Canadian police refuse provincial order to make random stops amid COVID-19 surge

OTTAWA - Police in cities across Ontario, Canada's most populous province, refused to make random stops greenlighted by the provincial government seeking to impose a stay-at-home order amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Toronto, the country's largest city, Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor and at least 19 other municipal police forces said they would not conduct random vehicle or individual stops though they had been given the power to do so. "The Toronto Police Service will continue to engage, educate and enforce, but we will not be doing random stops of people or cars," the force said on Twitter. Mayor John Tory supported the move.