Allegations Of Profiling: How Much Disclosure Of Investigative Records Is Appropriate? By Roger Rowe
Background
208 cards are used by police as part of a strategy called the Toronto Anti Violence Intervention Strategy (“TAVIS”) to record information about persons the police consider to be of interest. TAVIS specializes in proactive policing in what it regards as high crime neighbourhoods. The cards include information such as name, address, date of birth, and skin colour.
208 cards are approximately 3” x 5”, printed on both sides, commencing with the words “Person Investigated.” A 208 card is used to record information about a person stopped by the police and includes information such as name, aliases, date of birth, colour, address, contact location, and time. On the back it has a place for “associates,” such as “gangs, motorcycle clubs, drug treatment court.
Typically police stop a resident in a particular community and start questioning them under the guise of....