HIGHEST COURT LIMITS POWER OF OFFICERS TO 'FISH' FOR EVIDENCE

Police Can Still Stop Suspects But They Can't Go Rummaging Through Pockets.

OTTAWA -- The Supreme Court of Canada has slapped a No Fishing sign on
police trolling streets for suspects and evidence. But a police
organization spokesperson and even civil libertarians aren't convinced
yesterday's ruling 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 justices.

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 break-in. They found an ounce of pot in his shirt.

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

A spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said the
ruling was disappointing, but doubted it would have an impact on police work.

"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)."

And while it is significant that the court spelled out a number of
conditions for detaining individuals, Alan Borovoy of the Canadian Civil
Liberties Association 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 if there's a change. "We
have learned that . . . there is a disquieting dichotomy between what
courts promulgate and what police practise."

The court agreed police were justified in stopping Mann as he walked down a
Winnipeg street in 2000. Mann fit the description of a suspect and was
three blocks from the crime scene, making him a reasonable target.

However, that didn't stop the justices from taking a hard look at what
Iacobucci called "the unregulated use of investigative detentions in
policing, their uncertain legal status and the potential for abuse inherent
in such low-visibility exercises of discretionary power."