Police and defense attorneys, "New regulations increase protection of citizens privacy but strips their protection from major crime"

From MetroNews.ca - As of January 1, police will no longer be able to approach people who aren’t criminal suspects, without first stating that all conversations are voluntary, and the person will get a receipt if their information goes into a database.

It replaces a system where police could approach anybody and log their name, location and activities into a database, used to link suspects to gang activity, a system that saw a disproportionate amount of minorities stopped.

The new “regulated interactions” system, which gives people an explicit choice to not speak to police, includes a large exception. “The regulations do not apply if the officer has reasonable or probable grounds that a crime has been committed, or will be committed,” said the project’s Ottawa lead, Insp. Mark Patterson.

Ottawa’s police union says officers will probably now only approach suspects, instead of proactively asking neighbours , because the latter requires the disclaimer opening police to complaints.

Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association, believes this will further entrench distrust of the police, because officers will only approach people they deem suspicious. “The entire province is going to be negatively impacted,” Skof said, by “a very unsafe environment.”

Skof added the changes have “emboldened” gang members and people involved in criminal activity.

Defence lawyer Leo Russomanno also criticized the exemption, saying it’s too broad “The police are obviously going to try and pigeonhole whatever they're doing into that exception,” he said.

“The government got all this fanfare for so-called 'banning carding' and that's just completely false.”

Ottawa police have suspended street checks until February, to upgrade databases, inform the public and train officers for eight hours, two of which happen online. “There are a lot of myths, misconceptions and misnomers,” Patterson said.

People have always had to identify themselves if caught committing a crime, or during a traffic stop.