Field information reports more commonly known as “street checks” or “carding” is an investigative tactic used by police officers all around the world but more commonly in Ontario. This tactic occurs when a police officer will make a stop on an individual walking or standing on the street who appears to be engaging in suspicious activity. The officer would then engage in a conversation with that individual and ask the individual for their identification, the officer would then record it and submit it into a police database (MacLellan, 2015). Then the officer will provide the individual with a receipt or card with the officer’s information (MacLellan, 2015). This practice was not received well by the public and created a major strain between …show more content…
Community activists and some local politicians have called for the practice of carding to end however various police services and their police chiefs feels that completely banning carding is not the answer to problems the community has with carding (Cole, 2015). Despite the disapproval by the public, carding is beneficial for police services in Ontario to be able to use the carding practice however it must be regulated by the province to ensure it is done correctly without any racial or prejudice biases because carding can be considered a form of proactive policing which is something all police officers must do to ensure good police work, it’s not just used to collect data and information of individuals but it also allows officers to interact with the members of the community and find out what are the issues in the community, and the sole purpose of carding is for the police to use the information obtained as a useful investigative resource and to collect intelligence on criminal activity and public safety …show more content…
This can be very beneficial for the police because most of the time police investigators often struggle to solve an investigation mainly because of a lack of evidence or a lack of witnesses willing to cooperate. Although using the information using the information obtained by the street check can be helpful in a variety of ways such as putting the person of interests in the area at the time of the crime or it proves the investigator with a tiny lead which may lead to greater evidence. Many police investigators credits carding for the success in solving their investigations especially Peel Regional Police Chief Jennifer Evans who credits the arrest of Min Chen In the murder of Cecilia Zhang (Blatchford, 2015). This all started one month before Cecilia was kidnapped police had received a complaint about a suspicious car near the Credit River upon responding the officer found a car with three male occupants one of them being Min Chen they claim that they were looking for a place to go fishing and showed the officer their rods the officer was suspicious based off the fact the rods still had price tags on them and that Min lived Scarborough which is quite a distance from Mississauga however due to the fact she had no grounds for arrests the officer obtained the three men’s information and
The factor of racial profiling comes into play as federal grant programs award police for rounding up as many people as possible. This very tactic was demonstrated by the CompStat system in New York City and further expounded by Victor M. Rios’s analysis of the themes over-policing and under-policing. These themes focus on how officers, police certain kinds of deviance and crime such as, loitering, or disturbing the peace, while neglecting other instances when their help is needed . Rios also stresses how the accumulation of minor citations like the ones previously mentioned, play a crucial role in pipelining Black and Latino young males deeper into the criminal justice system. Rios implies that in order to decrease the chances with police interaction one must not physically appear in a way that catches the attention of a police or do anything behavior wise that would lead to someone labeling you as deviant . Unfortunately, over-policing has made it difficult even for those who actually do abide by social norms because even then, they have been victims of criminalization . However, since structural incentives like those that mimic CompStat are in place, police simply ignore constitutional rules and are able to get away with racial profiling, and thus interrogate, and search whomever they please. Since these targeted minorities acknowledge the fact that the police are not always present to enforce the law, they in turn learn strategies in order to protect themselves from violence that surrounds them. Young African American Americans and Latino youth thus become socialized in the “code of the street”, as the criminal justice system possesses no value in their
In 1990, there was a total of 2,245 murders in New York, but over the past nine years, this total has been less than 600 (NYCLU). However, there has not been evident proof that the stop-and-frisk procedure is the reason of the declination of the crime rate. Indeed, stop-and-frisk contributes to some downturn of crime but the number is not high enough for the citizen and police to rely on. Specifically, only 3% of 2.4 million stops result in conviction. Some 2% of those arrests – or 0.1% of all stops – led to a conviction for a violent crime. Only 2% of arrests led to a conviction for possession of a weapon (Gabatt, A., 2013). In other words, the decrease in crime due to stop-and-frisk is mostly due to the discovery of possessed of weapons. Therefore, stop-and- frisk is not an effective procedure to use because it does not represent a huge impact in people’s safety (Gabatt, A., 2013). The author has done research about how police base their initiation towards the procedure of stop-and-frisk. Researchers have found that stop-and-frisk is a crime prevention strategy that gives a police officer the permission to stop a person based on “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity and frisk based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person is armed and dangerous. This controversy is mainly because of racial profiling. “Reasonable suspicion” was described by the court as “common sense” (Avdija, A., 2013). Although, the
While the stop and frisk program ultimately seems like a great idea and that it will help residents of New York City feel safer while on the streets, there has been much controversy with this program. The issue of racial profiling is largely discussed when talking about NYPD’s stop and frisk program. Besides police officers targeting lower income neighborhoods, more stops are of African Americans or Latinos than of whites. These stops often end up with a higher arrest rate. Of the 685,784 stopped last year, 92% were male and 87% were African American or Latino (Devereaux, 2012).
