Carding (police policy)
Police intelligence gathering method / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Canada, carding, officially known in Ontario as the Community Contacts Policy,[1] is an intelligence gathering policy involving the stopping, questioning, and documenting of individuals when no particular offence is being investigated.[2] The interactions take place in public, private or any place police have contact with the public.[3] The information collected is kept on record in the Field Information Report (FIR) database.[2] FIRs include details including the individuals' gender, race, the reason for the interaction, location, and the names of any associates,[4] to build a database for unspecified future use.[5] Officially, individuals are not legally detained, but this distinction is not clear.[6] [7] Carding programs have been shown to consume a considerable amount of police resources, with little to no verifiable results on the level of crime.[8] Carding is also known to contribute to a disproportionate amount of black and Indigenous people being recorded in law enforcement databases.[6] Consequences for Indigenous and racialized populations include mental and physical health problems, loss of trust with the police, disparities within the criminal justice system, and social disadvantage, including potential loss of educational and employment opportunities.[9]
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In summer of 2014, the Toronto Police Service discontinued the use of physical hard copy cards; officers were instead directed to enter the information captured during community engagements into their memobook as Community Safety Notes, which may be retained for a maximum of seven years.[10] Ontario's 2014 Counter Terrorism Plan directs police to ensure carding intelligence "is shared regularly with key partners", including Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[11]