Edmonton police add braille to warrant cards to more easily identify officers

The Edmonton Police Service is adding the word “police” in braille to its warrant cards, identification used to prove someone is an officer.

The change is being made to better identify officers to Edmontonians impacted by blindness, the EPS said in a news release on Wednesday.

‘Confident and safe’

Marc Workman with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind applauded the change, saying it’s important for all Edmontonians to be able to identify police officers.

“People normally do this through visual cues like a uniform or badge, but this is not always possible for someone who is blind or partially sighted. Adding braille to identification cards will help those living with sight loss feel confident and safe when interacting with members of the EPS.”

Statistics from the CNIB show about 1.5 million Canadians live with sight loss and about 5.59 million people have an eye disease that could cause sight loss.

There are about 160,000 people in Alberta with mild to very severe vision loss, according to the CNIB.

“It is not uncommon for persons with vision loss to ask to feel police badges to verify they are legitimate, so the addition of braille helps to quickly identify police officers and build trust,” Det. Rae Gerrard said.

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The EPS said it worked with the CNIB and the sight loss community to determine a braille sticker will be the most cost-effective way of providing officers with enhanced credentials.

The new stickers will be distributed to sworn EPS officers this week.