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David Fraser doesn’t remember the last time he was stopped by police. But he knows it happens disproportionately to other people, and that’s a problem.
“I’m a middle-aged white guy,” says Fraser, a privacy lawyer with McInnes Cooper. “If I get stopped by the cops at night, I have way more confidence that I’m driving away from that—or walking away from that—than a large number of people.”
On Monday, Halifax Regional Police (HRP) released the preliminary analysis of data on “street checks” by patrol officers from 2005-2016. This came as a direct result of an investigative article by CBC, which found black people are three times more likely to be stopped by police in HRM than white individuals.
Fraser says he was impressed to see HRP’s research coordinator, Chris Giacomantonio, taking a closer look at street checks. Still, he sees the practice as “inherently coercive” if police aren’t advising people that they don’t have to go along with it.
“That gets compounded by—particularly in racialized communities—fear of the police,” explains Fraser. “Whether or not the Halifax police themselves are inclined to do such vile things, people’s perceptions are informed by a much broader media.”
He compares the issue to the act of “carding” in Toronto, as well as the more invasive “stop-and-frisk” practices in New York. Although HRP chief Jean-Michel Blais insisted during and after Monday’s board of police commissioners’ meeting that the cases in Halifax and Toronto aren’t the same, Fraser doesn’t see much of a difference.
“We don’t live in a small town. This is a city,” he says. “Are they just saying, ‘We’re nicer cops?’”
Those things aside, Fraser doesn’t believe street checks are effective. Visible police presence is one thing, but stopping people at random is another. He also sees problems from a privacy standpoint: wondering what information is getting collected and where it’s going.
“Every one of these interactions is a collection of personal information against somebody’s will and without their true, willing consent,” he says.
A moratorium on street checks has already been nixed by Blais (“at this point”), but until the police can pinpoint the positive outcomes of the practice, Fraser only sees harm. Not only is it intrusive, but it puts a wrench in the relationship between police and the rest of the community.
“If you have grounds to stop somebody and can really articulate why, then perhaps,” says Fraser. “But on a random basis…I don’t think that that’s acceptable.”
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This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2017.
“David Fraser doesn’t remember the last time he was stopped by police.”
Does David Fraser live in a low income neighborhood…?
The reasons for these numbers has yet to be determined and until then, they are meaningless.
Bravo to The Coast for attempting to incite racial wars where none exist. Pitting the police against the black community will do well to improve relations between the two.
Please, no complaints about having to step over the dead bodies in front of your door; you’ve only invited them.
I imagine the dislikes on my comment came from white, upper/middle income, SJW hipsters, and not the black community…
I don’t think the Coast is “attempting to incite racial wars where none exist”. It would seem our police are the instigators of this problem. Walking/driving while black should not be cause for suspicion in the eyes of the police.
The fact that the Police Chief is not even shocked by the data suggests he, and his department believe racial profiling is an effective tool in community policing. We will continue to talk to people. This is a very important part of our police work. says Chief Blais.
When you “talk” to black members of the community 3x more often, it’s not policing, it’s racism.
I don’t think The Coast is attempting to incite race wars; the comment was meant to wake them up.
Well Rhett, you’re drawing conclusions that have yet to be scientifically reached. Raw data has to be analyzed to make any formal conclusions.
I saw that 46 people on Winnipeg were charged with DUI. Of them, the majority of them were under 40. Does that mean the majority of DUIs committed in Winnipeg are committed by the under 40’s crowd? No.
Before you make any comments, you may want to supply something to support your theories.
Well Methinks, let’s assume you’re right, that more study is needed before a decision should be made. Would not the prudent response be to put a moratorium in place on the tactic of “street checking”.
As human rights, and Charter rights are at issue, a moratorium on a police act that potentially is a violation is called for, until the police can show otherwise.
You do believe in Charter rights, don’t you? And that we should proceed cautiously if there is even a remote chance a depriving a citizen of their rights.
As for needing some scientifically reached conclusions, Is there any reason here in Nova Scotia we can’t learn from other jurisdictions that have already addressed this same issue. Do we need to “re-invent the wheel”?
Take a page from Madam Goba, Interim Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, “The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) has been very clear on this kind of policing approach [carding] it is unjustifiable.”
“Racial profiling in street checks has a corrosive effect on Black and other racialized
communities. As the OHRC has said repeatedly it must be stopped. We salute the
unanimous approval in the Ontario Legislature this week of a motion to ban carding and
look forward to a provincial regulation that eliminates a practice which has unfairly
targeted and demeaned so many people.” Oct 23, 2015.
Take a page from the Province of Ontario’s change to their Police Act Regulations that bring their “street check” tactics more in line with policing that conforms to societies’ expectation that the police do not needlessly erode peoples’ liberty.
If it’s Canadian Supreme Court decisions on the issue of police interaction that would provide guidance as to the proper conduct by police check: R v. Grant [2009].
Here is a good analysts of the case.
http://www.bwdefencelaw.com/section-9-of-the-charter/police-carding-investigative-detention-and-section-9-of-the-charter/
If it’s a legal opinion on the issue of “street checks” by legal scholars outside of Ontario, then check Professor Glen Luther of The Collage of Law, University of Saskatchewan opinion:
https://elizabethfrysask.org/assets/publications/StreetChecks.pdf
Simply put, Chief Blais and the HRM Police Board are negligent to the duty they owe the people to safeguard Charter rights. The analysis of “street checking” has already been done. For our community leaders to not use the “leg work” of examining this very issue that has already been finished by other experts, and to say we need to examine the data further is willful blindness.
Rhett, I am suggesting you not put the cart before the horse, so get down off yours and relax. Lets see what the analysis says before we call upon human rights charters and other bits in an attempt to justify our inner SJW spirit’s cry for the baba….
I guess I’m not as willing to risk the liberties of members of the community as you
are, Methinks.
HPD has a history of discrimination based on race.
Data leads to suspicion that street checks by HPD is influenced by racial profiling.
Other jurisdictions that have examined the street check tactic by police have concluded there was an element of racism and bias at play.
A judicious approach by police leadership would suspend a questionable act till their evidence based research showed the cause of the disparity in police checks was not race based.
If expecting that the police take the strictest precautions with an activity that, at it’s core is a degrading and humiliating experience at the hands of the police, is riding my “high horse”…
Then I say, “saddle up.”
Again, you are jumping to conclusions. The data analysis will decide.
In the meantime, who wants to bet that Rhett’s a white, upper/middle income, SJW hipster?
Hahaha! Just playin’ with yer head, bud!
LOL, Hipster, no Methinks. As for white and middle class… Well, I’ll bet we both fit that bill, don’t we Methinks?
Maybe us two old white guys should listen closer to the Black community before we resign them to a “stop and frisk” future in little ol’ Halifax. I know I don’t get stopped by the cops just for existing. I bet the marginalized people in this town would like to share in that privilege.
The difference between the two of us is that I’m not putting the cart before the horse.