Profiling

The fact they were looking for a white guy makes the stop really problematic.

 

Police condemned for profiling of letter carrier

Toronto Star 

Lesley Ciarula Taylor      

Immigration Reporter     

 

Ron Phipps admits he was criss-crossing Vernham Ave. the day he was stopped by police in the Bridle Path.

He was also wearing a Canada Post coat and carrying two mailbags while filling in for the regular letter carrier.

Nearby, Toronto Police Const. Michael Shaw and another officer were investigating cut phone lines and looking for suspects described as male, white and eastern European who were seen in a car.

Phipps, who is black, raised suspicions with Shaw because he spoke to a homeowner but didn't give her any mail.

But the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario has ruled that by stopping Phipps on March 9, 2005, questioning him, trailing him and asking a white letter carrier to verify his identity, Shaw was guilty of racial profiling.

The fact that Phipps "was an African-Canadian in an affluent neighbourhood was a factor, a significant factor, and probably the predominant factor, whether consciously or unconsciously, in Const. Shaw's actions," adjudicator Kaye Joachim wrote in his decision last month.

At the hearing, Shaw contended each of Phipps' actions was suspicious, despite his uniform.

Joachim batted each one down.

"Letter carriers take vacation, retire and/or switch routes" so seeing a man with a mailbag he didn't know doesn't explain Shaw's suspicions, Joachim wrote.

"I do not accept Const. Shaw's evidence that the applicant was crossing the street back and forth in an unusual fashion. Const. Shaw was well aware that letter carriers do not stop at every house. It was not unusual to misdeliver mail and to go back and try to retrieve it.

"The fact that it was an African-Canadian male without a vehicle that attracted Const. Shaw's attention is what is unusual," wrote Joachim.
James Morton
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