February 2010
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Staff Sergeant Darren Laur (see also Darren Laur)
Constable Brendon LeBlanc
Constable Trevor Stephen
Constable Peter Lane
Debra Taylor
October 15, 2010
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER - Federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers have agreed to new general guidelines on Taser use, but the broad recommendations come months after many provinces enacted similar rules on their own.
The new guidelines say "where possible" Taser use should be "avoided" on the pregnant, frail and elderly, as well as on children.
The guidelines add Tasers generally shouldn't be used on people who are already restrained, or who are driving a vehicle, bicycle or snowmobile.
Police officers are also urged to avoid zapping sensitive areas of the body such as the head, throat and genitals.
The guidelines echo those announced in Ontario this past March. Alberta, Nova Scotia and British Columbia clamped down on their Taser use policies last year.
"The development of these new national guidelines is another significant step in strengthening public confidence in police use of this important tool," federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said after a meeting of his provincial and territorial counterparts in Vancouver.
The new guidelines say police should avoid giving people successive jolts with a conducted energy weapon — the generic term — or zapping them for too long unless a single deployment fails to allow police to gain physical control of the person.
As well, police forces should establish a training policy and minimum training requirements for officers authorized to use a Taser, as well as for those who train others.
The latter point was underscored in an in-depth review of the Victoria Police Department's use of force policies that was also released Friday.
The report, by Vince Bevan, a retired Ottawa police chief, found that although the Victoria force was among the first in Canada to start using Tasers, its training in the use of the weapons had fallen drastically behind.
The report found that in 2005, all front-line Victoria police officers were trained and certified to use Tasers. But there has only been refresher training twice since then.
The Justice Institute of B.C. had included Taser training in their recruit program, but that was discontinued in 2006. As a result, no Victoria police officer hired since then has been certified to use the weapon.
"Because of the gaps in training, the effect of the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver Airport and the subsequent Braidwood inquiry, few of the qualified officers are carrying the Taser as part of their regular equipment," wrote Bevan.
Among his 80 recommendations, Bevan urged the Victoria force to overhaul its Taser training program.
Bevan's report also noted a lax structure of keeping track of the Tasers in Victoria. Bevan noted they could be signed out by officers to be carried on patrol, but there was no process to ensure they were later returned.
The justice ministers also agreed that better tracking of the devices was needed. The guidelines include a requirement that an accurate inventory of the weapons be maintained, including their location.
Officers should be required to check their conducted energy weapon before and after their shifts and they should be required to submit a report whenever they've discharged one.
Those reports should be available to the public.
David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said the national guidelines introduced Friday are hardly a breakthrough.
"It's frustrating for us because they're so far behind," Eby said in an interview. "Most of what we understand they're recommending has already been done."
Eby said the justice ministers would have been better served to look at policy changes around the introduction and testing of new weapons.
When Ontario brought in its guidelines, critics panned the changes as "grossly inadequate," saying they do little to address concerns raised amid incidents that have seen police use Tasers against youths or the mentally ill.
At least 20 people in Canada are known to have died after being struck with a Taser.
Taser International has long insisted the weapon cannot kill.
Despite the myriad of bad publicity surrounding police use of the Taser, the head of the B.C. inquiry into their use rejected calls for an outright ban on the weapons.
Police groups across the country argue conducted energy weapons are less lethal than guns and save lives as a result.
September 6, 2010
Katherine Leyton, Open File Community Powered News
Although there are no immediate plans for Toronto police to begin using body cameras, the force appears to be moving in that direction.
“You have to look ahead and look at trends,” says Mark Pugash, director of the Toronto Police Service public information unit. “Law enforcement in both North America and Europe is going in that direction so it would be a mistake to rule [the use of body cameras] out.”
It's a sensitive issue in the wake of Toronto's G20 summit, which sparked debate about police powers earlier this summer.
The technology — small digital video cameras that can be clipped to an officer’s uniform or ear — is already being used by some American and British police forces and has recently been tested by police in Victoria, B.C. Edmonton police are expected to conduct a year-long trial of body-mounted cameras in 2012.
Pugash cites accountability as well as public and officer safety as the main reasons behind the force’s interest in the technology.
“One of the things that research has shown is that with in-car cameras the majority of complaints that are made against police are found with the camera evidence to be unfounded," Pugash says. "And so one of the things the camera does is to protect officers against unreasonable allegations. If the police officer misbehaves, then the evidence is there and that officer is held accountable. It protects officers. It protects the public. It also provides the best possible evidence for court proceedings.”
Civil rights advocates are skeptical the technology would make officers more accountable.
“One concern is whether it’s an officer’s discretion to decide when those cameras are on and when they’re off,” says Cara Zwibel, director of the anti-discrimination program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “Imagine a number of situations where an officer may just record a reaction to something as opposed to what prompted that reaction.”
The cameras also raise concerns about privacy. “One of the things we don’t know is how long the police plan on keeping what’s recorded, what type of uses they might put their recordings to and whether those recordings will be disclosed to the individuals who get recorded, because presumably if you were charged with a criminal offence [the video] would be relevant evidence,” Zwibel says.
Cases such as the 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport, where RCMP tried to seize a citizen's video that showed the man being hit with five Taser blasts, provide a legitimate basis for concern over who would control such recordings.
Should they decide to adopt body cameras, Pugash says, the Toronto police would work closely with Ontario's information and privacy commissioner, as well as consult with the public, to address any issues of concern.
“What we’ve seen so far is that the public, pretty much throughout the city, would like security cameras faster than we’re able to put them in," he says. "We’ve seen excellent examples of where [these technologies] work but you have to have very strict rules and regulations about how you use them.”
Zwibel is not as confident about the effectiveness of cameras; she points out that although more than 70 closed-circuit television cameras were in operation in downtown Toronto during the G20, the police have appealed to the public to send them cellphone videos of any criminal activity they may have seen.
“I think there’s a point at which we have to question whether just because we can do something, we should,” she says. “Just because we have the technology to record, to have these closed-circuit television cameras downtown, to have body cameras and microphones, is that something we should do and does every interaction with the police need to be recorded with a video camera? Does this really do anything to help improve our public safety?
