Please see the event being organized for the second year in Montreal with families of people killed by police.
Organized by the Justice for Victims of Police Killings Coalition comprised of the family, friends and allies of Anas Bennis, Claudio Castagnetta, Ben Matson, Quilem Registre, Gladys Tolley & Fredy Villaneuva.
Justice Pour les Victimes de Bavures Policières /// Justice for the Victims of Police Killings
September 28, 2011
CJAD FM, Montreal
The family of a Montreal man who died four days after being repeatedly tasered by a police officer is expressing satisfaction that a police ethics committee has cast blame on the officer for his actions.
Thirty eight year old Quilem Registre died in hospital in October 2007, several days after receiving six discharges from a Taser gun fired by a Montreal police officer who had pulled him over for running a stop sign. The officer had deemed Registre very agitated and aggressive.
Now, a police disciplinary committee has reportedly produced an official blame against the office for excessive use of a Taser.
Quilem Registre's sister, Francine, while expressing satisfaction with the ruling, says she'll wait to see what punishment, if any, the officer gets. But Registre expresses doubt that the officer would learn anything from a simple suspension, and hopes to see him fired.
Google auto-translation
This article has been translated from French to English, with a little help from me. French version follows at the end.
September 28, 2011
Caroline Touzin, La Presse
The Police Ethics Committee reprimand a Montreal police officer for using a stun gun six times in less than a minute against Quilem Register, who died in hospital four days later.
In a decision that has not yet been made public, but La Presse has obtained, the Committee concludes that the officer Yannick Bordeleau has "abused his authority, using a greater force than necessary to accomplish what he was permitted to do."
His colleague Steve Thibert is also blamed for "not having respected the rule of law by not intervening in the abuse of the DAI (stun gun) by the agent Bordeleau."
October 14, 2007, in the Saint-Michel, the two officers wanted to challenge Mr. Registre because he failed to make a stop at the wheel of his car. The 38-year-old driver refused to stop and collided with three parked cars on 23rd Avenue before stopping.
Police then noticed that the driver, still in his car, was intoxicated and agitated. The agent Thibert shouted "Taser! Taser!" to his colleague, who was holding the man, his hand resting on his chest, while the latter gave him a kick.
According to the two officers, Mr. Registre had symptoms of a person suffering from "excited delirium". The officer Bordeleau said that the suggestion of his colleague to use the stun gun was "ideal circumstances", it said in the 27-page decision of the tribunal.
The agent Bordeleau gave a first discharge. "Would not it have been more appropriate for police to get Mr. Registre out of his car and control him immediately? asks the decision's author, Richard W. Iuticone.
Although this control was necessary, the Committee gives the benefit of the doubt to officer Bordeleau as to his decision to deploy the DAI (stun gun) once on Mr Registre. "
The five other discharges were "exaggerated", the Committee concludes, however. From the first shock, Mr. Registre fell to the ground, face down, hands under him. The police did not move. But they knew that the muscle contraction caused by the discharge lasts five seconds. "So, enough time for them, being a few feet from Mr. Registre, to fall on him, grab his arms and handcuff him," says the Committee.
"Officer Bordeleau approached Mr. Registre only after the fifth discharge, simply, during the second, third and fourth shock shouting at Mr. Registre to show him his hands," says the Committee.
The tribunal noted the testimony of a use of force expert from the National Police Academy, Bruno Poulin, who said a person with "excited delirium" cannot understand the orders of a police officer. The Committee was also "troubled" by the slow reaction of Officer Thibert, who approached Mr. Registre "only during the second shock" and did not physically neutralize him until after the fourth discharge.
At the time of his arrest, Registre was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. He was taken to hospital. He lost consciousness in the ambulance. His condition rapidly deteriorated to the point where he had to be operated on four times. He died Oct. 18.
At the conclusion of an investigation in August 2008, coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier concluded that stun gun discharges were not sufficient to cause the death of Mr. Registre, but that they were "possibly involved." He received a total of six discharges for a total of 300 000 volts in less than a minute. He had liver, colon and small bowel necrosis.
Last year, the Registre family filed a $500,000 civil suit against the City of Montreal and the two officers involved. The case is still before the courts.
Le Comité de déontologie policière blâme un policier de Montréal pour avoir utilisé un pistolet électrique six fois en moins d'une minute contre Quilem Registre, mort à l'hôpital quatre jours plus tard.
**********French Version*************
Dans une décision qui n'a pas encore été rendue publique, mais que La Presse a obtenue, le Comité conclut que l'agent Yannick Bordeleau a «abusé de son autorité, en utilisant une force plus grande que celle nécessaire pour accomplir ce qui lui était permis de faire».
Son collègue Steve Thibert est aussi blâmé pour ne pas «avoir respecté l'autorité de la loi en n'intervenant pas lors de l'utilisation abusive du DAI (pistolet électrique) par l'agent Bordeleau».
Le 14 octobre 2007, dans le quartier Saint-Michel, les deux agents ont voulu interpeller M. Registre parce qu'il avait omis de faire un arrêt obligatoire au volant de sa voiture. Le conducteur de 38 ans a refusé de s'arrêter et a heurté trois voitures garées sur la 23e Avenue avant de stopper sa course.
Les policiers ont alors remarqué que le conducteur, toujours dans sa voiture, était intoxiqué et agité. L'agent Thibert a crié «Taser! Taser!» à son collègue, qui retenait l'homme, la main appuyée sur sa poitrine, pendant que ce dernier lui donnait des coups de pied.
Selon les deux agents, M. Registre avait les symptômes d'une personne atteinte de «delirium agité». L'agent Bordeleau a estimé que la suggestion de son collègue de se servir du pistolet électrique était «idéale dans les circonstances», peut-on lire dans la décision de 27 pages du tribunal administratif.
L'agent Bordeleau a donné une première décharge. «N'aurait-il pas été plus convenable pour les policiers de sortir M. Registre de sa voiture et de le contrôler immédiatement? se demande l'auteur de la décision, Me Richard W. Iuticone. Bien que ce moyen de contrôle s'imposait, le Comité donne le bénéfice du doute à l'agent Bordeleau quant à la décision qu'il a prise de déployer le DAI (pistolet électrique) une première fois sur M. Registre.»
Les cinq autres décharges étaient «exagérées», conclut toutefois le Comité. Dès la première décharge, M. Registre est tombé au sol, à plat ventre, les mains sous lui. Les policiers n'ont pas bougé. Or, ils savaient que la contraction musculaire provoquée par la décharge dure cinq secondes. «Donc, assez de temps pour eux, étant à quelques pieds de M. Registre, pour se jeter sur lui, lui saisir les bras et lui passer les menottes», conclut le Comité.
