Police Powers, Strategies, Decision-Making and Engagement

Question 1

Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Police Powers

Answer 1

• The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has had a significant impact in defining the powers of the police
• Charter rights, combined with pre-existing legal rules, are designed to provide legal safeguards against the unlimited use of police power

Question 2

Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) and Police Powers

Answer 2

The Charter gave those accused the right to challenge the actions of the police

The Charter has also lead to SCC rulings giving the police significant powers

Point 2 limits power of the police

Question 3

Police Accountability

Principle of accountability

Answer 3

The actions of police officers and police services are subject to review and there are formal channels that individuals can use to lodge complaints against the police

Question 4

Police Ethics

Answer 4

• Canadian police officers are required to adhere to codes of conduct and ethics which are contained in policing acts
• Among the questions that are designed to assist police officers in avoiding ethical difficulties are the following:
• Is the activity or decision consistent with organizational or agency policy and the law?
• Do the outcomes or consequences generate more harm than good?
• What are the outcomes or consequences resulting from the activity or decision and whom do they affect?
• Can the activity or decision be justified legally and ethically?

Question 5

The Excercise of Discretion

Answer 5

Discretion: The power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment

Question 6

Biased Policing/Racial Profiling

Answer 6

Bias-free policing: The requirement that police officers make decisions on the basis of reasonable suspicion and probable grounds rather than stereotypes about race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or other prohibited grounds

One manifestation of biased policing is racial profiling

Question 7

Racial Profiling/Criminal Profiling

Answer 7

Racial Profiling:
- Relies on stereotypes about race, colour, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, or place of origin rather than on reasonable suspicion
- May result from police officers internal implicit bias which stems from unconscious stereotypes, or explicit bias which arises from conscious stereotypes
- May be a consequence of over-policing (too much police in certain areas) and pretext policing (very minor reason to have invasive interaction with individual)

Criminal Profiling:
- Based on objective evidence of wrongdoing by an indvidual
- Particular attention to signals and “unusual fits”

Question 8

The Force Options Framework

Answer 8

Officer presence: The mere presence of a police officer may alter the behaviour of the participants at an altercation, thereby enabling control of the situation

Dialogue: Verbal and non-verbal communication skills may resolve the conflict and result in voluntary compliance

Empty hands: Physical force is used to gain control

Compliance toold: Equipment or weapons are used to gain control

Lethal force: The situation requires complete incapacitation of the subject in order to gain control, and lethal force is the only option available to reduce the lethal threat

One plus one: use of force +1 what police are confronted with

Question 9

Entrapment

Answer 9

Entrapment: a person ends up committing an offence that he or she would not otherwise have committed, largely as a result of pressure or cunning on the part of the police

-The SCC in R. v. Mack (1988) provided guidelines: police crossed the line when the police insisted someone to do something

Question 10

The “Mr. Big Technique”

Answer 10

A strategy designed to secure confessions from crime suspects through the creation of an elaborate scenario

-The SCC in R. v. Hart (2014) provided guidelines: tricked him into confessing, offering him money, made a fake gang for him to join

Question 11

Search and Seizure

Answer 11

Section 8 of the Charter protects all citizens against “unreasonable” search or seizure

Evidence obrained during an illegal search may be excluded from trial if, as indicated in S 24 of the Charter, its use would bring the justice system into disrepute. (Authorized by law, search must be reasonable)

The Supreme COurt of Canada has held in R. v. S.A.B (2003 SCC 60) that for a search to be reasonable

Generally for a search by the police to be lawful, a search warrant must be issued.

Question 12

Search Warrant

Answer 12

A search warrant is a warrant signed by a judge or magistrate authorizing a law enforcement officer to conduct a search on a certain person, a specified place, or an automobile for criminal evidence.

The SCC has decided that warrants are required in the following situations:
(1) authorized by law; (2) the law itself is reasonable; and (3) the manner in which the search is carried out is reasonable

Question 13

Power to Detain and Arrest

Answer 13

If an arrest is warranted, and if there is time to do so, a police officer can seek an arrest warrant by swearing an information in front of a Justice of the Peace.

An information: written statement sworn by an informant normally a police officer, alleging that a person has committed a specific criminal offence

Arrest Warrant: A document that permits a police officer to arrest a specific person for a specified reason

Question 14

Power to Detain and Arrest

Answer 14

Police officers can arrest a suspect without an arrest warrant when:
- Caught committing an offence
- Belief that person has committed an indictable offece
- Belief that a person is about to commit an indctable offence
- Anti-terrorism Act: arrest on suspicion rather than reasonable grounds

Question 15

Professional Model of Policing

Answer 15

A model of police work that is reactive, incident-driven, and centred on random patrol

Based on random patrol, rapid response, and reactive investigation

Question 16

Community policing

Answer 16

A philosophy of policing centred on police-community partnerships and prroblem-solving
e.g., speed control, more signs, winding roads

Question 17

Crime Analytics

Answer 17

Crime analysts use sophisticated statistical programs to create crime maps and to provide intelligence to pollice officers in patrol and investigative units

Question 18

Public Attitudes toward and Confidence in the Police

Answer 18

Public are the police, police are the public
- Community poling increases police legitmacy
- Community policing has the potential to reduce fear of crime in communities

Question 19

Public Attitudes toward and Confidence in the Police

Answer 19

Public are the police, police are the public
- Community poling increases police legitmacy
- Community policing has the potential to reduce fear of crime in communities

Question 20

Territorial Privacy

Interor of Personal Dwelling

Answer 20

THe privacy of the homes occupants is protected by section 8 of the Charter. The court considers an unreasonable breach of the expectation of territorial privacy in a personal dwelling as a serious infrigement of section 8.

Question 21

Territorial Privacy

Motor vehicles

Answer 21

The reasonable expectation of privacy associated with motor vehicle is somewhat less than in a personal dwelling. A warrantless search of a vehicle must conform to common law principles. However, the SCC has shown more reluctance to exclude evidence from an unlawful search of a vehicle.

Question 22

Territorial Privacy

Public Areas

Answer 22

It is inaccurate to say that there are no personal privacy interests in public places. However, a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy is reduced, therby lowering the standard on what constitutes an unreasonable search.

Question 23

Crime Prevention

Answer 23

• Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)
• Closed circuit television (CCTV)
• Neighbourhood Watch
• Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)
• Police school liasion officer programs
• Community mobilization

Question 24

The Broken Windows Approach

Answer 24

The view that if minor crimes are left unaddressed in an environment, more serious crime will emerge
- originated in nyc in the 1980s

This model of policing emphasizes rapid deployment of officers and relentless follow-up

Question 25

Zero tolerance policing

Answer 25

Zero-tolerance is a policing strategy that involves relentless order maintenance and aggressive law enforcement, against even minor crimes and incivilities.

Question 26

Quality of life policing

Answer 26

Increased police visibility and efforts to improve conditions in an area by targeting disruptive and annoying behaviour such as panhandling, loitering, and public drug and alcohol use

Question 27

Problem Oriented Policing (POP)

Answer 27

A tactical strategy based on the idea that the police should address the causes of recurrent crime and disorder

Question 28

Crime Attack Strategies

Answer 28

Proactive operations used by the police ot target and apprehend criminal offenders, especially those deemed likely to reoffend, and to identify specific areas or neighbourhoods.
These include:
- Targeting high risk offenders
- Tactical directed patrol (hot spots policing)

Question 29

Clearance Rates

Answer 29

Law enforcement agencies consider crimes solved when they are “cleared” by arrests. For this reason, clearance rates (that is, the ratio of arrests to known offenses) can serve as an indicator of not only police effectiveness but also of police-community collaboration.