"I guess the question I’d want to pose to the police is whether they would have any problem with a member of the public whipping out their cellphone camera when they’re being questioned by the police and recording the interaction. My suspicion is that in many cases they would be quite concerned about that and they would say, ‘Turn your camera off.’ ”
March 10, 2010
The Canadian Press
VICTORIA, B.C. — The Victoria police department announced Wednesday that two of its officers face criminal assault charges, the same day an audit of the department recommended a review of use of force incidents.
The audit, released Wednesday and written by the provincial Police Services Division, found 13 officers out of about 260 were responsible for one-third of all the department's use-of-force reports.
"Overall, the use of force review reveals that the Victoria Police Department is a well-functioning department with appropriately trained and generally highly motivated individuals who take considerable pride in their job and the work they do for the community," said the review, requested by the solicitor general in January 2009.
It said there were no major areas of concern identified, but the authors did note "one key item of concern."
"It may be that these offices are conscientious about reporting any type of physical interaction or that these officers work in particularly challenging environments," said the audit, dated March 4.
"However, the audit team recommends that the department proactively identify the officers that generate a higher proportion of use of force reports and review these incidents to ensure that the high frequency of use of force is not highlighting any training or management issue that needs to be addressed."
Details of the assault charges against the two officers have not yet been released.
Despite the latest case of Victoria officers facing charges, the audit report, based on data from 2007 and 2008, said the department did not have a pattern of public complaints out of the ordinary compared to other B.C. police departments.
However, the report did find that Victoria police officers were more likely to use Tasers than pepper spray to subdue suspects - in 51 per cent of incidents involving intermediate weapons compared to 40 per cent for spray.
But it notes that things changed after Robert Dziekanski died in Vancouver's airport after he was shocked by an RCMP Taser. "It appears there was a strong effect in the aftermath of the death of Robert Dziekanski," noted the report. The use of force decreased 10 per cent after Dziekanski's October 2007 death, and the use of Tasers dropped 85 per cent.
The authors made dozens of recommendations, for both administration and the use of force, including that the department enact policies for ensuring all weapons are maintained in good working order, annual requalification for intermediate weapons such as Tasers, and that all use of force incidents be reviewed.
The report noted that the Victoria police department has hired a new chief of police, Jamie Graham, since the audit was ordered and the Police Services Division "observed improvement in various aspects of the department as a result."
Former solicitor general John van Dongen ordered the audit after the mayor of Esquimalt, which neighbours Victoria, raised concerns about the level of police service the community received after amalgamating with the Victoria department.
The Victoria department has faced several high-profile controversies in recent years, including a lawsuit by a 15-year-old girl who was left leashed to a cell door in the department's drunk tank for hours and charges against a veteran officer.
September 14, 2009
Metro News Vancouver
Vancouver police officers use stun guns less frequently than other large Canadian jurisdictions. A report to the police board Wednesday ranks Vancouver as eighth out of 12 jurisdictions in terms of Taser use.
In 2008, VPD used the Taser only 33 times, about once every 11 days. They also showed the weapon, but did not deploy it, another 67 times. By comparison, Toronto police used Tasers 367 times in 2008. Edmonton police used the stun guns 91 times, Calgary 73 times and Winnipeg 68 times.
At the bottom of the scale, Halifax police used Tasers only five times. Victoria police used theirs 20 times and Hamilton police 25 times.
The report also notes that five jurisdictions, including Montreal and Surrey RCMP, did not return the survey.
Uncomfortable 
UnpleasantWOW. This takes me back to the day the coroner's inquest into my brother's death was abruptly halted. We became aware of a letter written by then Victoria Chief of Police Paul Battershill to Dirk Ryeveld, the police complaint commissioner for British Columbia, that raised concerns about the use of tasers. (Chief Battershill was in charge of the Victoria Police Department, which had been tasked by the police complaint commissioner to investigate the Vancouver Police`s use of tasers on my brother.) When we requested that the letter, which arrived at the inquest in a binder brought by a witness police officer, be marked as an inquest Exhibit, the coroner left the room for several hours before returning to announce that the inquest was adjourned. He did so without the jury present and he then left the hearing before our lawyer Cameron Ward could file any argument or submission requesting the inquest continue. The Coroner also ordered a ban on the distribution of the letter, in which Chief Battershill raised concern about whether police, by themselves, should be in charge of deciding where tasers belonged on the use of force continuum or whether this required wider public discourse. See Taser Inquest Shut Down.
WHO WILL STOP THIS MADNESS???????
June 19, 2009May 24, 2009
THE GUELPH MERCURY
No doubt some members of the Guelph Police Service and perhaps the Guelph Police Services Board feel otherwise, but outspoken police Taser-use critic Patti Gillman should be lauded for obliging both organizations to have a second look at something that troubles her.
Gillman, whose watchdog work and advocacy stems from the death of her brother following an arrest that saw him repeatedly shocked with Tasers, in Vancouver, is agitated over a private business started by a Guelph police officer.
The business, the Canadian Centre of the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths Inc., came to upset Gillman in part for its many similarities to an American company. The American company, Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, has links and a business history with Taser International. Gillman appropriately considered it awry if the Canadian firm had like connections with Taser and wanted that explored.
Similar queries made by her of another Canadian police service led to that agency revising its conflict-of-interest policies.
She has no evidence of any inequitable issues related to the Guelph officer's company. Nor has any been established. But the basis for her feeling the need to call for a review of it are clear. The businesses sound alike. They engage in the same work -- training front-line emergency service workers in how to handle certain crisis situations. Their logos almost mirror each other. The founding Guelph officer has allowed publicly he had some co-operation on the startup of his business from its American peer. Further, both groups actively teach about excited delirium -- an alleged psychological and physiological state that has been politicized through its links to Taser-funded research and promotion.
We should want citizens to fairly question public agencies and agencies with public connections on their accountability and their transparency. Gillman did just so in this matter. And, the Guelph Police Services Board has added to the due diligence on this file because of her efforts.
