Toronto police chief suspends controversial carding practice
Posted January 6, 2015 9:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Toronto’s police chief has suspended the controversial practice of carding or street checks, which is more commonly known as racial profiling.
Chief Bill Blair directed on Jan. 1 that carding be “suspended until further notice,” police spokesman Mark Pugash told CityNews in an email.
Pugash said the chief wouldn’t be commenting on the matter until he speaks to members of the Toronto police services board at its next meeting on Jan. 21.
Carding allows officers to routinely stop people in the streets and collect information about them. The practice has been heavily criticized for targeting black males in the Jane and Finch area.
The decision by Blair comes less than a month after Mayor John Tory said during a police board meeting that something has got to change.
“I think the continuation of the status quo is corrosive,” he said at the time.
At the Dec. 15 meeting, the board asked Blair to finalize carding procedures by Feb. 19 so they’re aligned with its new carding or the community contacts policy, which recommended 10 new restrictions on the practice.
The revised policy includes a ban on carding minors and imposing 24-month retention limits on contact cards.
Many of the nearly two dozen public speakers who attended that board meeting denounced the racial profiling practice and called for its demise.
Police have defended the practice, arguing it’s an effective tool.
Police union head Mike McCormack said Thursday “cards when used properly” and “for proper investigative purposes” “are valuable investigative tools.”
