Review of street check policies arises out of B.C. police commissioner's report
CTV
A man's complaint about being stopped and asked if he was "Abdul" by two officers in New Westminster, B.C., has prompted a call for provincewide consistency on street checks from the city's police board.
A man's complaint about being stopped and asked if he was “Abdul” by two officers in New Westminster, B.C., has prompted a call for provincewide consistency on street checks from the city's police board.
The officers' alleged actions in July 2020 and the New Westminster Police Board's followup to the case were featured as part of a key recommendation in the recent annual report from the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
Street checks should be consistent with cultural safety best practices and address the needs of Indigenous and racialized persons who may come into contact with the New Westminster police, said commissioner Clayton Pecknold in his report, which was tabled in the legislature.
Street checks are defined as any voluntary interaction between a police officer and a person that is more than a casual conversation, and which impedes the person's movement.
“The complainant felt that they were racially profiled and believed the police stopped them because of race,” Pecknold's report said.
The New Westminster Police Board, which initially reviewed the complaint, found it to be an “unfortunate incident,” which didn't constitute a street check under the policy, “but rather an investigative detention, based on an honest, but mistaken belief that the complainant was a person arrestable for criminal offences,” it said.
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner said a retired provincial court judge was appointed to review the case and he found the officers did not commit any misconduct.