Some will regard her as having wasted her energy and those of Guelph Police stakeholders. Others should regard this as active and responsible citizenship.
A letter I sent today.
Dear Chair and Members of the Guelph Police Services Board,
I am writing to you today, further to Thana Dharmarajah's April 25, 2009 Guelph Mercury article entitled Too Close for Comfort? and the editorial entitled A private firm, but a public flap which said: "The Guelph Police Services Board discussed this month a suggestion that it should review whether the officer might have a conflict of interest through running his private company. But the matter was dropped when Guelph Police Chief Rob Davis informed the panel the subject poses no such concerns." I would suggest to you, the members of the Guelph Police Services Board, that you reconsider whether this subject indeed does pose some significant concerns.
In August 2005, in a complaint which I submitted to the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner for British Columbia, I outlined my concerns about Victoria Police Sergeant Darren Laur, who strongly endorsed tasers and played a pivotal role in their introduction into Canadian policing, but had been shown to have financial ties to Taser International. It should be noted that, like Constable Mulder, Sergeant Laur DID have the approval of the Victoria Chief of Police to operate his private company. And, in fact, during the five months following my complaint to the OPCC, the Victoria Police Chief sought to have my complaint dismissed, because he personally felt there was no recognized default having been committed by Sergeant Laur. I continued to insist and the OPCC agreed that, pursuant to the BC Police Act, he was obligated to properly characterize and process the complaint. And so in January 2006, the Chair of the Victoria Police Board directed the Chief of Police to conduct an investigation.
The ensuing investigation, which was completed in August 2007, undertook to review the issues respecting conflict of interest and police officers, including a review of existing policies and practices and legal opinions from several jurisdictions both in Canada and elsewhere. During the course of the investigation, it was determined that the Chief of Police was a witness and, as such, his role as Discipline Authority was designated to the Chief of Police of the Port Moody (BC) Police Department.
A very thorough investigation concluded that the Victoria Police Department's policies dealing with conflict of interest issues were inadequate and that there did in fact exist a perceived or apparent conflict of interest in this case. A number of significant policy-change recommendations were made to the Victoria Police Board, which the Board in turn strongly supported. Those recommendations have now been implemented into a new and comprehensive Conflict of Interest policy that will give the public more confidence and should greatly reduce the number of instances where the off-duty interests of police officers would conflict with their roles and responsibilities to the police departments with whom they are employed.
The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner for British Columbia, in its final review of the investigation, noted that the types of policy changes as a result of the investigation were worthy of other police departments to take note of and recommended that consideration be given to amending the BC Police Act to include a section dealing with conflicts of interest. The new Victoria Chief of Police, Bill Naughton, said "it [conflict of interest] is a common, but largely unexamined, area of concern in North American policing. This is not a Victoria issue alone, this runs across Canada, and as far as I know we're the only agency across Canada trying to take a serious look at this issue."
Fast forward to Constable Mulder's Canadian Centre for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths and its "First Annual Excited Delirium Conference."
A February 13, 2009 article in the Toronto Star said: "The Mounties [RCMP] have also dropped the term "excited delirium" - a phrase that has no medical foundation, and was criticized earlier by the Commons Committee [on Public Safety and National Security], the RCMP's public complaints commissioner, independent consultants and civil liberties groups."
I suggest that all members of the Guelph Police Services carefully review the following media reports:
A two-part NPR (National Public Radio USA) investigative report from February 2007:
Part I - Death by Excited Delirium: Diagnosis or Coverup?
Part II - Tasers Implicated in Excited Delirium Deaths
Taser's Delirium Defense: How lawyers used junk science to explain away stun-gun deaths, Mother Jones, March-April 2009
Tasers in medicine - an irreverent call for proposals, Canadian Medical Association Journal, May 2008.
Police ethics adviser quits over sponsors - Concerns over role of companies like Taser International in funding lavish conferences were rebuffed, Globe and Mail, April 8, 2009
Finally, I urge you to visit http://www.excited-delirium.com/. The website's owner has uncovered many connections between Taser International, their lawyer Michael Brave, and the American Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Death and those who would promote excited delirium as a convenient cause for taser-associated deaths. The dash (-) in the website's address is critical because of the many similarly-named websites registered by Mr. Brave that include the words excited and delirium in the name.
And please keep in mind that so-called "excited delirium" has NOT been the common denominator in the at-least 405 deaths that have occurred proximal to the taser. Tasers ARE the ONE AND ONLY common denominator.
Notwithstanding the significant controversy surrounding tasers and excited delirium, and regardless of whether Constable Mulder has been or ever will be compensated directly or indirectly in ANY way by Taser International or the (American) Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Death or any other related organization or person, the facts which include (but are not limited to) his company bearing such a striking resemblance to the IPICD (which has so clearly been linked to Taser International), his "firm benefiting from some cooperation between the Canadian Centre and the IPICD regarding initial startup concerns and general business practices," and Taser International's use of excited delirium as a LEGAL DEFENCE to contradict its weapon's role in in-custody death lawsuits MUST be enough to prompt your Board to further investigate whether a conflict exists and whether the Guelph Police Service would want to be linked in any way to this controversy.
I do have a copy of the Victoria Police Department's new Conflict of Interest policy; however, while the policy has received Board approval, I understand that it may not yet have been delivered to the department's members and so I am unable to share it with you at this time. If you contact the Victoria Police Board directly, they may be willing to do so. And I would be more than willing to provide further background information to you, should you require it.
I look forward to a written reply from the Guelph Police Services Board at your earliest possible convenience.
Sincerely,
Patti Gillman
Owner of TNT - Truth ... not tasers
April 25, 2009
Thana Dharmarajah, Guelph Mercury
An outspoken Taser use critic wants the Guelph Police Services Board to examine its conflict-of-interest polices because of a private company started by a city police officer.
Patti Gillman, a Belleville resident and creator of the Truth Not Tasers blog, said she's concerned about a firm started by Guelph Police Const. Gary Mulder because the company bears similarities to a like-sounding American firm with corporate links to Taser International.