“From 2005 to mid-2008, approximately eighty percent of total stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who comprise twenty-five percent and twenty-eight percent of New York City’s total population, respectively. During this same time period, only about ten percent of stops were of Whites, who comprise forty-four percent of the city’s population” (“Restoring a National Consensus”). Ray Kelly, appointed Police Commissioner by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, of New York in 2013, has not only accepted stop-and-frisk, a program that allows law enforcers to stop individuals and search them, but has multiplied its use. Kelly argued that New Yorkers of color, who have been unevenly targeted un...
The purpose of stop and search, an investigative tool to prevent crime is arguably different to the current practice of this procedure, current research suggests that it is used to gain intelligence and for social control (Bowling and Phillip, 2007). Following this, there is substantial evidence suggesting that thirty police forces have no understanding of how to use their powers to complete a stop and search (HMIC, 2013). Furthermore, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984, c60) states that a police officer can only stop and search a citizen if they have reasonable grounds to suspect they have stolen or prohibited items on their person. However, statistical evide...
Police justify carding as a general investigation to locate suspects and help people fight crime. Toronto Police Service says that “It does not purposefully target individuals because of their race” (SAMIRA MOHYEDDIN, Nov 24 2016). However that being said, racialized communities testify that they are being targeted for their race and ethnicity. The new rule doesn’t fully end the controversial practice and carding remains a major concern for the minority community. Sandy Hudson, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto says “the new rule doesn’t make any great change” (Muriel Draaisma, Jan 02, 2017). “Where these rules apply- and where they don’t- doesn’t change anything about carding”, she also said “A police officer can always say they are
The researchers highlight the impact of innovations implemented in the New York police strategies. It has been found that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has contributed to the crime drop in the area over the last years. They examined the data on crime and stop, question and frisks policy implementation in order to prove the fact that the stop, question and frisks practices are “concentrated at crime hot spots” (Weisburd et al., 2014, p. 129). The researchers raise concerns regarding possible negative effects of the stop, question and frisks
Perceptions of what constitutes a qualified police officer have been crafted as a result of numerous television shows and movies. They are often portrayed as heroic, invincible, and possessors of brute strength. While some of these physical attributes are in fact expected and required of police officers, they are not the only ones and at times, may come secondary to alternative methods, such as the use of strong communication and critical thinking skills. Policing has changed immensely since the days of resolving issues with a night stick. There is a desire for today’s police officers to possess the educational capacity to develop and implement community policing initiatives. Additionally, there exists a desire to professionalize policing. This drive for professionalism has led to the desire for increased educational requirements (Brecci, 1994).
...to introduced the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy. The strategy involves a two-pronged approach: old-style community policing combined with a continued, heavy presence wherever and whenever required. This strategy is risky because 9 out of 10 kids stopped and documented on a street corner could be good kids and as a result may leave them violated or make them feel like a criminal. Police have improved the number of minority recruits and have promoted members of visible minorities into higher ranks. They’ve also embarked on a unique partnership with the Ontario Human Rights Commission to improve human resources practices, and how police serve the public. One good reason for this is when the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy is being forced; people would feel more comfortable speaking to someone of their own race rather than someone that isn’t.
Despite the fact racism has been around for hundreds of years, upcoming generations are becoming more open minded and less likely to publicly berate minorities; racial profiling, however, is the one loophole of racism America overlooks. Police officials often use the practices of racial profiling to discretely single out minority races. A common approach to this is through traffic patrols. According to a statistic based in San Jose, CA, nearly 100,000 drivers were stopped; during the year ending in June 2000; and of these drivers less than 32% were white, the remaining 68% of drivers were a...
Third, problem-oriented policing entails a greater and closer involvement by the public in police work. Communities must be consulted to ensure that police are addressing the...
The author focuses on the U.S. Task Force on 21st Century Policing and Police Data Initiative or PDI to determine if it helps to restore trust and the broken relationship between and communities and police officers. The Task Force made by Barack Obama recommended the analysis of department policies, incidents of misconduct, recent stops and arrests, and demographics of the officers. The PDI has tasked 21 cities to comprehend the police behavior and find out what to do to change it. Also PDI was said to have data and information on vehicle stops and shootings by police officers. The use of statistics has a purpose to help rebuild trust and the relationship between and communities and police officers.
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
To conclude, Community policing represents a major development in the history of American law enforcement, but the extent to which this approach is a success and dominates contemporary policing remains a source of debate. In my point of view, community policing is good for communities. It has challenged the traditional concept of the police as crime-fighters by drawing attention to the complexities of the police role and function. In addition to the police officer hard work; citizens can also make a difference and contribute to make neighborhoods a better place to live. For instance, citizens can hold community meetings to talk about concerns and agree on solutions help organize healthy activities for children in your neighborhood, join or starting a neighborhood crime watch program, and talk to your community police officers and share information and concerns.
written reports. Good police work is maintained completely by an officer 's ability to present