But the explicit mention of street checks in the counterterrorism plan raises questions about the use of citizens’ personal information gathered by police in non-criminal encounters. Police have defended street checks and say the resulting databases are valuable tools that can be searched following a crime and provide connections and possible witnesses and suspects. Overall in Toronto, between 2008 and late 2013, more than a million individuals were documented in 2.1 million carding encounters. Of those carding encounters, officers specifically noted that 14,150 involved passing on information to the service’s own intelligence unit. The data does not include any stops or documenting of citizens by other police services involved in summit security.

Source: thestar April 23, 2017 10:52 UTC