The chief of the Saskatoon Police Service says being questioned by an officer doesn’t mean you are being racially profiled.
On Saturday, Clive Weighill attended an Aboriginal Affairs Coalition of Saskatchewan meeting in Saskatoon where the thorny subject of racial profiling was raised.
The chief says he knows some people in poor neighborhoods may consider being questioned by police as an infringement on their rights.
But he says, very often, the officers are simply trying to gather information after a complaint:
“You know, we get this quite often. There’s no doubt about it, we do check people out in the inner city because we’re getting victimization rates five to six times higher than in the rest of the city — and we’re being requested by residents of that community to try and slow things down.”
At the same time, the chief acknowledges members of the public aren’t under an automatic obligation to provide their name to police.
However, he notes the situation is different for drivers.