«L'agent Bordeleau s'est approché de M. Registre seulement après la cinquième décharge, se contentant, pendant les deuxième, troisième et quatrième décharges, de crier à M. Registre de lui montrer ses mains», relève le Comité.
Le tribunal souligne à grands traits le témoignage d'un expert en utilisation de la force de l'École nationale de police, Bruno Poulin, selon qui une personne en «delirium agité» ne peut pas comprendre les ordres d'un policier.
Le Comité se dit aussi «troublé» par la lenteur de réaction de l'agent Thibert, qui s'est approché de Registre «seulement pendant la deuxième décharge» et ne l'a neutralisé physiquement qu'après la quatrième décharge.
Au moment de son arrestation, Registre était sous l'influence de l'alcool et de la cocaïne. Comme c'est l'usage, il a été transporté à l'hôpital. Il a perdu connaissance dans l'ambulance. Son état s'est rapidement détérioré, au point où il a dû être opéré quatre fois. Il est mort le 18 octobre.
Au terme de son enquête, en août 2008, la coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier avait conclu que les décharges de pistolet électrique n'étaient pas suffisantes pour causer la mort de M. Registre, mais qu'elles y avaient «possiblement contribué». Il a reçu en tout six décharges pour un total de 300 000 volts en moins d'une minute. Il avait le foie, le côlon et l'intestin grêle nécrosés.
L'an dernier, la succession de Registre a intenté une poursuite civile contre la Ville de Montréal et les deux policiers en cause. Elle réclame 500 000 $. La cause est toujours devant les tribunaux.
The families of the victims of police killings and their allies are organizing two events in Montreal:
COMMEMORATIVE MARCH
SATURDAY, October 23, 12:30pm
Gathering at the corner of Guy & de Maisonneuve
(métro Guy-Concordia, Guy exit)
Montreal
VIGIL
FRIDAY, October 22, 4-6pm
In front the Police Brotherhood, 480 Gilford
(métro Laurier, St-Joseph exit)
Montreal
We remember: Anas Bennis, Claudio Castagnetta, Ben Matson, Quilem Registre, Gladys Tolley, Fredy Villanueva and all the other victims of police killings.
JOIN US on the North American Day to Stop Police Brutality & Repression to show your support and solidarity with all victims of police killings. Together with the families and supporters of police victims, we demand dignity, justice and truth.
Family friendly - Welcome to all!
INFO: 514-848-7583 – 22oct-mtl@gmail.com -- www.22octobre.net
----------
The families of people killed by the police, their friends and their allies are organizing a commemorative vigil and march to remember victims. These families, who face an uphill battle in uncovering the truth and obtaining justice for their loved ones, need our support.
Friday, October 22: There will be a family-led vigil in front of the Police Brotherhood (480 Gilford St., Laurier metro, St-Joseph exit) between 4 and 6 p.m. We will end the vigil by lighting candles in memory of the victims of police killings.
Saturday, October 23: There will be a family-led, family-friendly march against the systemic impunity in the face of police killings and police violence. The march will begin at 12:30 p.m. on the corner of Guy St. and de Maisonneuve. We strongly encourage as many supporters as possible to come out on the streets and show our support for the families. There is power in numbers!
What we are seeking is DIGNITY, JUSTICE and TRUTH.
The main purpose of the march is to:
- REMEMBER the victims who lost their lives to police violence and abuse and;
- SUPPORT their families in any way we can
We support the list of demands of the Bennis, Castagnetta, Matson, Registre, Tolley and Villanueva families. Their demands include:
- END police brutality
- END police impunity
- END racial, social and political profiling
- ACCESS all information in a prompt manner
- LAY criminal charges in police killings
- HOLD public independent inquiries in police killings
- APPLY the recommendations of the coroner
- STOP the use of tasers
This initiative came out of the Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity in January of 2010, during which the families expressed their desire to come together to remember their loved ones and strengthen their respective struggles for dignity, justice and the truth. The symbolic date of October 22 was subsequently chosen for a family-friendly march to commemorate the victims of police killings to coincide with the National Day of Protest in the United States organized by the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation, which has been mobilizing every year since 1996.
We ask for your group’s endorsement. To get involved contact us at (514) 848-7583 or at 22oct-mtl@gmail.com. You can pick up flyers and posters for the event at QPIRG Concordia (1500 de Maisonneuve St. W 2nd floor).
Family friendly - Welcome to all!
INFO: 514-848-7583 – 22oct-mtl@gmail.com -- www.22octobre.net
facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146318535409280
facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156866504341679
June 11, 2010
JAMES MENNIE, The Montreal Gazette
Montreal police should continue to use Tasers but only when they're the sole alternative to a firearm, Montreal Island's public security committee will recommend next week.
But that recommendation is not the unanimous finding of the nine-member committee, The Gazette has learned. A minority report will recommend that Taser use by Montreal's police force be subject to a moratorium until more is known about just how dangerous the device can be.
During a series of public hearings this year, Montreal police representatives described the Taser -a stun gun that can deliver a 50,000-volt charge -as "an intermediate weapon" that would be used as an alternative to a firearm.
But the police representatives also noted that the device could be used to bring incidents involving heavily disturbed individuals to a quick conclusion -even when police use of a firearm is not necessarily the only alternative.
The committee's recommendation, which is scheduled to be tabled next week during a meeting of Montreal's agglomeration council, will seek to have the protocols for Taser use by police mirror those already in place for firearms -that the officer's life, or the lives of bystanders, be at risk.
The protocol would also allow a Taser to be used if the life of the suspect is at risk -police intervening in a suicide attempt, for example.
The recommendation also calls for a Taser, once drawn, to be used only once on a suspect, and for the public security committee to be notified of any technological or training changes that might affect the Montreal police department's use of the device.
The report will also recommend that rather than using a Taser on mentally disturbed suspects, police call in support from someone trained to deal with individuals who have psychiatric problems.
Taser use by police has been under scrutiny in Montreal since the 2007 death of Quilem Registre, 38, four days after being tasered six times by police after he was stopped for a traffic violation. Coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier concluded that while cocaine and alcohol in Registre's system might have contributed it to his death, it was "difficult to believe (the taserings) played no role."
The hearings heard that about 100 Montreal police officers are trained to use the 17 Tasers in the department. Montreal police discharged Tasers during 11 incidents in 2009, and they drew them from their holsters without using them another seven times.
