CPC Chair Submits Final Conducted Energy Weapon Report to Public Safety Minister

From the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP:

June 12, 2008

NEWS RELEASE

Ottawa, June 18, 2008 - Paul E. Kennedy, Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC), today made public his Final Report concerning the RCMP's use of the Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW), commonly known as the Taser, following a request made by the Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day on November 20, 2007.

The Final Report includes 12 recommendations for immediate implementation. It follows an Interim Report that the Commission provided to Minister Day on December 11, 2007.

"Our recommendations are designed to hold the RCMP publicly accountable for its use of a weapon that has caused considerable apprehension among Canadians, and to control usage creep," said Mr. Kennedy. "The Commission is not calling for a moratorium."

The primary finding is that the quality of data in the RCMP national CEW database is so poor that RCMP policy shifts following the 2001 introduction of the weapon cannot be factually supported. Seemingly, these small policy changes have led to major operational consequences.

Due to the significant public policy debate occurring over CEW use by the police in Canada, the Report is premised on the notion that CEW use must be situated within the principle of proportionality: that the amount of force used should bear some reasonable relationship to the threat a police officer is facing and its impact upon public safety.

Key recommendations in the Final Report include:

• That the conducted energy weapon be classified as an "impact weapon" and its use be allowed only in situations where an individual is "combative" or posing a risk of "death or grievous bodily harm", including individuals appearing to be experiencing the condition(s) of excited delirium;

• That the RCMP immediately instruct its members who deploy a conducted energy weapon on a subject to seek immediate medical attention for the subject in all circumstances;

• That the RCMP immediately restrict the use of the conducted energy weapon to the following members: Rank of Corporal or above in urban (1) settings, and Constables with at least five (5) years of operational experience who are posted to detachments in rural (2) settings;

• That the RCMP publicly release the requested Quarterly and Annual Reports concerning the RCMP's use of the conducted energy weapon.

Mr. Kennedy's Final Report is complementary to his ongoing Chair-Initiated Complaint into RCMP actions surrounding the in-custody death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport on October 14, 2007.

The Report's executive summary and 12 recommendations are available on the CPC website at www.cpc-cpp.gc.ca. The full document is available upon request via email at org@cpc-cpp.gc.ca or by contacting the Commission representatives listed below. It will also be available in the near future on the CPC website.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact:

Nelson Kalil
Manager, Communications
613-952-2452
nelson.kalil@cpc-cpp.gc.ca

Melanie Rushworth
Manager, Outreach
613-952-3738
melanie.rushworth@cpc-cpp.gc.ca



(1) Urban setting is defined as a population of 5000 residents or more.

(2) Rural setting is defined as a population less than 5000 residents.

To download the entire report, please click here (PDF).