Mulder's firm is called the Canadian Centre for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths Inc. The American firm Gillman is comparing it to is the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths.
Mulder denies any link between his company and the U.S. firm or Taser International. He has been cleared of any conflict of interest in this endeavour by Guelph's chief of police and the Guelph Police Services Board.
Both of the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths companies offer front-line police officers and others training in recognizing potentially dangerous in-custody circumstances and in offering strategies to attempt to reduce the risk of fatalities in such cases.
Likewise both also tout the existence of a condition called excited delirium and offer training on recognizing it and how it should be handled if it's suspected.
Excited delirium is a controversial label that describes an alleged state of mind and body in individuals where they have been described as being in a delirious state, with extreme strength and incoherent speech.
It has been frequently cited by some police sources as a medical condition of subjects encountered who were subsequently shocked by Tasers.
It is not, however, listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association, a guide for professional psychologists and psychiatrists.
Gillman -- whose anti-Taser advocacy developed after the death of her brother Robert Bagnell in 2004 after he received at least two electrical shocks from police Tasers -- is among those voices in the debate that questions the existence of excited delirium.
"It only seems to be cited when someone has been Tasered," Gillman said.
She said she is troubled by an excited delirium conference being staged next month by Mulder's company -- a two-day Niagara Falls event that will see a workshop led by a founder of the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths.
John Peters, the American firm's founder who is to appear at the Canadian company's event, started his firm with a corporate lawyer for Taser.
Attempts to arrange an interview with Peters weren't successful.
But Taser International spokesperson Steve Tuttle confirmed it gave setup grants to Peters' firm and has paid for Peters to speak about excited delirium and to do training about the subject at its Arizona headquarters as well as at various U.S. law-enforcement agencies.
Mulder said he wasn't aware of Peters previously receiving Taser International funding to speak about excited delirium and that isn't the case this time.
He said he will pay Peters and other speakers personally for their full speaking fees and recoup that expense from conference registration revenue. Tuttle confirmed Taser International isn't funding Peters to speak in Niagara Falls.
The conference will feature a session called Conducted Energy Devices: Are They Safe Options?
But Mulder said Taser International isn't sponsoring anything at the conference and no company will be advertising at it.
Further, Mulder said his company has never received funding from either Taser International or the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths.
In an email this week, he said his firm benefited from "some co-operation between the Canadian Centre and IPICD, Inc. regarding initial startup concerns and general business practices."
But in the same message, he added: "I can assure you that the Canadian Centre ultimately operates independently from the Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, Inc. or any other company."
Tuttle confirmed Taser International has no links or past funding relationship with Mulder or his firm.
"It's honestly and truly not my intention to have any association with Taser at all," Mulder said. "I am 100 per cent the owner (of this company). I have complete control over the company."
Guelph Police Chief Rob Davis said he doesn't see Mulder's personal business as a conflict of interest. Mulder signed a contract with the Guelph Police Service that his company wouldn't have any affiliation with it. "I'm satisfied that he's followed the proper protocol," Davis said.
As for the conference, Davis said he sees nothing wrong with Mulder educating others about the knowledge the officer has obtained in his policing career.
Mulder is an 18-year police veteran and has been assigned to the Guelph Police Service's training unit as a certified use of force instructor since 2003.
After fielding inquiries related to this story, Guelph Police Services Board chair Dave Clark asked at this month's board meeting whether the firm followed all Police Services Act requirements.
Davis responded at that session that it did and the matter was left at that.
Mulder said he believes in excited delirium and that he wants to educate emergency personnel about behaviours associated with it so they can act as a team when they encounter it.
"It's something that happens very fast and deteriorates very quickly and everybody's abilities and actions are being questioned," he said. "What I want to do is to provide the information so people can be informed to make the best decision under duress."
Gillman said the fact that Mulder is actively drawing attention privately to a condition that has gone "hand in hand" with Tasers in so many cases warrants a thorough police board review.
She said she is pondering a written request to that effect to the board.
In 2005, she complained to the Victoria Police Department about the involvement of one of its officers with Taser International. The officer had done a variety of paid work for Taser during the period of his employment with that police service. The department began modifying its conflict-of-interest policies after she raised that matter.
Gillman's brother died after an encounter with Vancouver police in June 2004. The 44-year-old was the subject of a 911 call to the downtown hotel where he lived and had smashed things in a common washroom.
A 2007 inquest jury found that being Tasered played no role in his death. It concluded his death resulted from "restraint associated cardiac arrest" arising from cocaine intoxication and psychosis. The jury offered no recommendations.
Gillman has said publicly she wants a moratorium on Taser use until there is more independent research on their use and possible connection to deaths that have followed their deployment.
March 16, 2009
Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier
The Vancouver Police Department tied for second with Niagara Regional Police Service for the number of times a Taser was fired in 2007.
Out of eight departments in Canada, including Montreal, officers from Vancouver and Niagara fired the Taser 74 times each. Edmonton topped all departments with 89. Victoria officers fired the Taser 71 times, with Greater Sudbury (55), Halifax (38), Waterloo Regional (33) and Montreal (32) rounding out the eight departments. The report did not include statistics from Toronto, which has one of the largest police departments in Canada.
The statistics are contained in a brief report that goes before the Vancouver Police Board March 18. The report also included statistics for 2008, but only four departments are listed.
The VPD's use of the Taser in 2008 dropped to 27 times from 74 in 2007. Greater Sudbury's force also saw a decrease in 2008, with 23 firings from 55 in 2007. The report lists statistics for two other departments but didn't name them. The report's author, Drazen Manojlovic, said the two unnamed departments haven't publicly released the statistics.
But Manojlovic, who is the VPD's director of planning and research, said the departments-which fired their stun guns 91 and 73 times respectively in 2008-are of comparable size to the VPD.
Manojlovic said it was "unlikely" that the other departments represented in the report had similar decreases to the VPD. He didn't explain the reason for the decrease.
