All Saskatoon Police Services officers are expected complete initial training on carding by spring, according to a report on the draft SPS street check implementation policy.

“The new policy is not designed to inhibit police members from interacting with the public, but rather to offer guidance to the police so they build rapport with the public through their approach, demeanor and communication skills,” Chief Troy Cooper said in a report to the Board of Police Commissioners to be received as information at its Feb. 21 meeting.

Carding, or contact interviews, in which officers approach members of the public for identifying information, has been criticized for being implemented unjustly. In Ontario, a judge recently found that officers there have disproportionately stopped black and Indigenous people.

“The SPS wants to maintain an open and transparent organization whereby disclosure of the number and types of contact interviews being generated for operational purposes occurs,” Cooper said in his report, noting the criticism and discussion of the practice.

The SPS draft policy comes after the Saskatchewan Police Commission (SPC) implemented an overarching policy last year for contact interviews.

The SPC defines a contact interview as “a contact with the public initiated by a member of a police service for the purpose of obtaining information not related to a specific known incident or offence.”

It states that “contact interviews may only be conducted in a manner that respects and protects the rights of the public … and may not be conducted by members of a police service on a random or arbitrary basis.”

The SPS draft policy states that people have no obligation to answer questions or provide identification and are free to leave at any time. Officers may not stop them if they don’t engage and keep walking.

“In conducting contacting contact interviews, members’ communication with the public must be informal, professional, fair, free of any element of physical or psychological intimidation, responsive to public concerns, and of a nature that inspires public trust and confidence in and safeguards the legitimacy of policing,” the policy states.

Officers must document their reasons for initiating the contact interview and enter it into the police database, where it will be kept for five years.

With Canadian Press files