A Double-Edged Sword: Carding, Public Safety, and the Impact of Racialized Police Practices

• Author: Scot Wortley
• Pages: 257-270

257

ChAPTeR 11

A Double-Edged Sword

Carding, Public Safety, and the Impact

of Racialized Police Practices

scot WortLEy*

A. INTRODUCTION

Stop and search. Stop and frisk. Stop and account. Street checks. Field

interrogations. Community engagements. Carding. Over the past two

decades these terms have come to dominate both academic and public

discourse on policing throughout North America and Europe. A ll of these

terms refer to the police practice of stopping civilians — drivers, passen-

gers, and pedestrians — for proactive investigation. Proactive investiga-

tion refers to the fact that of‌f‌icers usually decide to make these stops at

their own discretion — they are not responding to a specif‌ic criminal

event or reacting to a particular call for service. During such encounters,

the police often ask civilians to produce formal identif‌ication and explain

their presence in the community. Evidence also suggests that, during these

stops, the police often “frisk” or pat-down civilians — under the pre-

tense of of‌f‌icer safety — or ask civilians to submit to a consent search.

Legal critics frequently challenge the lawfu lness of such stops and argue

that they violate basic civil rights. However, much of the debate centres

around evidence that suggests that Blacks, Aboriginals, and other racial

minority groups are much more likely to be subjected to police stop and

search tactics than people of White or European backgrounds. This pat-

tern is highly consistent with allegations of racial prof‌iling. This paper

will begin by brief‌ly reviewing the research literature on police racial

prof‌iling in Canada. The paper will then discuss the potential utility of

police stop and search tactics from a public safety perspective. It will

* Scot Wortleyis an assoc iate professor of criminology w ith the Centre for Criminology

& Sociolegal Stud ies, University of Toronto.