Police departments across Alberta will now have to revamp their training, following a historic announcement from Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Kaycee Madu on Thursday.
The practice of carding has now been banned province-wide, meaning police can no longer arbitrarily stop members of the public and ask for personal information.
In addition to this, a new set of provisions have been outlined to clearly indicate the appropriate response during common encounters during public street checks.
Data from such encounters must be reviewed by departments four times per year, with an annual report submitted to the province. Individual departments must ensure all officer training is conducted accordingly, and ensure the public is made aware of their rights when interacting with police.
Carding has been a controversial practice for quite some time, with many feeling it provides the opportunity to disproportionately target certain individuals based on race.
More information on the new measures and ban can be found here.
In Lethbridge, some say they’ve been waiting a while for this change, but the swiftness with which it came was surprising.
“It wasn’t entirely expected to come this soon,” said Miranda Hlady, a lawyer based in Lethbridge.
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“It’s a very positive step, so I hope everyone see it that way.”
Hlady has been an advocate for banning carding for years.
She says this is a step in the right direction for Lethbridge, especially following recent incidents that may have seen public confidence in the service falter, such as the arrest of a woman in a Stormtrooper costume in May.
“It’s really up to the police to build that sense of public trust and responsibility, particularly with our Lethbridge Police, where there have been a number of very high profile incidents in the last couple of months,” she said.
Chief Shahin Medizadeh of the Lethbridge Police Service says this announcement will pave a path to create that trusting relationship, ensuring all citizens are treated equally.
He says the current policies they have in place aren’t far off what the province is looking for, and the LPS aims at keeping up with standards set out for them.
“Our policies today are not much different than what it is, but we’ll have another look at them to make sure they’re absolutely mirroring what the province is providing,” he explained.
“It’s just about making sure we adhere to them, and also holding people accountable when they are not doing so.”
While the new policies come into effect immediately, they will be formalized by the government once they are included in the Police Service Regulation next year.
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