguing there is “no empirical evidence that carding solves crimes.”
The “carding of citizens is not only discriminatory but a violation of the doctrine of the presumption of innocence,” he wrote in a recent letter to the Citizen.
With files from Shaamini Yogaretnam
rsibley@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