Police statistics show Tasers were fired 11 times and drawn as a threat three more times in 2008; fired 23 times and used as a threat 10 times in 2007; fired 17 times and used as a threat 11 times in 2006.
During the three years after their introduction in 2001, Montreal police pulled out the stun gun 14 times.
May 12, 2010
By Dan Delmar, The Suburban
A number of community groups and concerned citizens are showing their displeasure with the taser gun as a part of the Montreal police arsenal.
Hearings were recently held at city hall, in front of the public safety commission, and several Montrealers made their case for an outright ban, including members of the Black Coalition of Quebec (BCQ) and city councillor Marvin Rotrand.
“There have been many cases where there has been a lack of responsibility,” on the part of officers who have been given the taser, said Dan Philip of the BCQ. Something is wrong when “a young man received 300,000 volts of electricity, six times.”
Philip pointed to the case of Quilem Registre, 38, who died on Oct. 18, 2007 — four days after being repeatedly stunned by a Montreal police officer in St. Michel. In her report, coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier noted the officers who made the arrest were poorly trained and broke the department’s rules on Taser use.
“It was a criminal act,” Philip told the public safety commission. “It is the responsibility of the city to protect human life. We have to really look at what is the right of the person and what is justice in our society. Why is it necessary to use tasers?”
Since the Registre death, Montreal police and RCMP officers who are armed with the taser have had to participate in more extensive training.
There are only 17 tasers in use by Montreal police; they were used a total of 11 times in 2009.
“We have to teach them that the taser gun is not a harmless weapon,” Rudel-Tessier wrote in her report. “The controversy that follows its use around the world certainly proves this. It can lead to serious injuries.”
The weapon’s manufacturer, Taser International, has continued to maintain that the stun gun has not directly led to the death of a suspect. 25 Canadians have died after being shot with a taser gun; over 300 in the United States.
“We don’t have any proof that the taser was responsible directly for the death of a person,” said Marc Parent, an assistant director with the Montreal police department, echoing the claims of Taser International. “We still believe it can help us intervene without injuries.”
During the hearing, councillors peppered citizens with questions. Councillor Réal Ménard wondered if the 17 tasers were removed from the arsenal, and what weapon would replace them. Hampstead mayor William Steinberg pressed Patrick Bolland to come up with statistics to prove the tasers were harmful, while ignoring the lack of information available to the city to support its use — apart from data provided by Taser International.
“Everyone thinks that the taser is inoffensive, but from what I see, it kills,” said Bolland, who is part of the Coalition pour le Retrait du Taser.
“The police forces of San Francisco, of Washington D.C., of Detroit and Boston have decided not the use tasers. Why can Montreal not be one of those cities?”
On the role the weapon played in the Registre death, Rudel-Tessier stopped short of saying the taser was the cause, but did say doctors who treated him wondered if the weapon was part of a “bad cocktail,” including drug and alcohol use, which led to his death.
“According to the doctors, if it is impossible to affirm that the electrical discharges were solely responsible for Registre’s condition, it is just as difficult to determine that it played no role in his death.”
Montreal’s public safety commission is expected to produce a report outlining its recommendations in June.
April 28, 2010
JAN RAVENSBERGEN, Montreal Gazette
So many issues dog the use of Tasers that "the burden of proof should be put on police" to demonstrate that their stun guns need to be retained for Montreal Island's law-enforcement arsenal, city councillor Marvin Rotrand said yesterday.
Rotrand argued that local police should be ordered to follow in the footsteps of authorities in several major U.S. cities who have banned outright any use of stun guns by their officers.
Boston, Detroit, Washington and San Francisco are among major U.S. cities to have either dropped Tasers as a law-enforcement tool or refused to adopt them when proposed,
Rotrand told the island-wide public security committee.
He and others spoke at a hearing to examine Taser use as part of a coalition - which includes Ligue des droits et libertés - favouring a permanent ban on police taserings.
"The tide is starting to turn," with the stun gun also banned by many European forces, added Patrick Bolland, a member of the coalition.
Montreal police assistant director Marc Parent, the first to appear at the hearings, took the opposite tack.
He offered a defence of Tasers as a necessary police tool. They are needed in some instances as "an intermediate weapon" before officers pull out firearms, he said.
In other cases, they are the best option to bring incidents involving heavily disturbed individuals to a quick conclusion - even when police use of a firearm is not necessarily the sole alternative, Parent told Hampstead Mayor William Steinberg, a committee member.
There are 17 Tasers - all the M-26 model from Taser International - in Montreal police hands, Parent said, with about 100 officers trained in their use.
Montreal police discharged Tasers during a total of 11 incidents in 2009, Parent said, and also pulled them out without using them another seven times.
Police statistics show they were fired 11 times and used as a threat a further three times in 2008; fired 23 times and used as a threat 10 times in 2007; and fired 17 times and used as a threat 11 times in 2006.
During the three years following their introduction in 2001, Montreal police statistics show officers pulled out the stun gun a total of 14 times.
The Taser uses two barbed darts to deliver a jolt of up to 50,000 volts, intended to incapacitate the recipient. Its use jumped to 21 incidents in 2004 and dipped to 17 in 2005. Figures covering the initial five years of deployment don't differentiate between actual discharge and use of a Taser as a threat.
"If a new medicine caused as many deaths as Tasers, it would have been withdrawn very quickly," said Gaetan Laurendeau, another coalition member.
A November 2008 report by Amnesty International concluded that 334 deaths in the United States and 25 deaths in Canada have followed police use of a Taser.
Among the fatalities was Montrealer Quilem Registre. He died in hospital, age 38, four days after he received six Taser hits from local police in October 2007.
"The Taser leaves no biomedical marker that can be identified as mortal," coalition member Bolland said.
While cocaine and alcohol in Registre's system might have contributed, a report by coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier concluded it was "difficult to believe (the taserings) played no role in his death."
"We are still waiting for justice," Augustin François Registre, 71, the dead man's father, said in a brief interview after a Black Coalition of Quebec presentation endorsing a full Montreal law-enforcement ban of the weapon.
April 28, 2010
JAN RAVENSBERGEN, THE MONTREAL GAZETTE
Police across Montreal Island should follow the footsteps of authorities in several major American cities who have banned outright the use of stun guns by their police officers, the island-wide public security committee was told this afternoon by city councillor Marvin Rotrand.
