Lethbridge lawyer calls for ban on controversial police carding

A Lethbridge lawyer is taking a stand against controversial street checks.

Street Checks, or carding, is a tool used by police to deter criminal activity. Police officers stop people on the streets if they spot suspicious behaviour, but Lethbridge lawyer Miranda Hlady is calling for the act to be eradicated.

“I’m asking Lethbridge city council to publicly denounce the practice of carding in Lethbridge,” Hlady said. “I am asking the Lethbridge Police Service to stop the practice of carding.”

At a Tuesday press conference Cherilynn Blood, a University of Lethbridge student claimed she was carded in a discriminatory way in 2014. Blood says she was followed half-way across the city, while she was a passenger in her friend’s car.

“He accused us of smoking marijuana, the funny thing was a skunk was across the street just walking on by. He asked my friend what my relations I was to him,” Blood said. “The police officer asked my friend why he was driving and where he was going, these questions were all oriented about me being his passenger. What I perceived from that police officer was that he thought I was a woman who was selling my body, that I was not someone to protect, but to protect against.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He accused us of smoking marijuana, the funny thing was a skunk was across the street just walking on by. He asked my friend what my relations I was to him," Blood said. "The police officer asked my friend why he was driving and where he was going, these questions were all oriented about me being his passenger. What I perceived from that police officer was that he thought I was a woman who was selling my body, that I was not someone to protect, but to protect against."

Hlady filed a freedom of information request and received LPS carding information from 2015 and 2016. She forwarded it to Progress Alberta for statistical analysis.

According to Progress Alberta, lethbridge’s population is 80 per cent white, yet white people only make up 40 per cent of carding incidents.

The 2016 numbers indicate a black person in Lethbridge is ten-times more likely to be carded, then a white person, while an indigenous person is seven times more likely to be stopped.

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According to the Lethbridge Police Service the numbers could be skewed. LPS sent a statement to Global news regarding Tuesday’s press conference that read:

“It is the policy and practice of the Lethbridge Police Service to conduct field interviews/street information checks with respect to individuals observed under suspicious circumstances or if the nature of their actions and presence in an area raises the possibility of criminal activity. This includes individuals who are known to be involved in criminal activity, individuals who may be able to supply information about criminal activity or persons checked during an investigation and who are believed to be involved in criminal activity.”

In 2016, police conducted a total of 1,007 street checks. These intelligence-gathering reports consist of recording information such as the person’s name/aliases, date of birth, address, as well as a physical description including sex, race, eye colour, hair colour, height, features such as scars or tattoos, location where they were checked and time of day they were checked.

Of the total street checks that were conducted in 2016:

41 per cent of the checks involved Caucasian subjects (409/1,007), 21 per cent involved Aboriginal subjects (210/1,007), 5 per cent involved black subjects (53/1,007) and a number of other ethnicities were involved in less than 1 per cent of checks respectively.

Further analysis, however, would be required to determine how many of the total street checks for any ethnicity involved the same individual being checked multiple times. Without this information, assertions on certain ethnicities being checked more frequently than others as a percentage of the population cannot be accurately calculated.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: Further analysis, however, would be required to determine how many of the total street checks for any ethnicity involved the same individual being checked multiple times. Without this information, assertions on certain ethnicities being checked more frequently than others as a percentage of the population cannot be accurately calculated.

With respect to minors, police have a legal obligation to check on the welfare of children. For example if an officer observed a child or group of children out on their own after dark or in any other kind of suspicious or concerning circumstances, they would likely be checked to ensure their safety and if required by law, apprehended and returned to their legal guardian.

In addition, youth are often the subject of field interviews in relation to property crimes. For example, if police are dispatched to a report of car prowling in an area and one or more young people is observed in that area – raising the possibility of criminal activity – they would be spoken to.

All members of the Lethbridge Police Service receive training with respect to bias-free policing. As an organization that is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) LPS also conducts an annual review of bias-free policing practices. The 2016 review was conducted in July and all police officers received the training at that time. In order to maintain CALEA accreditation, LPS must meet or exceed a total of more than 480 comprehensive standards that are seen as the highest in policing.

Following concerns about street checks that were raised last year in Ontario – more specifically the Greater Toronto Area – LPS proactively reviewed its policy and is currently part of an Alberta Association of Chiefs of Police (AACP) working group that is working with the Alberta Solicitor General and Ministry of Justice to review street-check practices in the province and standardize a position.

Under the Alberta Police Act, any citizen who has a concern about the policies and/or practices of the Lethbridge Police Service or a concern about the conduct of an officer has the ability to file a formal complaint. Formal complaints must be submitted to the Chief of Police in writing and signed by the complainant. Alternatively citizens may contact the Lethbridge Police Commission Public Complaints Director at 403-308-6709.

LPS can confirm that neither of the two females involved in the news conference today, has filed a complaint regarding their concerns.

“No further comment will be provided.”

Hlady acknowledges knowing how many people are carded multiple times would be helpful.

“I believe that having that information would provide a more complete picture about what is happening,” Hlady said.

The LPS is currently part of a provincial working group to develop guild lines for Street Checks.