In February, the Courier attempted to determine why the VPD saw such a dramatic decrease in use of the stun gun since 2005. In 2006, the VPD fired the Taser 93 times and 66 in 2005.
Const. Jana McGuinness, a media liaison officer with the department, said the VPD couldn't point to a definitive reason for the decrease. McGuinness also told the Courier in February that there was no directive from Police Chief Jim Chu to curtail the use of the controversial weapon.
Manojlovic noted in his report that his analysis of the statistics "to be blunt, only scratches the surface." Other factors, including how many officers are authorized to use a Taser and departments' policies around Taser use were not included in the report.
"If more comprehensive analysis is required, then the VPD would need to formally canvass comparable police departments later in 2009 to obtain more data, enquire about the factors listed above, and obtain approval to publicly release such information," Manojlovic wrote.
The Canadian Association of Police Boards released a report Feb. 24 on stun guns, or conducted energy weapons. The association agrees in theory that a Taser can be a valuable force option for police.
"However, [the association] would like to see more evidence and discussion to clarify the conditions under which use of [Tasers] does not pose risk of injury or death," the report said.
At last count, the VPD had more than 120 Tasers, which are made in the United States by Taser International. The stun gun resembles a handgun and releases 50,000 volts of electricity through two probes into clothing or skin.
September 21, 2008
Rob Shaw, Victoria Times Colonist
Just a year ago, Paul Battershill was the highly regarded police chief of the city of Victoria. He had a reputation as a progressive police officer -- Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe called him a "New Age kind of guy."
Then suddenly, on Oct. 11, 2007, he was placed on administrative leave, and on Nov. 6, he was suspended with pay while the RCMP investigated allegations of misconduct against him.
Eleven months later, Battershill resigned, five days before a scheduled disclipinary hearing. His resignation was accepted because the Victoria Police Board had suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill, Lowe said.
Until now there has never been a public airing of the allegations against the former chief. But today, for the first time, Times Colonist reporter Rob Shaw reveals the events that set in motion Battershill's downfall. Using sources who were present at the time, he has pieced together the heretofore secret events that led to resignation of the police chief.
The fall of Victoria police chief Paul Battershill started, oddly enough, at a meeting about crime in the city's downtown core. It was Aug. 29, 2007, and Mayor Alan Lowe was facing tough questions from the business community about rising petty crime and whether the police force had the money to continue boosted downtown police patrols.
Business owners told the mayor they loved seeing extra officers walk the beat to tackle the city's chronic street problems. But the mayor and the department warned that those extra bodies had to come from other units, and the budget was stretched thin.
Among those attending that night was businessman Gerald Hartwig, who owns numerous downtown buildings. Hartwig believed there was more money in police coffers than the mayor was suggesting and wondered how much had been spent on a series of severance packages for high-ranking officers in the last few years.
He hired lawyer David Mulroney to file Freedom of Information requests into Battershill's expenses and the costs paid for Battershill to travel to West Vancouver to oversee an investigation into a constable accused of drunk driving. At least six senior employees had been dismissed from Victoria's police force since Battershill became chief, and the FOIs, requested between Sept. 8 and 20, also asked to see the cost of their severance packages.
At first, the FOI requests were unimpeded as they wound their way through the system, Mulroney said. But on Oct. 2, Mulroney received a phone call from Murray Rankin, a Victoria partner in national law firm Heenan Blaikie, which was representing Battershill, to challenge the FOIs. Mulroney said he was surprised, because many of the expenses requested were Heenan Blaikie legal bills. He wrote the company a letter suggesting they were now in a conflict of interest.
But the phrase "conflict of interest" had a second meaning. Although the letter did not explicitly say so, it was widely known that Heenan Blaikie lawyer Marli Rusen was having an affair with Battershill while accepting contract work from him and the Victoria Police Board. Mulroney suggested Heenan Blaikie ask its partners about their relationships with the chief.
In the corridors of police headquarters and in the business community, people had been talking about the chief and Rusen, whom Battershill hired to provide labour advice for the 222 police employees then under his command. More than one officer heard admissions of the affair - and explicit details - from Battershill himself. The affair ran contrary to Battershill's public image. When he arrived in Victoria from the Vancouver Police Department to become chief in 1999, he quickly built a reputation as a progressive thinker, champion of reform and advocate of public transparency. Lowe called him a "New Age kind of guy."
If an officer was under internal investigation, Battershill would most often release the officer's name voluntarily to boost what he said was confidence in the department's accountability. In a 2002 interview, Battershill said: "We've built a relationship based on transparency and not hiding stuff."
Battershill's work also won praise from city hall. In 2005, with his reputation at an all-time high, Battershill was hired by Lowe to be acting city manager. It was the first time in city history that someone managed both the police force and municipal bureaucracy. Battershill even wore a gun on his belt at city hall following a death threat that forced police tactical team members to lock down city hall.
But two years later, Mulroney's letter to Heenan Blaikie set off a flurry of activity that ultimately would cause Battershill's downfall.
On Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007, Hartwig and Lowe met for coffee at a Victoria White Spot restaurant, where Hartwig said he showed Lowe the letter and passed on rumours and worries he'd heard from senior polce officers, many of whom are his friends. Lowe said he was concerned.
The next day, on Thanksgiving, the mayor met with senior officers to hear their concerns first-hand. The mayor asked if the officers would talk to the police board, the civilian body that oversees the police department, and the officers agreed.
The following day, Oct. 9, Hartwig's secretary hand-delivered Lowe a copy of Mulroney's letter in a brown envelope. Hartwig said Lowe had requested a copy and asked him not to tell anyone he had sent it.
Coincidentally, there was a regularly scheduled police board meeting later that day. The timing appeared key - Battershill was away in Halifax at a conference.
At the time, the police board had these seven members:
- Chairman Alan Lowe, Victoria mayor
- Vice-chairman Chris Clement, Esquimalt mayor
- Catherine Holt, a management consultant
- Kathy Mick, a former dental hygienist and vice-president of Dr. Dave Mick Inc.
- Bruce Gibson, a real estate agent at Newport Realty
- Maureen Meikle, former director of communication for the B.C. Pension Corp.
