Members of the public who are attending Toronto police board meetings should no longer be subjected to a security search before entering police headquarters, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled, finding the current screening practice violates their Charter rights.

Calling the mandatory security screening at the entrance of Toronto police headquarters a “warrantless search,” Justice Jill Copeland concluded in a written decision released Monday that requiring such searches as a precondition of attending a public board meeting infringes on the Charter-protected right to freedom of expression.