We live in the information age. The government and information agencies are constantly competing to generate, compute and sell information. Sometimes that information is used for national security purposes and other times that information is stored for discretionary purposes.
The government and enforcement agencies store information on all citizens in Canada. Every time a person picks up the phone to dial 911, or calls the fire department, or even gets a speeding ticket, there is a record of it in some governmental database. Accordingly, whenever the police are called to a house for an investigation (domestic, drug-related or otherwise), there is a record of that call and the investigation.
Domestic Assault Cases
In cases involving domestic violence, there is usually a record of the number of calls to the house, as well the dates and timings of those calls. That information is important, because if there are number of calls to a house-hold, yet no charges ever laid, the next time the police pursue a domestic assault investigation they will be privy to the past domestic calls on that resident, and may use their discretion in deciding on how to proceed. What’s even more interesting is the fact that even in cases where no charges are laid, the Crown Attorney will look to see how many previous calls to the house there were (involving allegations of domestic assault) in order to determine the severity of sentence they wish to impose on the accused.
What can the Police see when they Pull me Over?
As mentioned above, the police have access to a vast array of information in their databases. Every time they pull you over and look up your information in their computer systems they can see this data. They are privy to your driver’s license status (suspensions, outstanding tickets, etc), your immigration status, your criminal record status, any outstanding charges, any bail conditions, any probation conditions, any past Provincial Offence Act Charges, and any past dealings with the police (that may or not have led to criminal charges).
The police obviously can use discretion in the laying of any charges (whether criminal or not), and for that reason, the information they may have stored with respect to your identity may play a role into the determination on whether you receive a charge or not, or more generally with respect to the manner in which are you are treated by the police.
For more information about this article, you can contact the author, Rishi Singh Bhasin at:
justice@rishisinghlaw.com