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Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill disputes that claim, arguing the practice is a necessary part of police work and has absolutely nothing to do with race.

“I want to re-establish and confirm that the people we are checking out at night has nothing to do with their culture, their ethnicity. It has to do with who is on the street at night and may be acting in a suspicious manner,” Weighill said.

Saskatoon police officers conducted 735 street checks in 2015, mostly downtown between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

The checks were often the result of calls to police from people reporting suspicious activity, Weighill said.

Photo by Michelle Berg / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Luther said while police can justifiably “street check” someone as part of an ongoing investigation, far too often the practice is paramount to “arbitrary detention,” which is illegal under the constitution. He said people often feel they have no choice but to answer police questions, and as a result they are effectively being detained.

“When the police ask you what you are up to, you have no choice but to answer them. If you run away, police are going to take that as suspicious,” he said.

Luther’s group is calling for the police to abandon street checks altogether.

Weighill said calling the practice unconstitutional is a “very strict interpretation” of what police call street checks.

He said police need to ability to stop people and ask them questions while respecting their rights. He believes the public submissions are just one step toward creating a provincewide policing policy governing street checks, he added.