Rotrand, speaking on behalf of a coalition favouring a ban that includes the Ligue des Droits et Libertés, was among the first to appear at committee hearings examining Taser-gun use in local law enforcement.
The hearings, held at the request of Montreal city council, began just after 1 p.m. and ran until 4 p.m. They are scheduled to continue during an evening session at Montreal city hall, to begin at 7 p.m.
Boston, Detroit, Washington and San Francisco are among the U.S. cities that have either withdrawn stun guns as a law-enforcement tool or refused to adopt them when proposed, Rotrand said.
Assistant Director Marc Parent of Montreal police opened the hearings with a defence of Tasers as a police tool, saying they are needed in some instances as a last resort – “an intermediate weapon” – before officers pull out firearms. In other instances, they are used to bring an incident to a conclusion quickly, he added, without police use of a firearm as the sole remaining alternative.
There are 17 Tasers in the arsenal of the Montreal police force, he said, with about 100 officers trained in their use. Montreal police discharged an M-26 stun gun from Taser International against suspects in a total of 11 incidents during 2009, Parent said. The stun guns were pulled out and their use threatened – although they were not discharged – a further seven times last year, he added.
Police statistics show they were used 11 times and threatened a further three times in 2008; used 23 times and threatened 10 times in 2007; and used 17 times and threatened 11 times in 2006.
Police statistics from their 2001 introduction show that in their first three years of availability, Montreal officers pulled out a stun gun a total of 14 times. Those figures also don't differentiate between actual discharge or use as a threat.
Use of Tasers jumped to 21 in 2004 and dipped to 17 in 2005, again without a differentiation provided. Montreal police handle about 1.2 million 911 calls every year, a figure that has remained stable since 2001.
“If a new medicine caused as many deaths as Tasers, it would have been withdrawn very quickly,” Gaetan Laurendeau, another coalition member, told the committee from a public microphone.
A November 2008 report by Amnesty International concluded that 334 deaths in the United States and 25 deaths in Canada have followed police use of a Taser, said Patrick Bolland, another coalition member.
Among them was the death of Montrealer Quilem Registre, who died in hospital after he received six distinct Taser hits from local police in 2007.
"The Taser leaves no biomedical marker that can be identified as mortal," Bolland said.
A coroner's report, by Catherine Rudel-Tessier in October 2007, on Registre's death concluded that Taser use by officers could not be ruled out as a causal factor in his death.
April 28, 2010
CTV
Montreal's Public Safety Commission is holding two sessions Tuesday to hear from the citizens what they think about police and tasers.
The Commission was ordered last year to hold the hearings, and to look into the pros and cons of the supposedly non-lethal weapons, following a number of taser-related deaths across Canada.
In Montreal, 38-year-old Quillem Registrie died in October 2007 after he was tasered six times in less than 57 seconds.
Registre was intoxicated at the time, but the coroner's reported said the stun gun was partially responsible.
Snowdon councillor Marvin Rotrand has many questions about tasers, and whether the 16 tasers owned by Montreal police can actually be used safely.
"It's true the Montreal police don't have a lot of tasers, and because of concerns at city hall the use of tasers has been very constrained," said Rotrand.
"There have been questions raised about basically whether it leads to lazy policing."
The first round of hearings at Montreal city hall begins Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m., with a second session starting at 7 o'clock.
A dozen people have signed up to speak, but there is room for more people to offer their opinion.
Would-be speakers will have to sign up in order to be heard.
October 26, 2009
Brian Daly, ctvmontreal.ca
Quebec's system of cops investigating each other must be scrapped because officers usually can't be objective, critics said as a CTV investigation reveals that such probes rarely lead to criminal charges.
Under Quebec law, an outside police force is called in whenever officers are involved in shootings or other incidents that affect civilians. The ministerial policy has been in place since the 1990's.
But a prominent anti-racism group and a former head of the province's police ethics commission both say that data obtained by CTV News shows that the system doesn't work.
Through Access to Information, CTV obtained the results of six years of investigations -- 97 cases where civilians died in police shootings, chases and arrests that involved a confrontation.
Only once did the outside police force recommend criminal charges.
The sole case brought to trial resulted in an acquittal and a 60-day suspension for SQ officer Hugo Potvin, whose blocking maneuver with his cruiser led to the death of a young ATV driver northeast of Montreal in 2003.
But outside forces closed the book on 96 other cases, including some of the highest-profile police-related deaths in recent years. Here's a summary:
Quebec Police Confrontations:
Jan 2003 - May 2008
Shootings 46
Chases 39
Road Accidents 8
Arrests/Takedowns 4
Total 97
Criminal Charges 1
Paul Monty, who headed up Quebec's Police Ethics Commission from 1999 to 2005, said he was so troubled by CTV's findings that he had to speak out.
"I was shocked," he said in a recent interview from in Ste-Foy.
"We have one of the best, if not the best police officers in the world but . . . if the population will be shocked, the support can change and it can be the beginning of more difficult tasks for the police department."
Though he would not give specific examples, Monty said that some of the cases examined by CTV warranted criminal charges.
"I remember some cases that could be sent to the Crown -- it was negligence, criminal negligence of police officers."
Explosive cases
Many of the cases dismissed by police are explosive:
•The August, 2008 shooting death of 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva by Montreal police officer Jean-Loup Lapointe that triggered riots, a lawsuit and a coroner's inquest that got underway Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
•Quillem Registre, 38, who died during an October 2007 arrest after Montreal police tasered him six times in less than 60 seconds. Police say Registre was high and hysterical at the time. A coroner later said the stun gun might have contributed to his death.
•Mohamed Benis, 25, shot and killed by Montreal police in December 2005 as he happened across a drug operation in Cote-des-neiges. Police claim Benis tried to attack an officer with a knife but his family disputes the claim.
•And Michel Berniquez, who died after being subdued by six officers in Montreal North in 2003.
Outside police forces reached the same conclusion in all four deaths -- case closed, no charges.
Defends system
Quebec's Public Security department is in charge of the outside investigations, all of which are handled by the Surete du Quebec, Montreal police or investigators with the Quebec City police.
The department says the system works.
"The police forces that conduct these investigations possess the necessary expertise and experience to manage these cases," spokesman Martin Vaillancourt said in an emailed response.
Vaillancourt says there are multiple checks and balances on police conduct including:
•The Police Ethics Commission, which investigates citizen complaints against police and can suspend officers:
•The coroner, who can hold an inquest into police actions:
•The Public Security department, which can review operational and administrative practices:
•And the police forces, which are bound by internal discipline rules.
