Carding (police policy)

Carding, which is officially known as the Community Contacts Policy, is an intelligence gathering policy of the Toronto Police Service involving the stopping, questioning, and documenting of individuals when no particular offence is being investigated. The information collected is kept on record in the Field Information Report (FIR) database for an unspecified period The Peel Regional Police employ a similar practice, known as a “street check” and that any personal information gathered from an individual in a street check can be entered into a database that Peel police maintains.Espanola Police call this practice “collection of information in certain circumstances” (CIICC).

Regina Police Chief Evan Bray claims that the distinction between “carding” and “police-civilian interactions” depends upon whether or not the information collected is recorded.

In summer of 2014, the Toronto Police discontinued the use of physical hard copy cards (TPS 306 Form), officers were directed to enter the information captured during community engagements into their memobook as Community Safety Notes (CSN), which may be retained for a maximum of seven years.

Opposition to carding is widespread, with testimony and a news organization investigation indicating that when practised in Toronto it primarily targets black persons. The Law Union of Ontario has submitted that in its current form, the practice of carding implements a systematic violation of people’s Charter rights, human rights, and privacy rights. The Office of the Ontario Ombudsman believes the practice of carding is illegal.

On October 23, 2015, Ruth Goba, Interim Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Commission Rights Commission, stated that when Hamilton Police Chief De Caire requires police officers to be "stopping, talking and investigating young black males", the Hamilton Police Service is implementing a textbook description of racial profiling. On April 26, 2016, Hamilton Councillor Matthew Green, one of the few public officials in Hamilton to take a public stance opposing police carding, was carded by the Hamilton Police Service. After a fact finding mission in October 2016, the United Nations’ Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent expressed concerns that racial profiling is endemic to carding strategies and practices used by Canadian law enforcement.

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Wikipedia