'Casual Encounters' of the Worst Kind

• Author: Julianna A Greenspan & Brad Greenshields
• Pages: 49-65



CasualEncounters

oftheWorstKind

Julianna A Greenspan & Brad Greenshields*

FifteenyearsagoayoungBlackmanwas walkingalongaTorontostreet

duringthelunchhourinacommunitynearschoolswithahistoryofdrug

activityThree police ocerstwo ofwhomwere in plainclotheswere

patrollingt hearea engagedin whatt hestate thenca lledcommunity

policinga dynam icinteract ionbet weenpolice and citizen spur port

edlyintendedtomaintainavisiblepolicepresenceandtodetercr ime

The ocers asked the young man Donnohue Grant to have a

chatThey ashed their badgesta king uppositions that blocked the

manspath on the sidewalk The un iformed ocer askedwhat was

going on and asked for identication Mr Grant provideda hea lth

cardAccordingtotheocersheappearednervousadjustedhisjacket

promptingadi rectionto keephis handsin frontofh imTheocers

testiedthattheypulledtheirvehiclesuponMrGrantbecausetheyhad

afunnyfeelingbasedontheyoungmanswayoflookingoveratthem

whiledgetingwithhiscoatandpants

The ocers asked Donnohue whether he had everb een arrested

and whetherhehad anything he shouldnthaveHe handed over a

small bagof can nabis anda fter morequest ionsa rear mIn  a

majorityof the Supreme Courtfound that Donnohue Grantssections 

andCharterrightshadbeenbreac hedandth athehadbeendetaine d

withoutcausebuttheCourtallowedtheadmissionoftherearmunder

 BothofGreenspa nPartnersLLP

JAGBG

sectionofthe Charter. TheCourtsetout aframeworkfor thedef

initionof detentionundersec tionsa ndofthe Charterande stab

lished a threepart te stfor exclusion of evidence under section 

Importantlythe Court emphasiz ed that there was no suggestion that

MrGrantwasthetargetofracialprolingorotherdiscriminatorypolice

practice s

Regreablyalltooofte ncommunitypolicing hasi nreality been

aeuphemism forproling in socalled highriskarea sbased onthe

stereotypethatindividualsofacertainraceorbackgroundhaveagreater

propensityfor crime This wasal legedin R v FerdinandwhereJustice

Harry S LaForme then of the Superior Court of Justice considered a

Charter motion basedon analleged improperuse ofthe TorontoPolice

Servicepract iceofcardingi ncludingthe investigativetoolknown

thenasacardJusticeLaFormedescribedthecardasfollows

Acardisapproximatelybyandisprintedonbothsidescom

mencingwiththewordsPersonInvestigatedItrecordsinformation

obtainedf romapersonwho isstoppedbyt hepolicethati ncludesin

formations uchas namea liases dateof birth colouraddres sand

contact location including t he timeOn t he back it has entries for

things such as associates a ndassociated w ith gang motorcycle

clubDr ugTreatment Cour tThe police t hen input the infor mation

fromthecompletedcardsintoapolicecomputerdatabasefortheir

futurereference

Theocersin Ferdina ndtesti edthatthey usedthe cardsina neu

tralcasualandconsensualmannertheymerelyapproachedsomeone

and asked if they minded givi ngt hem the relevant information The

ocersassertedthatifthepersonsaidnoandtherewerenogrounds

todetainthemtheywouldsimplymoveonandbidthepersontohave

anice dayThes cenario inFerdinand wasasfollows Twoocersap

proacheda groupof youthsincluding MrFerdin andhangi ngoutbe 

hindanapartmentbuildingTheocersquestionedthegroupandused

cardstorecordpersonali nformationabouttheone sinterviewed

MrFerdinandtestiedthatthetwoocersroutinelystoppedhimques

tionedhi mforcardi nformation andsearc hedhimw ithouthiscon

sentWhen they arrived the ocerss awMr Ferdinandstar t toleave

thea reaOne oft hemnoticed a marijuana jointW henthe ocertold

 R v GrantSCCGrant

 R v FerdinandCanLIIOntSCJFerdinand 

 Ibid atpara