- Ken MacLeod, former assistant deputy minister of B.C. Municipal Affairs.
Ralston Alexander, a local civil lawyer, and Christine Stoneman, a management consultant, would join the board a little more than a month later and land smack in the middle of the controversy.
The police board is automatically chaired by the mayor of Victoria and vice-chaired by the mayor of Esquimalt. Both municipal councils also appoint an additional civilian member, not a politician.
The provincial government fills the other positions. Collectively, the board is supposed to be the department's boss, approving hires and fires, salaries, budgets and departmental priorities. It also hires the chief constable.
Although it had the potential to be explosive, the Oct. 9 board meeting fizzled into nothing. While the board discussed such things as financial reports, two nervous senior officers sat outside the boardroom at police headquarters waiting for Lowe to call them in to answer questions about their chief. It did not happen. Eventually they went home. The meeting ended with board members oblivious to the situation. "I was going to bring it to my board's attention, but I only had four board members there that day," Lowe would explain later. "You need to bring something like this up when everyone is there."
The next day, Mulroney's letter found its way to the media and was, literally, waved in the mayor's face as reporters asked for answers. Lowe was angry at the leak. "I would have preferred to handle it internally," he said. "We wouldn't have had all this media attention and wouldn't have had to put the Victoria Police Department through this."
Lowe summoned the police board members to his office at city hall to brief them. Battershill was piped in by speaker phone from Halifax. The board members told him they'd be meeting with senior officers that night to hear their concerns.
The board then called an emergency meeting at police headquarters and asked all senior inspectors and civilians in the department to attend - around nine or 10 people were present. One by one, the senior employees were led into the board room and questioned by the civilian board.
Some board members had already heard rumblings about what was about to occur.
The rank and file of the department had expressed displeasure toward senior management and Battershill after the suicide of a constable in September, sources said. The officer had killed himself after being informed by senior managers he was to be investigated for alleged misuse of a Taser. The suicide seemed to bring the crisis between Battershill and his senior managers to a head, even more so than the FOI request from Hartwig, sources said.
"It was precipitated by the businessman's letter, but it was on its way anyway, it was coming down the pipe," said a source with first-hand knowledge of the process.
Nonetheless, some board members expressed shock at what they heard in the meeting. Vice-chairman Chris Clement has called it one of the most extraordinary meetings he has ever attended.
In addition to Battershill's affair with Rusen, sources say other allegations heard by the board that night included:
- That Battershill had offered Insp. Cory Bond the job of police chief in the future if she supported his decision to get rid of the department's backup police boat, to save money. She interpreted this as inappropriate. The police board was unaware of the offer.
- That sometime in late 2006 or early 2007 Battershill had placed numbered locks on his office door and limited access to the office, including cleaning staff and his executive assistant. He had also placed a surveillance camera in the ceiling.
- That Battershill kept alcohol in his office, even though he knew the board had approved a policy prohibiting alcohol in the building and was waiting for the policy to receive provincial approval. Earlier that same year, 2007, he disciplined a West Vancouver constable who drank in her station and then drove drunk.
- That some senior officers were dissatisfied and worried that numerous colleagues had been dismissed without cause during Battershill's tenure as chief.
- That some officers were fearful of coming forward because they felt their careers were at risk and feared retribution by Battershill when he discovered who they were.
"It became obvious there was a severe loss of faith by senior management," said a source who was there. "Those men and women who came into the room that night were so severely concerned about the path the police department was taking that they were willing to put their jobs on the line."
Still, some of the senior officers and civilian employees had nothing bad to say when asked about Battershill and were unaware of the allegations by their co-workers. Some officers praised him, while others continue to believe certain allegations were unfounded, leaving a deep divide among working colleagues.
At the time of the meeting, the department had a deputy chief and seven inspectors beneath Battershill. Four of them - then deputy chief Bill Naughton, Insp. Cory Bond, Insp. Darrell McLean and Insp. John Ducker - refused to come back into police headquarters if Battershill remained as chief.
Shortly afterwards, in what would be one of his last public interviews, Battershill told the Times Colonist from Halifax the allegations were "wrong" and "spun" and he would address them when he returned.
The board took the ultimatum from senior staff, and their concerns about their jobs, seriously. Clement said the staff's lack of confidence in Battershill affected the board's confidence in him as well.
"You can't run a police department if your senior management refuses to show up because of their grievances with the chief," another close source said. "You do not have a police department that can function under that leadership.
"You can't ignore four of your most senior officers saying the same thing."
The eight-hour meeting finished after 2 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11. "At the end of the meeting that night, everyone agreed Battershill could not come back into the building," said one person in the room. "It was unanimous."
Lowe then e-mailed Battershill to tell him he had been placed on administrative leave, with pay. The chief was barred from the building, and his BlackBerry was blocked. The news spread quickly to the Halifax conference, where Battershill was giving a presentation on effective civilian oversight of police departments.
When Battershill returned to the city days later, Lowe said the two walked along the waterfront to talk. Lowe would not say what about. He said the meeting was in keeping with his role as the board's discipline authority for the chief.
The police board was left with two options - it could do its own investigation and make a decision as Battershill's employer about whether to fire him, or it could send the matter to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner for review under the Police Act.
With its own investigation, the board could have set parameters and made its own decision about what to do with the chief. On the other hand, the complaint commissioner could provide a third-party review, and also limit whether the city and police department could be sued for wrongful dismissal.
Sources in the room say the board was divided on its decision, but ultimately chose to have Battershill's conduct investigated by the complaint commissioner.
On Nov. 6, Battershill's administrative leave was changed to suspension with pay as the RCMP began its investigation on behalf of the complaint commissioner. Naughton was promoted to interim chief, a position he has now held for almost a year.
To aid in the investigation, the board summarized approximately 13 points of concern for the complaint commissioner. However, since the Police Act deals with issues of public trust and code-of-professional-conduct regulations - such as deceit, corrupt practices, neglect of duty, discreditable conduct and abuse of authority - the investigators deemed that several of the staff concerns about personnel matters and management style were not applicable. The allegations were narrowed to seven, although the board was not told how or why, sources said.
