Preventing patrol officers from intercepting motorists at will, as the Superior Court has just ordered to limit racial profiling, will harm road safety, according to the Association of Quebec Police Directors (ADPQ).
Posted at 10:42
Racial profiling is a real issue, “but the protection of human life must also be part of the considerations”, argued the organization in a statement released Wednesday morning. She says she is “strongly” concerned about the decision.
The day before, the Superior Court of Quebec had ordered the end of the interceptions without cause of motorists because this arbitrary power serves for certain police officers as “safe conduct for racial profiling against the black community”. Judge Michel Yergeau rendered this decision in the case of Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a 22-year-old black man intercepted without cause three times in two years.
“Charter rights can no longer be left in the wake of an unlikely moment of policing epiphany,” Justice Yergeau wrote.
“Societal repercussions”
Visible minority rights organizations welcomed the Superior Court’s decision on Tuesday.
But the police chiefs are not at all of the same opinion. This decision risks harming the ability of police officers to enforce the Highway Safety Code, according to their association.
The article of the Highway Safety Code which allowed these interceptions “exists among other things to save lives”, argued its president, Pierre Brochet, in the press release. “It is therefore certain that this decision will have societal repercussions in road safety. In 2021 alone, 347 people lost their lives on our roads, 1,227 suffered serious injuries and 26,314 suffered minor injuries (SAAQ data). »
The ADPQ said it was “very aware of the issues of racial profiling” and pleaded that “several initiatives have been put in place to address this problem”.