Call for change
Ontario is the only province where police forces are overseen by civilian agency - the Special Investigations Unit.
British Columbia is considering more civilian involvement in t he wake of the taser death of Robert Dziekanski, who died at Vancouver Airport in 2007 after he was hit with a stun gun during an altercation with four Mounties.
Civilian competence questioned
The Quebec ombudsman, Raymonde Saint-Germain, will soon table a report into Quebec's system of police investigating police.
She has previously said the system has problems, but a source in Quebec law enforcement questions the idea of bringing civilians into the process.
He says that complex investigative techniques such as ballistics, DNA and accident reconstruction are best left to the experts.
"This is not something where you could take a guy who's a security guard and put him in there," said the source.
"How do you keep (civilians) up to date?"
CRARR reacts
Fo Niemi of the human-rights group CRARR says it's ridiculous for police to circle their wagons amidst all of the criticism.
"Anybody can be trained, even if they're not a police officer," says Niemi.
"Even doctors can be very effective investigators, just like coroners don't have to be police officers to determine the cause of death in criminal circumstances.
Another solution?
Monty has another solution - he says the police ethics commission should be given expanded powers to investigate allegations of police wrongdoing. He says the civilian-led agency is familiar with the files and represents a lower-cost option than an all-new civilian agency.
The ethics commission can currently recommend disciplinary, but not criminal, sanctions against police officers.
Oversight of Quebec police will be under more scrutiny in a few weeks.
A coroner's inquest into the Villanueva's death is now underway at the Montreal courthouse. The Crown's decision not to press charges in the Villanueva case followed a Surete du Quebec report that the Montreal police officer was justifiably engaged in justifiable defence.
October 8, 2009
CBC News
The Parti Québécois is asking for an investigation into the alleged use of a stun gun by Quebec City police on a mentally challenged man living in a group home.
The incident happened Aug. 6 when police were called to a group home where a man with Down syndrome had reportedly become agitated and refused to cooperate with authorities.
The 43-year-old man, identified only as "Martin," received medical treatment and has no apparent lasting effects.
Questioned on the issue by the Opposition in the national assembly, the response from Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis was brusque.
Marc Goudreau, right, says he's concerned about the safety of his daughter, who lives in a group home and is also prone to aggressive episodes. (CBC) "There is a simple truth," he said. "When you don't obey police orders — you are opening yourself to a certain number of things."
Dupuis said Tasers are only used by police "in exceptional cases."
"The idea that when you don't obey police — you get electrocuted — is completely crazy," replied PQ house leader Stéphane Bédard.
The father of a 26-year-old woman who also lives in a group home expressed concern about the case during a news conference organized by the PQ.
"[My] daughter can, because of her syndromes ... have aggressive episodes," said Marc Goudreau.
"My question is — is she the next person who will be Tasered?"
"As parents, we put our children in the care of an institution — we want them to be taken care of," said Goudreau.
Moratorium sought
The Parti Québécois has called for a moratorium on the use of stun guns following a series of Taser-related cases in Quebec that have garnered media attention.
In September 2007, Italian immigrant Claudio Castagnetta died in the custody of Quebec City police after he was struck several times by a stun gun.
The coroner's office ruled Castagnetta's death was the result of self-inflicted wounds, and not the Taser. However, coroner Jean Brochu said authorities waited too long to administer appropriate medical care.
A 38-year-old Montreal man died after being stunned by police in October 2007. The coroner's report into the death of Quilem Registre was highly critical of how police used the Taser, and concluded it might have contributed to his death. Registre, who was described as being highly agitated on the night of his arrest, had cocaine and alcohol in his bloodstream.
In December 2007, Quebec put in place a series of strict rules for the use of Tasers by police, following the tabling of a report by a group of experts commissioned to study the question.
Police in the province are only allowed to use a stun gun when a suspect poses a serious risk to himself, a member of the public or a police officer.
If a suspect is severely agitated, police are expected to call for medical assistance before using any kind of physical force.
December 5, 2008
CBC News
Quebec has ordered the mandatory testing of all stun guns manufactured prior to 2005, following reports that some discharge more electric current than its maker Taser International has acknowledged.
Quebec justice minister Jacques Dupuis announced Friday the province was pulling older weapons off the streets to test them, after an investigation by CBC and Radio-Canada found some Taser weapons tested in a random sampling emitted more electric current than manufacturing standards.
The tests, conducted by the U.S.-based lab National Technical Systems, used 41 X26 model Tasers from seven police departments in that country. Each weapon was fired six times.
Of the 41 stun guns tested, 10 per cent, or four of the weapons, delivered higher electrical currents than the manufacturer says is possible, some as much as 50 per cent higher than what Taser International promised.
The malfunctioning stun guns were manufactured prior to 2005.
Quebec's tests will also include a random sample of more recent stun gun models, Dupuis said, adding that Tasers use is still limited in the province. There are only 167 Tasers in use among Quebec's police forces, compared to 2,839 for the RCMP across the country, he said.
The province will also look at whether police forces are correctly using the weapons, Premier Jean Charest said.
The move is encouraging but a moratorium on the weapons shouldn't be ruled out, said Marvin Rotrand, a Montreal city councillor. "The broader questions are still on the table about whether we should be using this instrument at all," said Rotrand.
The councillor has been lobbying for a ban on Tasers for years, especially following the 2007 death of a Montreal man who was shocked six times by police while being arrested. Quilem Régistre's autopsy revealed he received 50,000 volts in six hits.
More than 20 people have died in Canada after being stunned by a Taser.
September 4, 2008
The Globe and Mail
Tasers can kill. This hypothesis - at once radical and glaringly obvious - has been uttered by Quebec coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier, after examining a disturbing taser death in Montreal. It should be posted at every police station in Canada.
The gospel according to police forces across this country is that tasers do not kill. Twenty-two people in Canada have died after being tasered over the past five years, yet police insist an underlying cause - a drug overdose, say, or "excited delirium" - is virtually always to blame. People have always died sudden deaths in police custody, they say. It is nothing new.
Dr. Rudel-Tessier says otherwise. A 39-year-old man, Quilem Registre, was tasered six times in just 53 seconds by Montreal police. Each taser cycle lasted five seconds. Out of 53 seconds, he was tasered for 30. The tasering occurred on Oct. 14, 2007, which may explain why it has not become as notorious as it probably should have been. Oct. 14 was the day that Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski was fatally tasered. A bystander's video of that needless tasering went around the world, and led British Columbia to set up two separate inquiries.