Six RCMP investigators spent six months and 1,900 hours interviewing 37 people and examining 900 documents.
For months, the public heard nothing about the investigation, about who was interviewed, or even what the investigation was about. All Lowe said publicly was that the allegations against Battershill involved a "personnel matter."
On April 23, 2008, the RCMP submitted its final report, which concluded that only one allegation - the affair with Rusen, to which Battershill had admitted - was substantiated. The Mounties suggested Battershill be suspended. As a result, Lowe began negotiating with Battershill's legal team to schedule a disciplinary hearing, where the chief would be allowed to present his case before Lowe ruled on what kind of discipline, if any, he would impose on Battershill. Different dates came and went without progress, because Battershill requested more information and the lawyers kept negotiating details, Lowe has said.
The rest of the allegations pitted Battershill's word against that of his officers and could not be proven to a civil standard - the legal benchmark used by the Police Act, which is less than the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
The complaint commissioner also didn't examine whether Battershill had lost the confidence of his police board - which it seemed he had. According to members, the board viewed the affair as a direct conflict of interest, because Battershill was having a relationship with a person he had contracted, with taxpayer money, to give unbiased advice on sensitive labour issues for his employees, sources said.
Although Rusen denied the affair to Heenan Blaikie, and the RCMP investigation determined neither party profited by the relationship, the board was angered at the poor judgment Battershill showed, sources said. "Either he was having an affair or he wasn't, but the fact he told people he was makes it appear he has a serious conflict even if he's lying," a source said.
All the RCMP's investigative work made for a lengthy final report - but the board was never given a copy to read.
Instead, members received an oral summary from Lowe, a troubling fact for many members. In addition to his close working relationship with Battershill, Lowe had also been interviewed by the RCMP as a witness during its investigation. This prompted the police board to debate numerous times, at in-camera meetings, whether Lowe was in a conflict of interest and whether it was appropriate to get information filtered through him.
Despite the board members' concerns, B.C.'s Police Act didn't allow for an alternative. Under the act, the mayor is always the police board chairman and is the only person who can discipline the chief constable. He doesn't need to get the rest of the board's consent to discipline the chief, nor does he need to share all his information with members. Currently, the Police Act does not explicitly say whether he can delegate the disciplinary job to another person should he feel it necessary, although changes that would allow this are being drafted by the province.
After reading the complaint commissioner's report, Lowe began negotiating with Battershill's legal team, which included high-profile Vancouver lawyer Len Doust. On July 28, Battershill offered to resign, Lowe said.
Board members were not included in the negotiations, sources say, and only received word from Lowe when he had reached a settlement agreement.
Under the deal, Battershill received $15,000 for his legal bills, and both sides signed a non-disclosure clause that forbade them from talking about the issue. The board voted in favour of the deal and Lowe publicly called it a good arrangement for taxpayers.
On Aug. 13, Lowe held a press conference to announce Battershill's resignation, five days before he was to face a scheduled disciplinary hearing.
"The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," he told media.
But Lowe's reference to a criminal investigation was a red herring. The next day, Police Complaint Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld told the Times Colonist that the RCMP investigation was never about criminal acts.
A review of Battershill's severance shows Lowe was required to make the carefully worded statement as part of the deal.
Lowe did not mention to the press the one substantiated allegation, the affair. He said the board suffered a "loss of confidence" in Battershill's leadership but would not elaborate on what that was.
Ryneveld's 12-page report, made public on Sept. 4, 2008, outlined the reasons for the decision not to hold a public hearing into the Battershill case and released excerpts of the RCMP investigation. It was this report that confirmed the substantiated allegation of the affair with Rusen and clarified that it wasn't the complaint commissioner's place to examine Battershill's management style or his grievances with staff. Ryneveld's report made passing references to camps, political motives and departmental infighting his agency was not willing to investigate.
But for Victoria and Esquimalt taxpayers seeking answers about the complicated 11-month saga, Ryneveld had nothing. He said he recognized the public's desire for details, but said an "exemplary" RCMP investigation, combined with Battershill's resignation, left "insufficient grounds to conclude that a public hearing is necessary in the public interest."
Ryneveld did address the thorny issue of Lowe's role as Battershill's disciplinary authority, noting that a mayor's dual role as police board chairman can be problematic because a police chief and mayor don't work at arm's length - they have a close relationship because they attend the same functions and talk frequently.
Yet Ryneveld concluded the fault lay with the provisions of the Police Act, and not with the mayor's actions. He said that Lowe's close ties with Battershill, and his RCMP testimony, didn't go outside the normal bounds of a police chief-mayor relationship and that, ultimately, Lowe acted appropriately.
Officially, Ryneveld's report was the end of the Battershill affair. There would be no public hearing, no disciplinary hearing for Battershill, no release of the full RCMP investigation, no official explanation of the allegations.
For their part, neither Battershill nor Rusen has returned numerous requests for comment from the Times Colonist.
The police board is looking for a new chief and have hired a company to help in the search.
Whoever it is will take command of a department that remains, by all accounts, bitterly and deeply divided by the Battershill issue, how it was handled and what allegations, if any, were true.
The new chief will also be subject to annual performance evaluations by the police board thanks to a new policy disclosed this month by the board members.
Lowe, who is not running for office again, has said he hopes to swear in the chief at the November police board meeting, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 11 - four days before a new mayor is voted into office in the municipal election.
August 14, 2008
The Canadian Press
VICTORIA — Victoria is looking for a new police chief after the city's mayor announced the immediate resignation of embattled former chief Paul Battershill under mysterious circumstances.
Battershill has been on paid administrative leave since last October and was facing a disciplinary hearing next Monday, but what prompted the leave has never been made public.
Mayor Alan Lowe said Wednesday that Battershill's resignation means the hearing has been cancelled. Lowe wouldn't give details about what's behind Battershill's departure.
