Toronto grocer David Chen looks at security footage of his store on May 26, 2009. Mr. Chen was charged with kidnapping for allegedly detaining a shoplifter he caught pilfering merchandise.Charla Jones/The Globe and Mail
As the federal government drafts legislation to allow more citizen's arrests, legal experts are warning that any new law must empower citizens while making sure not to encourage outright vigilantism.
"There can be a risk in giving too much power to arrest anyone without appropriately training them as to when that is or isn't something that should be done," said Graeme Norton, director of the public-safety program of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Changes to the Criminal Code that were promised last fall by Prime Minister Stephen Harper after Toronto shopkeeper David Chen was acquitted of assaulting and forcibly detaining a shoplifter are expected to be tabled soon after the House of Commons resumes sitting in February.
Mr. Chen earned national sympathy when he was charged with assault and forcible confinement after physically detaining repeat shoplifter Anthony Bennett, who had stolen $72 worth of plants from his store just hours earlier.
Existing law holds that a suspect can be caught while actually committing a crime, but not after the fact.
Mr. Harper met with Mr. Chen late week and Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, has confirmed that legislation will be introduced in the near future.
Alan Young, a law professor at York University who is an expert in civil liberties, said he expects the legislation will allow Canadians to arrest people they suspect of having committed past offences based on reasonable and probable grounds. Such an amendment would have permitted Mr. Chen to detain Mr. Bennett.
"I think we need to have sufficient empowerment of private citizens and their agents" including private security outfits, Prof. Young said.
On the other hand, he said, "there will be some people who might see a change in the law as a green light to be more aggressive in terms of private policing, and that would be a bad development as it would spawn the worst-case scenario of people making vindictive arrests of their unruly neighbours."
New Democrat MP Olivia Chow, who drafted her own bill to make citizen's arrests easier in the wake of the Chen case, says she supports moves to allow shopkeepers to better protect their stores. And Joe Volpe, a Toronto Liberal MP, has introduced a separate private member's bill calling for looser restrictions on those who detain suspected criminals.
The government has not said how it plans to address the issue. "So it's difficult to comment on whether it will make it less likely that Mr. Chen's situation would arise" again, Mr. Norton said.
"We certainly can imagine ways in which new legislation that broadens the powers of citizen's arrest could impact on civil liberties," he said, "and we will be watching the government's action closely over the next few weeks."