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NewWest talent in Shrek THURSDAY JANUARY 30, 2020
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
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NewWestRecord.ca
NEW DIGS: City of New Westminster senior services officer Nancy Millar gets a slurpy kiss from Stevie Nicks at the new animal shelter. Read more about this new facility on page 11.
PHOTO JENNIFER GAUTHIER
Police change policy on controversial street checks Dustin Godfrey dgodfrey@newwestrecord.ca
The New Westminster Police Department has a new policy in place for street checks, a practice that has long been criticized for perpetuating racial profiling. The Vancouver Police Department was under fire after data released in 2018 showed overrepresentation of black, Indigenous and people of colour targeted by street checks. The data showed 15% of all street checks were of Indigenous people and more than 4% were of
black people. Meanwhile, Indigenous people make up just over 2% of the population in Vancouver and black people less than 1%. As a response, the province introduced B.C.-wide policy on street checks late last year and gave local police forces until Jan. 15 to develop internal policies. The NWPD’s policy was introduced to the police board at last week’s public meeting. Street checks, according to the policy, are voluntary interactions between police and a person “that is more than a casual conversation
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and which impedes the person’s movement.” A street check may involve a request for identification. It also acknowledges the instance of psychological detention, in which a person may wrongly believe they are not free to leave without direction from the police officer they are interacting with. But psychological detention does not necessarily mean a person is being detained – if a person is not officially detained, they do not need to provide ID. The policy bars street checks based on “identity factors,” such
as race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation and others; street checks based on a person sharing an identity factor with a person wanted by police; and “arbitrary or random” street checks. Police must also ensure the person is aware they’re free to go at any time, that they don’t need to provide ID and that they don’t need to answer any questions. But the policy also acknowledges that, despite the reminder, people may still feel psychologically detained based on the context of the street check or the officer’s actions. Psychological detention may
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also be pervasive for different people, based on age, race, physical stature, homelessness and “level of sophistication,” and if an officer believes a person is psychologically detained, they are directed to end the interaction. An officer may ask the person to voluntarily provide ID, which can be denied without consequence, if the reason relates to a call for service, a missing person, “objectively reasonable” concern for the person’s safety or helping a person in distress. Officers must also file detailed reports following street checks.
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