Canada

First, policing practices. Close to midnight on Canada Day, TPS detective-constable Jeffrey Northrup and his partner, then detective-constable Lisa Forbes, were responding to reports of a stabbing in the vicinity. They were in plain clothes. Police officers assigned to work out of uniform do not generally respond to emergency calls. Their main purpose is to blend in for surveillance and undercover purposes.

The officers had a description of the suspect: Brown, heavy set, with a long beard and big hair. Of these identifiers, Zameer presented only one: he was Brown. Nevertheless, the plain-clothes officers approached Zameer’s vehicle in an underground parking garage, indicating he turn off the engine and exit. His pregnant wife and toddler were inside with him.

The police should never have impeded Zameer from driving away that evening. Over the course of the trial, Forbes admitted that there had been no legal basis for an arrest or detention: Zameer did not closely match the description of the suspect and, without any such reasonable suspicion or cause, was not compelled to stay on the scene to answer any police questions. Beyond arguments regarding civil liberties, there is a high risk that a citizen would fail to recognize an advancing, shouting figure in ordinary clothes as a police officer. In the circumstances, it would have been far safer to rely on underground video surveillance records and note Zameer’s licence plate and then follow up for any potential investigation.