Tactical Decisions of Police Not to be Micromanaged by the Courts
Section 8 of the Charter protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. Among other things, for a search to be constitutionally reasonable, it must be conducted in a reasonable manner. See R. v. Collins , 1987 CanLII 84 (SCC), at para. 23. Point-in-time analysis Police decisions about the manner in which a search will be carried out fall to be adjudged by what was or should reasonably have been known to them at the time the search was conducted , and not through the lens of how things turned out to be. Hindsight is not the measuring stick. R. v. Rutledge , 2017 ONCA 635, at para. 25. Police afforded some latitude in respect of tactical decisions regarding a warrant-supported entry Police are entitled to some latitude on how they decide to enter premises under a warrant. R. v. Rutledge , at para. 26. In R. v. Rutledge , police used tear gas during the execution of a warrant, a substantial departure from the common law knock-and-announce rule, and did not d...