UNFETTERED POLICE POWERS DON'T JIBE WITH CHARTER OF
RIGHTS

Picture this: The sun's beating down and you're kicking back, relaxing
in your neighbourhood park on a summer's day; all is right with the
world.

Until you're startled by a commotion nearby. You open your eyes to see
a German shepherd nosing through your knapsack.

"Relax," says a police officer holding the dog's leash.

"Just a random search."

Far fetched?

Maybe ...maybe not.

This kind of scenario is at the heart of arguments heard this week in
Canada's Supreme Court. The Crown is appealing the acquittal of A.M.,
a Sarnia high school student who beat drug charges after a judge ruled
the way in which the dope was found -- police brought a drug sniffer
dog in and locked students down while they scoured the building --
infringed upon the teen's Charter rights.

A subsequent hearing at Ontario's Court of Appeal saw the ruling
upheld; now the Crown is appealing to the nation's highest court.

If you think this case has nothing to do with you, you're mistaken. It
speaks to the extent to which police in this land can exercise their
powers of search, seizure and detention.

If you've so much as been detained for a traffic stop you can relate
to the reality of having your liberty curtailed. If you've opened your
car window for an officer at a RIDE stop, you are acquainted with
random checks.

There's justification for traffic stops, which target dangerous
driving, and for RIDE, which saves lives by getting drunks off the
road. But I'd submit that random searches of schools, parks and public
places by police with dogs are exceedingly intrusive and
disquieting.

There's an axiom that declares if you're not doing anything wrong you
needn't worry about the cops watching you. But why should you have to
be concerned about being watched, sniffed or otherwise monitored -- on
the off chance you might be?

We all want the cops to do their jobs. Police have little difficulty
obtaining search warrants to investigate drug activity. They have
extensive powers to detain and investigate citizens suspected of
breaking the law.

They don't need the added and extraordinary power to conduct random
searches of unwitting citizens.

It's up to the courts to keep those powers in check.