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The police practice of carding, where an officer randomly stops an individual to collect information, has recently been under fire by the public. Following new provincial laws to change how the practice should be conducted, Hamilton Police are asking the community for their thoughts.
Some Hamiltonians who are part of visual minorities have become all too familiar with random police carding, but public backlash over the practice has seen Hamilton Police carding numbers plummet from over 1400 in 2013 down to 30 in 2015.
In accordance to a new provincial law that aims to improve public trust in police, the Hamilton Police board released a 6 page draft outlining the force’s new regulations to street checks. The policy starts by pledging that checks won’t be random or racially based. Police will be expected to hand citizens a receipt that includes their name, badge number and contact information. Lastly, an annual report will detail who exactly was questioned. The chair of the Community Coalition Against Racism, Ken Stone, says this is a step forward.
Stone added that he’d also like to see a citizen group release their own yearly report as well. He also thinks there are still some concerns with the new policies citing that there are ‘about 6 loopholes in the document’. In it, police don’t have to explain why they stopped someone if: it compromises an active investigation or puts someone’s safety at risk.
If that doesn’t sit well, police want your feedback.
