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APPEN DIX I
R EA SONABLE BELIEF
Reasonable Grounds for Arrest Made Out
R v Debot, [1989] 2 SCR 1140: The police received confidential infor-
mation from an informant concerning a future drug deal. The informant
had previously provided useful information to the police (Cst. G) and
was considered by the police to be reliable. The informant provided
details said to have been received directly from one of the parties to the
drug transaction indicating the date, time, location, type of drug, and
names of the parties to the oence. The police established visual sur-
veillance of the anticipated site of the drug deal; a vehicle known to the
police was observed along with persons entering/exiting the premises;
and Cst. G, by radio to an o-site ocer (Sgt. B), confirmed that the
accused was the registered owner of the vehicle. Sgt. B then instructed
other ocers to intercept and search the vehicle. On these facts, Cst. B
had reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the accused had
drugs in his possession, despite reliance on hearsay from other ocers.
An ocer instructed to carry out a search by another ocer is entitled
to assume that the ocer ordering the search has reasonable grounds.
The tip provided by the informant was compelling and detailed: it
went beyond mere rumour; the informant was reliable and not paid or
facing charges; and the police surveillance corroborated the information
received.
R v Wong, [1990] 3 SCR 36 (obiter conclusion on reasonable grounds
for arrest for unlawful gaming): The police entered a recently vacated
