Watchdog questions RCMP’s Taser use

An article published in today's edition of The Chronicle Herald:

Caution urged when using stun guns on young people, mentally ill

By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The RCMP complaints commissioner says the Mounties should be more careful about using stun guns on young people and the mentally ill.

In a final report on RCMP Taser use last year, Paul Kennedy also says the force’s tracking and analysis of incidents still needs improvement.

The findings come 10 months after Kennedy, chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, called on the police force to rein in Taser use and better monitor how officers use the potent device.

In his report Monday, the RCMP watchdog said there has been commendable progress on his 22 recommendations to the force, "however, more needs to be done in order to alleviate many of the concerns repeatedly expressed by the commission."

To that end, the commission is working with the RCMP on member training, reporting and policy development "with the view to providing a more in-depth analysis of the RCMP’s progress on all of the recommendations."

Some of the commission’s figures, released in a preliminary report last week, show the Mounties were far less likely to fire their Tasers last year. Use dropped 30 per cent from a peak of 1,583 incidents in 2007.

The statistics suggest police officers were more cautious about firing the stun guns following a public furor.

A B.C. inquiry is probing the case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died in October 2007 after he was stunned five times with an RCMP Taser at the Vancouver airport.

The RCMP says it has limited Taser use to situations involving a threat to officer or public safety.

The new Mountie policy warns officers that Taser use carries a risk of death, particularly for agitated people.

But Kennedy says it’s too early to tell whether the changes will address the issues he’s outlined. "While the revised policy is a positive step forward, the commission remains concerned."

The report flags two specific groups — young people and the mentally ill.

"It is not that (Tasers) should never be used with these groups, but rather, that there should be a higher threshold for usage where these subjects are concerned. This higher threshold is not always observed."

It says the RCMP still appears to define "at-risk populations" as acutely agitated and delirious people and, before using the Taser, the force needs to consider those experiencing mental health crises or people who’ve taken large quantities of drugs or alcohol.

"This is problematic as there is a higher statistical likelihood that these persons will die in police custody and therefore any effort made to mitigate this outcome should be adopted by the RCMP."

The report also notes that while members reported that use of the Taser avoided the use of lethal force — that is, a conventional gun — in over half of the reports, "there is reason to be suspicious of this figure."

In many cases, the summaries of these Taser incidents "did not support the members’ statement" that lethal force would have been used if not for the Taser.

Finally, Kennedy said the RCMP has not fully addressed how it will tackle the issue of under-reporting by members who use stun guns — a problem identified in his previous report. And while the force has begun to share Taser usage reports with more people inside the force, it is not clear how the information is being incorporated into training.

The RCMP had no immediate comment on the report.

Hilary Homes, a human rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada, says there is a lack of clarity about RCMP policy on Taser use.

"Until there is clear policy, and a demonstration that that clear policy is followed, there simply won’t be the confidence that the police would like to see in their own work."

‘While the revised policy is a positive step forward, the commission remains concerned.’

Also see:

News Release – CPC Chair Releases In-Depth Analysis of 2008 Conducted Energy Weapon (Taser) use by the RCMP

RCMP Use of the Conducted Energy Weapon (CEW): January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008 (March 31, 2009)

RCMP shocked 16 people five times or more last year

Improve taser training for police, report says

From the September 12th edition of The Globe and Mail:

OTTAWA — National standards, more resources and better co-ordination are needed to ensure officers are properly trained to use taser stun guns, says a report commissioned by the RCMP.

The review also concludes the Mounties did not perform “due diligence” when they approved tasers for use earlier this decade, relying on incomplete and sometimes factually incorrect information.

In some cases, RCMP officers don't have access to tasers loaded with simulation cartridges, meaning members must resort to scenarios in which one yells “bang, bang” and another feigns being hit, the report says. “There is a need to ensure that all members have access to proper equipment and consistent training.”

The report was ordered by RCMP Commissioner William Elliott following last October's high-profile incident involving Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant who died after he was tasered by Mounties at Vancouver International Airport.

The report, released under the Access to Information Act, says the RCMP did not get enough input from medical and mental-health experts about the device's impact on people.

It says the Mounties relied too much on advice from the stun gun's Arizona-based manufacturer, and did not treat the taser as a “prohibited firearm” – its proper legal classification.

“Many of the resulting problems in the RCMP policy-development process might have been avoided” had the force sought out impartial researchers to conduct studies “that could detect and take into account potential police and manufacturer biases,” concludes the 129-page report.

To read the entire article, click here.

Also see:
DOCUMENT: The independent Taser review (PDF file)

Mounties agree to cut frequency of Taser use

From the June 19th edition of The Chronicle Herald:

By Sue Bailey and Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The RCMP say they will restrict Taser firings in the face of mounting public pressure on the national force to rein in what critics call "usage creep."

Officers will have clearer direction on how and when the powerful weapons should be wielded "as quickly as possible," the Mounties said Wednesday following renewed calls for action by the RCMP complaints commission.

Chairman Paul Kennedy released a final report echoing his interim call to limit Tasers to clashes where suspects are combative or risk serious harm to themselves, the police or the public.

The RCMP agreed that the force must "properly instruct" its members "and account for our use of the weapon."

"We have already implemented or begun implementation of much of what Mr. Kennedy has recommended."

To read the entire story, click here.

Paul Kennedy, the RCMP complaints commission chairman, refers to the two prongs on a Taser as he discusses his final report on the RCMP's use of the Conductive Energy Weapon, commonly referred to as a Taser, at a news conference in Ottawa Wednesday June 18, 2008.

Photograph by Tom Hanson of The Canadian Press.

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.

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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).

Keep Tasers holstered unless absolutely needed — watchdog

Mounties too often using device on people who pose little threat

An article published in the December 13th edition of the Halifax Chronicle Herald.

Below is a quote from the article:

B.C. Civil Liberties Association president Jason Gratl, who advocates a moratorium on Tasers, said the RCMP must craft a policy for at-risk groups who are more prone to be jolted by police before they continue using the devices.

"The mentally ill, drug addicts, people with significant health problems, are more likely to be Tasered. Those groups are at risk. And we don’t know enough about how the Taser works on those groups to design a policy that keeps them safe."

For the Executive Summary of the Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP's report, click here.

To access the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP's website, click here.