POCKETS OFF LIMITS TO COPS

Unless Officer's Safety At Risk, High Court Rules

THE SUPREME Court of Canada has slapped a No Fishing sign over police
trolling Canadian streets for suspects and evidence. But a police
organization spokesman and even civil libertarians aren't convinced
yesterday's ruling in Ottawa will significantly change the way cops catch
crooks.

In the first such Charter of Rights ruling on an everyday police practice,
Canada's highest court guardedly agreed police may briefly detain
individuals for investigative purposes -- if they have reasonable
suspicions linked to a specific crime.

But police can't go on "fishing expeditions" in people's pockets for
evidence, said a majority of the seven-member bench.

The decision upholds a ruling by a trial judge in Winnipeg, who acquitted
Phillip Henry Mann of trafficking after police stopped him on the street in
relation to a nearby break-and-enter. They found an ounce of pot in his
sweatshirt pouch.

"Individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their pockets,"
Justice Frank Iacobucci wrote in a majority decision that divided the high
court 5-2.

"The search here went beyond what was required to mitigate concerns about
officer safety and reflects a serious breach of (Mann's) protection against
unreasonable search and seizure."

"The search must be grounded in objectively discernible facts to prevent
'fishing expeditions' on the basis of irrelevant or discriminatory
factors," wrote Iacobucci.

A spokesman for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, which
intervened in the case, said the ruling was a "little disappointing" but
doubted it would impact police work. Officers will need to be trained on
the implications of the ruling.

"If you're going to go into someone's pocket during a search, you would
have to have a strongly articulated reason (such as officer safety)," said
Frank Ryder, a detective chief superintendent with the Ontario Provincial
Police in Orillia.

"Really, they've endorsed at the Supreme Court level that we do have the
right to search for safety and to detain (individuals)."

While it's significant that the court spelled out conditions for detaining
individuals, Alan Borovoy of the Canadian Association of Civil Liberties
isn't convinced they will translate into practical changes in police behaviour.

The vast majority of such police detentions and searches never come to
light, he said, so it will be difficult to gauge any change.