The Associated Press
TORONTO (AP) -- Police with reasonable suspicions have the power to detain people temporarily but can’t go on “fishing expeditions” in their pockets for evidence, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday.
The decision issued in Ottawa upholds a ruling by a trial judge in Winnipeg, Manitoba who acquitted Phillip Henry Mann of trafficking after police stopped him on the street in relation to a nearby break-in. They found almost an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana in his sweat shirt 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 court agreed, however, that police can briefly detain a person for investigative purposes, provided they have reasonable grounds to suspect the person is connected to a particular crime.
Police can also do a pat-down search if they reasonably believe the person presents a safety risk.
Reaching into someone’s pocket because they feel something soft, as happened in the Mann case, doesn’t cut it, said the court.
“The search must be grounded in objectively discernible facts to prevent ‘fishing expeditions’ on the basis of irrelevant or discriminatory factors,” wrote Iacobucci.
It was the first time the high court had examined an everyday police practice that many law officers and prosecutors take for granted.