Random test shopping is not entrapment

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Using an underage test shopper to buy cigarettes does not require a reasonable suspicion the clerk or store is selling to underage buyers, Ontario’s highest court has held.

In R. v. Clothier, 2011 ONCA 27, a convenience store was randomly chosen for a spot compliance check from a master list of tobacco vendors. A tobacco enforcement officer went to the store with a 17-year-old test shopper, who bought a package of cigarettes from the 19 year-old clerk and left. At no time did Clothier, the accused, ask for age identification.

Supporting a vision for federal policing

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With a focus on organized crime, economic integrity, border enforcement and national security, the RCMP "O" (Ontario) Division works closely with police partners and other law enforcement agencies to keep Canada safe and secure. 

The past year was very fast paced for the division, which has primary law enforcement authority in federal matters in Ontario outside of the National Capital Region. The more significant events included the Olympic Torch Run, Vancouver Winter Olympics, G8 & G20, the Royal visit and Special Olympics. Officers from the division were also  deployed to Afghanistan and United Nations missions in Sudan and Haiti during 2010. 

The RCMP's association with Ontario dates from 1873 but "O" Division did not formally begin until 1920 when the  "Royal North West Mounted Police" was reorganized into Canada's federal police force and given its present name.  It began with six detachments and had just 37 officers by 1923. 

Police own the streets and should act like it

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A recent story sent to me related how the Surrey Fire Department now decides whether to call police to vehicle collisions. Surprised by this backward style of events I wondered what the local police are doing that is more important than collisions.

I worked most of my career as a traffic officer in Toronto. I was proud of helping people in need – much more than the five years I spent yelling at people in domestic disputes in the jungles of Jane and Finch. I have since concluded that the efforts of a well trained traffic officer does more to improve a community’s perspective on itself than any other aspect of police work. Let me explain why.

I went to a ton of collision scenes over my years and, before moving to dedicated traffic work, thought I was just doing a job for the insurance companies and gathering statistics for the transportation department – but then the penny dropped, so to speak.