U of S prof skeptical of 'significant reduction' in contact interviews reported by Saskatoon police

A University of Saskatchewan professor is skeptical about statistics from Saskatoon police that suggest a dramatic drop in so-called "contact interviews."

The latest figures are in a report that went to the board of police commissioners, which oversees the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS), this week.

"In 2022, members of the SPS conducted 16 verified contact interviews. This is a significant reduction from 2021 (189 contact interviews)," the report said.

Scott Thompson is an assistant professor of sociology and the lead researcher on a team investigating street checks by police on the Prairies.

"The concern that I have as a researcher is that the shift in language is giving the impression that there's a shift in behaviour, and we can't make that conclusion," he said in an interview.

"What we really need is clear evidence from the police as to if their actions, or their interactions to the public, have actually changed with this decrease, or if it's just a matter of re-categorizing the collection of data in such a way that it's not visible to the public that the same types of practices are happening."

Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper said "street check" is a common term used across Canada for citizens interacting with police where data is collected. 

He said Saskatchewan defines contact interviews specifically as interaction not related to an incident or offence and must include more than general information. 

"I think the labels for our staff and for everybody can be confusing. The policy itself can be confusing and I think that's the value of us speaking and publicly producing this data each year and being able to explain in detail exactly what our officers did," Cooper said.

Cooper added that alternate response officers who may not be armed and have a different type of training do a lot of the on-the-ground work of talking to people in the community and responding to suspicious behaviour. He said that has helped in reducing the number of contact interviews. 

"Normally we do annual training, first of all for contact interviews to remind officers of the process and the value and this year that training didn't take place. So I think there's some natural drop in numbers that would occur as a result of that," Cooper said.

In 2018, the Saskatchewan Police Commission released guidelines for street checks, also known as carding. The practice has faced criticism because of concerns that marginalized and First Nations people are groups over-represented in the checks. The individual police services developed their policies from the guidelines.

Saskatoon police began doing annual audits on its practice.

According to police, there are three authorized reasons for initiating a contact interview:

• The lack of any apparent reason for the person to be in a particular area.
• The person's actions, behaviour or demeanour raise a concern regarding his/her purpose or safety.
• The person appears lost, confused, frightened or in need of assistance.

Officers cannot initiate an interview solely based on the person's presence in a high-crime area. The interviews also cannot be random or arbitrary, the policy said.

Thompson said that people on the street who he's met as part of the research project are generally unclear about whether they must talk to police.

"There are some interactions with police that are called street checks, or fall under the street check umbrella, that you are required to stop and give information, you are legally detained," he said.

"However, these person contact interviews also follow under the umbrella of street checks. You are not required to stop; you are not legally detained and it's very difficult for someone in the general public that doesn't have a legal background to know the difference between which type of stop is happening to them."