Why was Mr. Registre tasered? He had been driving erratically, as if intoxicated (some cocaine and alcohol was found in his system). He acted aggressively. But the coroner said she could not determine why police felt the taser was the best option in the circumstances, and why they fired so many times. The two police officers involved spoke only through their written incidence reports. They did not speak directly to Dr. Rudel-Tessier. They did not answer her questions. Mr. Registre died four days after being tasered.
Here is what Dr. Rudel-Tessier said: "Even if the use of the taser by the police cannot be considered to be the medical cause of death, it is apparent that, considering he was in an agitated and intoxicated state, receiving several electrical discharges possibly contributed to his death."
And: "I think that until we have serious studies on intoxicated or sick persons that are conclusive, the taser should also be considered as a weapon that can lead to death."
The police might retort that she is not definitive. But she has it exactly right. There are limited data on the effects of taser use on people who are on drugs, mentally ill or hysterical. It is therefore difficult to point with any certainty directly to the taser. But the evidence in the growing number of fatalities linked to taser use points to fatal risks, either directly or as a link in a chain of events causing death. In the face of that plausible evidence, the onus is on police to limit their taser use to high-risk situations; that is, situations where the risk of bodily harm, whether to the police or anyone else, is commensurate with the possibly fatal risks of taser use.
On the assumption that tasers do not kill, the wildly growing use of the electric stun gun rests. Because they assume the weapon does not kill, police across Canada feel free to use it in situations in which there is no serious threat of bodily harm. The Montreal police had other options with Mr. Registre; the coroner suggested they could have called an ambulance and treated his case as a medical problem. There was no immediate, deadly threat.
The police assumption about taser safety is wrong. The working assumption should now be that tasers can kill.
September 3, 2008
By Dan Delmar, The Suburban
It began as an unremarkable Sunday evening for Haitian-Montrealer Quilem Registre. The troubled 38-year-old was living in a halfway house after being convicted on theft charges and was battling substance abuse problems. On Oct. 14, 2007, he borrowed his girlfriend’s car at around 5 p.m. and made his way to his parents’ house in east-end Montreal. He then drove his father and one of his four sisters to Mass. Four hours later, Registre would be pinned to the ground with 50,000 volts of electricity surging through his body. Four days later, Registre would take his last breath.
Registre was sober when he left his family at around 7 p.m. Two hours later, two Montreal police officers were on patrol along Jean-Rivard St. in St. Michel when they were passed by a car that failed to stop at the corner of 24th Ave.; Registre had relapsed and was driving erratically. The officers activated the cruiser’s emergency lights and both cars came to a stop a block away, on 23rd Ave.
The officer known only as “B.” left his vehicle and approached Registre, who, according to the police report, was “gripping onto the steering wheel with both hands and he was tense...he was so tense that he was lifting himself up from his seat.” He was screaming hysterically and B. couldn’t understand what he was saying, let alone what language he was saying it in. The officer tried to open the car door to get him out, but Registre turned the ignition on and took off. He sideswiped two parked cars before colliding with a third, which eventually brought him to a full stop.
“The man, still hysterical, was looking at me with wide eyes, as if he had seen something terrifying,” B. wrote in his report. “I spoke: “Calm down.” He didn’t listen to me and didn’t stop screaming.”
B. said Registre, still in the driver’s seat, was punching and kicking him. The officer managed to hold him down until his partner, “T.”, approached the car. “Taser!” T. yelled. “The X26 was holstered on my belt,” B. said. “I backed up at least one metre, taking out the weapon from its pouch, and pointed the laser on the chest of the man, who was now standing and resisting.”
Once the probes were stuck to the body of Registre, B. pulled the trigger, causing what’s known as “electro-muscular disruption” (EMD); the head-to-toe convulsions that result from electrocution. “The man fell onto his chest. I ordered him to “show your hands.”“ Registre continued to resist. He began to pick himself up and B. said it appeared he was about to lunge at the officer. That’s when B. pulled the trigger a second time.
T. then had Registre pinned to the ground. The two shocks failed to calm the man and he continued to struggle, hiding his hands under his chest to avoid being handcuffed. A third Taser jolt. “As soon as the (five-second) EMD effect had finished, the man once again started to resist arrest,” B. said. “I observed no sign of submission.” A fourth shock. And a fifth. B. approached Registre and tried to help T. restrain him, still with no luck. “His right hand was still underneath him, as if he was looking for something.” A sixth and final shock was sent before T. managed to handcuff Registre. The Taser was used on the man six times in only 53 seconds. Eight minutes after the final shock, the officers called for an ambulance.
Registre, in the end, was unarmed; a crack-pipe was found in the car. On his arrival at Sacré-Coeur hospital, doctors noted that his breathing was irregular, his body temperature and pulse were dropping drastically and it was confirmed that both crack-cocaine and alcohol were in his bloodstream. Into the early hours of Monday, Oct. 15, his health deteriorated. His small intestine and colon were failing and he suffered cardiac arrest the next day, requiring immediate CPR to keep him alive. By Wednesday, Oct. 17, Registre was in intensive care and in such a delicate state that he couldn’t even be moved to an operating room.
That night, doctors told the family that the situation was “catastrophic and irreversible.” As per their wishes, treatment continued into the early hours of Thursday, Oct. 18, but to no avail. At 3:35 a.m., Quilem Registre was no more.
August 29, 2008
Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL - Ask Marie-Jésula Registre whether she feels any anger over the fact a police taser that fires a 50,000-volt charge was used six times on her son Quilem and she replies softly, her eyes rimmed with tears. "I'm a Christian. I don't keep anger in my heart. But this has been devastating blow for myself and our family. He was our only son."
Maria-Jesula, her husband Augustin-François and their, daughters Francine and Chantal, met with reporters Friday after a Quebec coroner added more questions to those the Registre family have had since Quilem's death on Oct. 18, 2008, days after being tasered by Montreal police officers.
"The main question is: 'Why?'," said Evans Sanelus, Quilem's cousin, "No one deserved the fate (Quilem experienced), no matter what they've done in life. If a (police officer) is there to do their job, their first objective is to protect and to analyse a situation before intervening."
Quilem's father called for an independent, public inquiry into his son's death, an exercise he said would result in "justice" being done.
That call for a public inquiry, echoed by Dan Philip of the Black Coalition of Quebec, follows the publication of a coroner's report into Registre's death that concludes that while the cocaine and alcohol in Registre's system may have contributed to his demise, the fact police found it necessary to subdue him with six 50,000-volt electrical charges made it "difficult to believe (the taserings) played no role in his death."
Coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier was also critical of the lack of information personnel at Sacré Coeur Hospital received about Registre's condition once he was transported by Urgences Santé from the scene of his arrest on Rivard St. for running a stop sign. "Mr. Registre was first received at Sacré Coeur Hospital as a traffic accident victim who was intoxicated," she wrote. "The treating physicians deplored ... the fact they had been given so little details on the use of (a Taser) and Mr. Registre's condition beforehand."
Rudel-Tessier also noted she was unable to personally interview the two officers who arrested Registre, their version of events provided to her only in incident reports filed two days after his arrest on Oct. 16 and one day before his death.
"I therefore have no explanation why the use of other forms of force (rather than the Taser) were insufficient or inefficient," she wrote. "I had no access to the process of their decision making nor any details on their strategic thinking. We can ask if there was another way, other means of subduing Mr. Registre and calming him. Since he was visibly agitated, one would think back-up could have been called in, ambulance technicians in particular, since this was a medical emergency. Even if Mr. Registre did not pull a gun, was the fact he didn't respond to an order to raise his hands sufficient reason to immediate resort to (the Taser)?"
What the coroner did glean from the police reports was that only one of the two officers who arrested Registre - who they described as being "hysterical" after attempting to drive away from the traffic stop and slamming his car into another vehicle parked nearby - was trained to use a Taser.
Rudel-Tessier recommended that the Montreal police ensure all members of a team equipped with a Taser be trained to use it, and that training programs educate officers in how to restrain a suspect once they've been it with an electrical charge.
She also called on Quebec's Public Security Department to examine the possibility of ordering the province's police departments to equip their tasers with cameras to record the circumstances of their use.
A spokesperson for Claude Dauphin, chairperson of the city's executive committee and responsible for public security, said the police department has been asked to examine the coroner's findings and produce a report that would detail what changes, if necessary, would be made to existing procedures.
August 29, 2008
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL — The family of a Montreal man who died after police zapped him several times with a Taser says a coroner's report still leaves questions unanswered about his death.
Quilem Registre died last year, four days after Montreal police subdued him using a Taser. A Quebec coroner's report into his death suggests that had the officers been better trained they could have brought the agitated Registre under control without using a Taser.
Registre's family gathered at the offices of a local community organization Friday to demand an independent public inquiry.
"All we feel is that if we have our questions answered and we have the policemen's version, we will feel a little bit better," Registre's cousin Evans Sanelus said during a news conference at the Black Coalition of Quebec. It still won't bring Quilem back. But if we have justice, then maybe we will feel a little bit better."
The family said they want to hear from the police officers.
"If they would have taken the time to use better judgment, maybe the situation would have been different." Sanelus said. "We're asking for a public inquiry to re-evaluate the entire situation."
Registre, 38, was stopped by Montreal police in October 2007 for driving erratically.
Police have said he was intoxicated and aggressive and they used the stun gun - which emits a 50,000-volt electrical charge - to subdue him.
In her report, coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier said the Taser cannot be blamed for Registre's death. However, she said the fact he was struck six times may have been a contributing factor.
Rudel-Tessier said electronic stun guns can be effective policing tools and should be used instead of firearms whenever possible.
Registre's loved ones, meanwhile, do not want his death to be in vain. "Life goes on, he's dead but we're still alive," Sanelus said. "We have to ask for justice. That's the only thing we can do right now and that's what Quilem would have wanted."
March 6, 2008
Irwin Block, The Montreal Gazette
The father of Quilem Registre, who died after Montreal police use a Taser gun to subdue him, has filed an excessive-force complaint with the Police Ethics Commission. The complaint, sent Tuesday by Augustin Registre, also alleges that officers were negligent and abused their powers when they tasered Quilem Registre Oct. 14. It also alleges the use of the Taser by police who were trying to arrest him caused his death four days later.
Police have said Registre was suspected of drunk driving when he was stopped. He was pronounced dead four days later at Sacré Coeur Hospital after suffering multiple heart attacks. The Black Coalition of Quebec, which supported the complaint, is part of a group that is calling for a moratorium on Taser use until an independent study can look at the medical and psychological consequences of being hit by 50,000 volts of electricity.
March 4, 2008
Henry Aubin, Montreal Gazette
The videotape of RCMP officers' gratuitous and fatal use of a Taser against a man in Vancouver last fall prompted a nationwide eruption of public horror over police forces' use of this weapon. In the wake of that incident, many law-enforcement officials have voiced concern and reviewed their use. So, problem over, right? Wrong.
Don't let officialdom's regretful tone fool you. Now that the Vancouver affair has blown over, Tasers are creeping back in much of the country.
Let's start with Quebec.
Although the incidents drew little attention because they were not videotaped, two men died in Quebec last year in the days after police shot them with the electric-shock device.
Quebec City police tasered a 32-year-old translator, Claudio Castagnetta, after they stopped him for loitering and, according to witnesses, he resisted being placed in a patrol car by making his body rigid.
In Montreal, police tasered 38-year-old Quilem Registre after they stopped him for erratic driving and, they say, he became aggressive.
Quebec's public security ministry, which oversees police forces across the province, issued a report on Tasers in mid-December. The ministry immediately accepted all the report's recommendations for restricting the police's use of Tasers, but those restrictions are slight.
For example, the province's earlier rules, apparently ignored by the officers who zapped Castagnetta with impunity, barred tasering people who were only "passively resisting" arrest. The new rules say officers can use the Taser on people whose "resistance represents a significant risk to the safety of the officer or anyone else." Despite the change in wording, the versions differ little in their practical application.
Indeed, the new rules also say officers should assess a person's "potential for violence." The word "potential" is a loophole giving officers enormous discretionary power. Officers might claim after the fact that even mild-mannered individuals had given them reason to believe they would become aggressive.
The report also cavalierly dismissed France's practice of clipping a camera (made by the Taser's manufacturer) onto the weapon and recording all the action in video and audio. The report says current training "conditions police to place their hands (on the Taser) in a way that would obstruct the camera's view."
The panel that wrote the report had 26 members and associates, of whom 25 are from the world of law enforcement -- that is, from the police departments, the police academy or the ministry. (The exception is a doctor employed by the province.) So much for taking into account the broad public interest.
Incidentally, Montreal could set tougher rules for its own force. So far, however, the current administration has given no sign of concern.
Elsewhere in Canada, it's much the same lethargy.
