Dictionary definition of “starlight tour”

starlight tour

n. the forcible transfer by police of a person to a remote area for release. Subjects: English, Canada, Police

Editorial Note: This practice is said to sometimes be accompanied by a beating.

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Citations: 2000 [Patricia Monture Angus] (Mar. 12) “Continuing Police Atrocities Against Canadian First Nations” @ Usenet: misc.activism.progressive (Mar. 21, 2000): In early February, a First Nation’s man Darrell Night reported that he had been taken outside the city and dropped off by Saskatoon police.…Around the same time that Mr. Night was dropped off, two frozen bodies of First Nations men…were found in fields near the “drop off” spot. There are three other deaths that are also suspicious and similar. This police practice has a nickname on the street, it is called a “starlight tour.” 2000 Don Kossick Briarpatch (Regina, Saskatchewan, Can.) (June 20) “Demanding a police inquiry” p. 32: It has in its numerous recommendations, the seeds for how to erase the cancerous attitudes that permit behaviours such as the “Starlight Tours” by the police. 2000 Don Kossick Canadian Dimension (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Can.) (July 1) “Death by Cold” vol. 34, no. 4, p. 19: A coldness that means possible death for anyone caught up in what some call the starlight tour where one is taken by the police from the streets of Saskatoon to the outskirts of the city and abandoned. 2004 Amy Carmichael @ Vancouver, B.C. Canadian Press (Jan. 21) “Vancouver police chief defends law that allows starlight tours”: In the case of the men beaten in Stanley Park, police believed they were dealing drugs but couldn’t prove it. Richardson said they took the men on a so-called starlight tour to teach them a lesson the courts wouldn’t. 2006 Liz Braun Edmonton Sun (Alberta, Can.) (Jan. 13) “Canuck gang film ‘terrifying’”: By the time a cop offers Stryker a “starlight tour”—the euphemism for a beating and a drive so far from town that you could freeze to death before you stumble back—the anxiety levels are overwhelming.

Posted 20 Jan 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend