“Carding” is when the police stop you and ask you to identify yourself even though they have no reason to suspect that you have committed a crime or that you have information about a crime. Sometimes carding is called a “street check”.
The rules about carding and street checks apply when the police are:
- – Investigating possible crimes or suspicious activities
- – Gathering information to help them do their jobs
Limits on Racial Profiling
In general, the police are not allowed to ask you who you are if part of the reason they are asking is only because they think you belong to a specific racialized community. This is true even if they are looking for someone of the same race, sex, and age group as you.
But if they have other reasons to think that you might be the person they are looking for, they may be able to ask you who you are.
Here are some examples of such reasons: what you look like, including your height and weight, hair and eye colour, or what you are wearing, where they stop you, but not just because it is a place where a lot of crime happens and the kind of car you are in. Who you are with and what you are doing
And if you refuse to answer or talk to them when you have the right to refuse, the police cannot use your refusal as a reason to ask you who you are.
What the police have to do during a street check
When the police ask you who you are when doing a street check, they have to tell you: about your right not to answer, and why they are asking.
But they do not have to do this if they think it might put someone’s safety at risk.
The police must give you a receipt that includes: the police officer’s name and badge number, how to contact the Office of the Independent Police Review Director for a complaint against the police, who to contact to find out what information the police have about you. The police have to give you a receipt whether you give them information about yourself or not.
The rules about street checks do not apply when:
- – The police reasonably suspect that a crime has been or will be committed
- – You are being arrested or detained
- – Another law says that you have to identify yourself
- – The police are acting under a warrant or court order
- – The police are working undercover when they talk to you
If you are thinking about making a complaint against the police, get legal advice.