Legal Issues In Policing

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In this episode, Mike discusses the Supreme Court of Canada decision R. v. Singer, 2026 SCC 8 where police, responding to a reported impaired driver, saw a truck matching the suspect vehicle description parked in a private driveway with its engine running and lights on. Officers walked up the driveway to the truck and saw a man sleeping or passed out in the driver's seat. The man was unresponsive to knocks at the window, so police opened the truck's door, woke the man up  and observed signs of impairment. An ASD failure resulted in a ride to the police detachment, where the man refused a breath test. A trial judge found the police did nothing wrong, their actions were Charter compliant, and convicted the man of refusal. A Court of Appeal ruled otherwise and acquitted the man. Find out how the Supreme Court saw it when it weighed in. Was the conduct of the police in entering the driveway and approaching the truck consistent with the common law's implied licence doctrine? Was opening the truck's door lawful? This is an important case to understand because you use this doctrine on a regular basis, whether you realize it or not. 
Related cases:
R. v. Singer, 2023 SKCA 123
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In this episode, Mike discusses the Supreme Court's 2025 Year in Review. How do last year's numbers stack up against previous years? And how often does the court disagree on the outcome of a case?  
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In this episode, Mike discusses the BC Supreme Court decision R. v. Watroba, 2025 BCSC 815 where police saw a man, who they recognized as someone known to be involved in drug trafficking, standing outside a shopping mall with an easily accessible machete strapped across his back. This led to an investigative detention, a pat-down, the search of a satchel, the discovery of fentanyl and ultimately an arrest. The man was charged with possessing a weapon dangerous to the public peace and two counts of PPT. His lawyer, as one might expect, challenged every aspect of the police interaction on Charter grounds. Did the police have enough cause to detain? Was the pat-down legitimate? Was looking in the satchel justified on the basis of officer safety? And was the arrest lawful? Listen to learn what the judge ruled. It may just help you in a future case like it. 
Related cases:
R. v. Watroba, 2025 BCSC 2192
R. v. Watroba, 2025 BCSC 2209
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In this episode, Mike discusses the power to arrest, without warrant, an offender in breach of their conditional release — unescorted temporary absence, parole or statutory release — and how the authority under s. 137.1 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) came to be. 
CCRA definitions (s. 99(1)):
day parole means the authority granted to an offender by the Board or a provincial parole board to be at large during the offender’s sentence in order to prepare the offender for full parole or statutory release, the conditions of which require the offender to return to a penitentiary, community-based residential facility, provincial correctional facility or other location each night or at another specified interval.
full parole means the authority granted to an offender by the Board or a provincial parole board to be at large during the offender’s sentence.
statutory release means release from imprisonment subject to supervision before the expiration of an offender’s sentence, to which an offender is entitled under section 127.
unescorted temporary absence means an unescorted temporary absence from penitentiary authorized under section 116.
CCRA Arrest Authorities:
Arrest without warrant
137(2) A peace officer who believes on reasonable grounds that a warrant is in force under this Part or under the authority of a provincial parole board for the apprehension of a person may arrest the person without warrant and remand the person in custody.
Arrest without warrant — breach of conditions
137.1 A peace officer may arrest without warrant an offender who has committed a breach of a condition of their parole, statutory release or unescorted temporary absence, or whom the peace officer finds committing such a breach, unless the peace officer
(a) believes on reasonable grounds that the public interest may be satisfied without arresting the person, having regard to all the circumstances including the need to
(i) establish the identity of the person, or
(ii) prevent the continuation or repetition of the breach; and
(b) does not believe on reasonable grounds that the person will fail to report to their parole supervisor in order to be dealt with according to law if the peace officer does not arrest the person.
Additional References:
Arrest Without Warrant: Handbook for Front-line Peace Officers 2013
R. v. Loewen, 2018 SKCA 69 (lower court decision 2015 SKPC 12)
Video — Parole: Contributing to Public Safety
2023 Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview (July 2025)
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In this episode, Mike offers a Christmas message for all law enforcement officers. 
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