top of page
common law police powers generated at the 
SUPREME COURT LEVEL
23974198275_4b97887f97_b.jpg

The Supreme Court of Canada has generated 13 new police powers since 1985.

In the past 35 years, the Supreme Court of Canada has generated several key police powers that have changed the criminal law landscape. Alongside warrantless roadside detentions (Dedman v The Queen), the Supreme Court has provided police with the ability to detain individuals during a police investigation and search incident to the investigatory detention for police safety (R v Mann). The Supreme Court has also provided police with the power to use sniffer-dogs without a warrant (R v Kang-BrownR v AM), and warrantless cell phone searches incident to arrest (R v Fearon). 

bottom of page