EDITORIAL: Other police should follow RCMP taser policy

KUDOS TO THE CHRONICLE HERALD - YOU NAILED IT!!

... "words like "threat" and "reasonable" can be understood in very different ways by officers in the field ... critics’ fears are legitimate ... unless other police forces across the country move to adapt similar policy measures, the basic problem of inappropriate Taserings – and, at times, subsequent deaths – will continue to exist ... We don’t want a situation where police readiness to Taser a subject depends on which force is packing the weapon, not on what that individual is doing."

See also "What's wrong with this picture? And who's keeping track?"

February 16, 2009
Chronicle Herald

THE MOUNTIES have finally admitted what has been obvious to almost everyone else for years: Tasering a person increases the risk that they may die.

The surprising climbdown from the RCMP’s prior insistence that Tasers were appropriate for police use in a wide variety of situations came in testimony by new RCMP Commissioner William Elliot to the Commons committee on public safety in Ottawa last week.

Though the sea change in thinking has been too long in coming, Mr. Elliot’s admission – and the news that RCMP policies and training procedures were changed last June to prohibit Tasers from being used on "resistant" or "non-cooperative" individuals – are to be welcomed.

Under the new rules, Tasers can be fired only if an officer or members of the public are threatened and no "reasonable" alternative exists. Tougher reporting requirements have been introduced for officers after using a Taser to raise accountability. Police carrying Tasers must now undergo annual retraining, instead of every two years under the old policy.

Though critics have generally praised the changes, some claim there’s still too much ambiguity in the wording of the new policy. For example, they say words like "threat" and "reasonable" can be understood in very different ways by officers in the field.

Despite a recommendation from the Commons committee, the RCMP also did not ban multiple uses of the Taser on a single subject, though the new policy warns of the "hazards" of multiple firings on the health of the individual being hit.

Given the many examples of inappropriate use of Tasers by police across Canada in recent years, critics’ fears are legitimate. To that end, public scrutiny of Taser use by the RCMP and other police forces should stay at a heightened level until people are satisfied incidents like what happened to Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who was repeatedly Tasered by four Mounties at the Vancouver airport in 2007, and who later died, are unlikely to happen again.

In other words, the changes on paper are great, but Canadians will want to see the new tactics reflected in actual police practice. Reviewing RCMP Taser use statistics in a year’s time will be revealing.

The RCMP’s new stance on Tasers is good news, but unless other police forces across the country move to adapt similar policy measures, the basic problem of inappropriate Taserings – and, at times, subsequent deaths – will continue to exist.

The country’s national police force has formally stated that Tasering people, especially when they’re in an "acutely agitated state," increases risk of death. The responsible reaction by all provincial and municipal police forces in Canada should be to immediately, and strongly, consider the Mounties’ conclusions and, at the same time, recognize the urgent need to change their own policies on use of the controversial stun gun.

We don’t want a situation where police readiness to Taser a subject depends on which force is packing the weapon, not on what that individual is doing.