Law Times

Law TiMes • May 30, 2011 FOCUS Warning sounded on 208 cards Information could later surface as association evidence BY KENNETH JACKSON For Law Times I f you've ever been stopped by police and given your name and address, it's go- ing to be stored in a computer forever, according to one To- ronto-area lawyer. It may even be used against you in a court case even though you never committed a crime at the time, says J.S. Vijaya. Th ey're unoffi cially called 208 cards, but the formal name is fi eld information reports. In a court of law, the prac- tice is also known as associa- tion evidence. "It's forever," says Vijaya, who works as a criminal law- yer in the Toronto area. "Once you or I are in that computer system, unlike a criminal re- cord, unlike the process where we can apply for a pardon for something that happened 32 years ago, for example, you cannot get this information out of their computers." As Vijaya points out, police can stop people in hot spots and simply ask them, on the basis that there have been a number of robberies going on in the area, what they're doing there at 2 a.m. "Of course, most normal people don't say, 'I want to speak to a lawyer,'" says Vijaya. "Th ey usually say, 'Oh, offi cer, I was at a party here, and we just came out and we're going home.'" Th e information recorded can include tattoos, names, age, addresses, and who the person was with. Th e main issue for Vijaya with the 208 cards, he notes on his blog, is that the police and the state shouldn't be al- lowed to gather association evi- dence from otherwise innocent people going about their daily business through "subtle or di- rect coercion" and then using the same data to possibly assist in a prosecution later on. Vijaya admits the 208 cards may be a useful investigative tool to solve some crimes but says they infringe on the rights of Canadian citizens. "We must not allow ourselves to be constantly [put under surveil- lance] and investigated by the police for no reason. I don't believe that most Canadians want to live in a state where the politics of fear dominate our daily lives." Law Times asked Toronto police to comment on the issue but none of their spokespeople responded to the requests. A high-profi le example of police stopping people took place during the G20 sum- mit in Toronto last summer. Police were stopping people to request identifi cation and ask why they were on the streets, in some cases in the middle of the night. In many well-documented cases, Toronto police took it a step further and conducted Untitled-5 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 5/20/11 11:47:39 AM mass arrests. Nearly 1,000 people were detained, the larg- est mass arrest in Canadian his- tory, according to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. In a report fi led after the summit, the CCLA said those detained weren't allowed to speak to a lawyer or their fami- lies. It noted as well that ar- bitrary searches had occurred across the city. "Many instances were re- corded where large groups of police offi cers — often nine or 10 — surrounded individuals to search or interrogate them as they were walking along sidewalks or through parks," the report said. "Interrogation or searches under such situ- ations cannot be said to have happened with free consent." A couple years ago, Ashley Shurtleff , 26, was stopped on suspicion of marijuana posses- sion. "It was pretty crazy. Th ey I'm a pothead." Vijaya gives an example of how 208 cards can come back to bite a person. "If Charlie and Billy were 'I don't believe that most Canadians want to live in a state where the politics of fear dominate our daily lives,' says J.S. Vijaya. did the pat down and searched my whole car, threw me in the back of the cop car, and said I was under arrest," says Shurtleff . Police released and never charged her because she wasn't in possession of any marijuana. She now wonders what infor- mation police now have on her. "It's kind of bullshit that will stay in their system," she says. "Th ey will always think seen together and stopped by the police and volunteered to give their information in a given area . . . later on at trial, the Crown may try to assert that it is more likely than not that Charlie and Billy commit- ted a crime in the same area late at night," he says. "Th e Crown will argue that people commit crimes with people that they know, and obviously Charlie and Billy know each other." Vijaya says that in his experi- ence as a criminal trial lawyer, people stopped by police are likely to be young men between the ages of 15-25. He notes they're also likely to have dark skin and live near social housing or be walking in an area where mostly poor people live. PAGE 11 WHERE AUTHORITATIVE CRIMINAL LAW CONTENT COMES TOGETHER CRIMINAL SPECTRUM This online research service integrates leading authored works with the Canadian Criminal Cases decisions, a comprehensive collection of full- text reported and unreported decisions and the Weekly Criminal Bulletin case summaries. Topical indexes, a case citator and search templates have been designed to make your research easier. Select from four different editions – Essential, Select, Classic or Premier. Each includes a different combination of works. Works includes: • Canadian Criminal Cases • Martin's Annual Criminal Code with annotations by Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., The Honourable Justice Marc Rosenberg and Marie Henein • Martin's Related Criminal Statutes with annotations by Edward L. Greenspan, Q.C., The Honourable Justice Marc Rosenberg and Marie Henein • Canadian Criminal Procedure, Sixth Edition by The Honourable R.E. Salhany, Q.C. • Sentencing: The Practitioner's Guide by Gary R. Clewley and Paul G. McDermott • Youth Criminal Justice Act Manual by The Honourable Justice Peter J. Harris and The Honourable Justice Miriam H. Bloomenfeld • Drug Offences in Canada, Third Edition by Bruce A. MacFarlane, Q.C., Robert J. Frater and Chantal Proulx • McWilliams' Canadian Criminal Evidence, Fourth Edition by The Honourable Justice Casey Hill, Prof. David M. Tanovich and Louis P. Strezos • Criminal Pleadings & Practice in Canada, Second Edition by The Honourable Justice E.G. Ewaschuk • Criminal Law Quarterly For pricing information, contact an information solutions specialist today at 1-866-609-5811. CANADA LAW BOOK®

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