Criminal Code changes would allow fingerprinting before charges
TheStar.com - Canada
May 20, 2009
Terri Theodore
VANCOUVER-Police will be allowed to take fingerprints and mug shots of people they arrest even before charges are laid if proposed changes to Canada's Criminal Code are passed.
It's one of six amendments introduced in the House of Commons on Wednesday that police say would streamline the justice system and let officers can get on with crime fighting.
The latest proposed changes are part of the Conservative government's tough-on-crime push this year that has already targeted organized crime and gangs.
In Vancouver to announce the amendments, Trade Minister Stockwell Day said only those accused of serious, indictable offences would be fingerprinted and photographed before charges are laid.