After the Vancouver incident, the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP made recommendations for changes. The RCMP, however, rejected a key one: The elevation of Tasers from the category of "intermediate weapon," a relatively humdrum status that includes pepper spray, to the serious category of "impact weapon."
If Tasers were in the latter group, they could be used only against people who are "combative" or otherwise dangerous.
In New Brunswick, police chiefs ordered a review of Taser use, and have concluded no substantive changes are needed.
As for Toronto, its police chief is certainly demanding change -- but it's not in the direction that reformers would like. He wants to buy 500 additional Tasers.
The devices are supposed to be substitutes for firearms. Too often they are substitutes for talk.
In Montreal, a coalition of critics that includes two councillors from the city's ruling party -- Warren Allmand and Marvin Rotrand -- is asking to suspend the use of Tasers until impartial research is in on how these 50,000-volt guns affect people with various health problems or who are high on drugs.
Twenty people in Canada have died after being tasered, says Amnesty. If governments require the pharmaceutical industry to test its wares for health effects before selling them, why not ask the same of Taser International?
The company is poised to launch later this year a new model that will make the current one look like a peashooter. The current handgun-style model zaps people as far away as eight metres. The new model is a 12-gauge shotgun with a range of 30 metres.
Unless politicians suddenly wake up, we ain't seen nothing yet.
February 14, 2008
Irwin Block, Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL - Reports that Montreal police used Taser guns inappropriately in 11 of 53 incidents over two years add urgency to calls for a moratorium on their use, critics of the weapons say. Internal police studies obtained by Radio Canada found that officers did not follow operational instructions in one in five cases where the Taser was used in the past two years.
"These reports increase our concern about how this weapon is used," said Anne Sainte-Maire, spokeperson for Amnesty International's francophone branch. The group is part of a coalition, including the Ligue des droits et libertés and Montreal city councillors Warren Allmand and Marvin Rotrand, that has called for a Taser ban pending an independent study of its effects.
Montreal police can only use the Taser if the person to be apprehended represents a high risk of violence or there is a high risk he'll be injured or cause injury to police or bystanders. But police reports indicated the weapon was used in cases where a subject refused to obey instructions or offered passive resistance.
Police officials declined an interview request yesterday, but stood by a comment Inspector René Allard gave to Radio Canada where he said the department will not tolerate inappropriate Taser use. "There may have been cases where people did no use it (the Taser ) adequately. For us, this is not acceptable," Allard said. "Is there a need for training? Is it because the (Taser) user was surprised by the type of situation he faced and perhaps exercised a lack of judgment?" he asked.
The Quebec coroner's office is investigating the cause and circumstances of two deaths that followed police firing Tasers at them. Montreal police used a Taser to subdue 38-year-old Quilem Register on Oct. 18. He died four days later of multiple heart attacks. Claudio Castagnetta, 32, an Italian immigrant who was walking around Quebec City barefoot and refused to leave a shop, died in a police cell in September two days after police used a Taser three or four times to subdue him.
February 9, 2008
HENRY AUBIN, Montreal Gazette
The videotape of RCMP officers' gratuitous and fatal use of a Taser against a man in Vancouver last fall prompted a nationwide eruption of public horror over police forces' use of this weapon. In the wake of that incident, many law-enforcement officials have voiced concern and reviewed their use. So, problem over, right? Wrong.
Don't let officialdom's regretful tone fool you. Now that the Vancouver affair has blown over, Tasers are creeping back in much of the country.
Let's start with Quebec. Although the incidents drew little attention because they were not videotaped, two men died in Quebec last year in the days after police shot them with the electric-shock device. Quebec City police tasered a 32-year-old translator, Claudio Castagnetta, after they stopped him for loitering and, according to witnesses, he resisted being placed in a patrol car by making his body rigid. And in Montreal Police tasered 38-year-old Quilem Registre after they stopped him for erratic driving and, they say, he became aggressive.
Quebec's public security ministry, which oversees police forces across the province, issued a report on Tasers in mid-December. The ministry immediately accepted all the report's recommendations for restricting the police's use of Tasers, but those restrictions are slight.
For example, the province's earlier rules, apparently ignored by the officers who zapped Castagnetta with impunity, barred tasering people who were only "passively resisting" arrest. The new rules says officers can use the Taser on people whose "resistance represents a significant risk to the safety of the officer or anyone else." Despite the change in wording, the versions differ little in their practical application.
Indeed, the new rules also say officers should assess a person's "potential for violence." The word "potential" is a loophole giving officers' enormous discretionary power. Officers might claim after the fact that even mild-mannered individuals had given them reason to believe they would become aggressive.
The report also cavalierly dismissed France's practice of clipping a camera (made by the Taser's manufacturer) onto the weapon and recording all the action in video and audio. The report says current training "conditions police to place their hands (on the Taser) in a way that would obstruct the camera's view." Evidently, it would be too much to change the training.
The panel that wrote the report had 26 members and associates, of whom 25 are from the world of law enforcement - that is, from the the police departments, the police academy or the ministry. (The exception is a doctor employed by the province.) So much for taking into account the broad public interest.
Incidentally, Montreal could set tougher rules for its own force. So far, however, the Tremblay administration has given no sign of concern.
Elsewhere in Canada, it's much the same lethargy. After the Vancouver incident, the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP made recommendations for changes. The RCMP, however, rejected a key one: The elevation of Tasers from the category of "intermediate weapon," a relatively humdrum status that includes pepper spray, to the serious category of "impact weapon." If Tasers were in the latter group, they could be used only against people who are "combative" or otherwise dangerous.
In New Brunswick, police chiefs ordered a review of Taser use, and have concluded no substantive changes are needed.
As for Toronto, its police chief is certainly demanding change - but it's not in the direction that reformers would like. He wants to buy 500 additional Tasers.
The devices are supposed to be substitutes for firearms. Too often they are substitutes for talk.
In Montreal, a coalition of critics that includes two councillors from the city's ruling party - Warren Allmand and Marvin Rotrand - is asking to suspend the use of Tasers until impartial research is in on how these 50,000-volt guns affect people with various health problems or who are high on drugs. Twenty people in Canada have died after being tasered, says Amnesty. If governments require the pharmaceutical industry to test its wares for health effects before selling them, why not ask the same of Taser International? By the way, the company is poised to launch later this year a new model that will make the current one look like a peashooter. The current handgun-style model zaps people as far away as eight metres. The new model is a 12-gauge shotgun with a range of 30 metres.
Unless politicians suddenly wake up, we ain't seen nothing yet.
See the archived map for the period February 2009 to February 2010 here.