"I would like to announce today that the (Victoria Police) board has accepted the resignation of Paul Battershill effective immediately as a result of a loss of confidence in his leadership of the Victoria Police Department," said Lowe during a press conference at Victoria Police headquarters.
"The disciplinary hearing set for Aug. 18 will no longer proceed due to the resignation of Battershill," he said. "The police board will not be paying a severance to Battershill. We will contribute a sum of $15,000 towards Battershill's legal fees as part of the settlement agreement. The Victoria Police Board considers this matter closed."
But Lowe suggested the Battershill matter could still face public scrutiny. The office of B.C.'s police complaints commissioner is entitled to review the findings of an RCMP investigation it ordered and has the power under the Police Act to call a public hearing, he said. "A public hearing could be held if (the commissioner's) office believes that the issues are such that they are in the public interest," Lowe said.
Police Complaints Commissioner Dirk Ryneveld was not immediately available for comment.
Lowe said an RCMP investigation of the allegations, which were never made public, against Battershill found nothing criminal against the former chief. "The investigation completed by the RCMP did not find that Battershill had committed any criminal acts, had any involvement with any criminal activity, nor did it find any financial impropriety," he said.
Lowe did say the allegations against Battershill were a personnel matter, but refused to go further. Lowe said Battershill's annual salary was $167,000.
The mayor defended the actions of the Victoria Police Board, saying the board was looking to protect taxpayers with regards to the Battershill matter. "We as a police board have acted very appropriately and we are looking after the best interests of the taxpayers," he said. "There are some things within the last nine-and-a-half months that we are unable to disclose only due to the fact that we are bound by the settlement agreement at this time."
Lowe said he believes the police board had no other choice but to suspend Battershill.
Deputy Chief Bill Naughton will remain as interim chief, said Lowe, but the police board has already hired a firm to begin looking for a new chief, who should be hired by November. Naughton said the issues involving the chief proved challenging for the department's rank-and-file members, but the officers never wavered from their duties to the public. "This department has a long and proud history," he said. "The record of accomplishment since October speaks for itself," said Naughton, citing several successful police operations, including the arrest of suspects in connection with a deadly downtown shooting. Naughton said he has not seen the investigation reports on Battershill. He would not say if he will apply for the chief's position.
Battershill, a 20-year Vancouver city police veteran, became Victoria's chief constable in 1999. He was known for supporting innovative policing techniques and led high-profile reviews on the use of Taser stun guns by police and an investigation into alcohol-related incidents at the West Vancouver Police Department.
Ryneveld ordered the RCMP to conduct an investigation under the Police Act but refused to disclose the reason. The entire matter was under a news blackout until a sensitive legal document was leaked to the media last November.
Victoria lawyer David Mulroney said at the time he wrote a letter to the law firm that represents the police department suggesting possible conflicts of interest surrounding the police chief and his knowledge of freedom of information requests involving himself. Mulroney said he represents a client who filed several freedom of information requests that name Battershill and suggested a link between his client's information request and the RCMP's investigation.
The access requests targeted four areas, including the Victoria police department's dismissals without cause, suspensions with pay, expense accounts and employment contracts involving pay equity.
One package of documents Mulroney's client received revealed Battershill had credit card expenses of more than $90,000 since 2004. The documents also show the city paid up to $600,000 in severance to former police department members and officials. The request also asked for all expense and accounting records of the two high-profile reports compiled by Battershill. Mulroney has yet to receive those documents. He asked for all expenses and accounts from the Taser Technology Review conducted by Battershill and its preliminary recommendations in September 2004.
It also asked for all expenses and accounts relating to Battershill's investigation of Const. Lisa of the West Vancouver Police Department on behalf of the B.C. Police Complaints Commissioner.
May 21, 2008
PAUL WILLCOCKS, Special to The [Prince George] Citizen
VICTORIA -- Two things have jumped out from the provincial inquiry into Taser use.
First, the public has been misled at best, lied to at worst, about the safety of Tasers and the way they would be used.
And second, that civilian oversight of police is a myth in B.C. Government's claims that it sets policy on Taser use and most other police activities are empty.
I was an advocate for Tasers after a pilot project here in Victoria in 1999. They were pitched as a great tool that could make things safer for police and public.
At the end of a six-month trial, one of the officers enthusiastically cited examples from the nine times the Taser was used zap someone.
One case involved a naked, crazed man coming at officers with a long metal spike and deer antlers. If the Taser hadn't been available, he might have been shot. Another involved a deranged man determined to leap up the window in his 12th-floor apartment. Police tasered him in the nick of time. (The officer who provided the examples and pushed to have the weapon approved received stock options from Taser International two years later for his work on a holster design.)
The police convinced me the weapon offered a safer alternative than other options in some cases. The claims were always about taking down armed attackers or dealing at a safe distance with suicidal or dangerous people, something not possible with pepper spray.
More importantly, they convinced then attorney general Ujjal Dosanjh. But Dosanjh told the inquiry this month he was misled about the way police would use Tasers.
Kevin Begg, assistant deputy minister in the Solicitor General's Ministry, referred to "slippage" in Taser use. Instead of taking the time to de-escalate a situation, police are just zapping people who don't co-operate. Begg isn't an armchair quarterback; he was an RCMP officer for 23 years. And he, too, was an initial supporter, describing the Taser as "a very valuable alternative to shooting someone with a firearm" when the pilot project was launched.
But that's now how the Taser has been used. The provincial inquiry was ordered after the death of Robert Dzienkanski at Vancouver's airport. Video evidence showed police made no effort to defuse the situation.
Earlier this month police zapped an 82-year-old man, who needs oxygen just to walk, as he lay in a Kamloops hospital bed. He was delusional because he couldn't catch his breath and refused to drop a knife with a three-inch blade. But he wasn't enough of a danger to prevent an RCMP officer from approaching close enough to press the Taser against his stomach and zap him three times.
And Vancouver's transit police have tasered people, including fare evaders, for being "non-compliant." That policy, changed last week, highlights the underlying problem.
As the death toll mounted, B.C.'s Police Complaints Commissioner did a review of Taser use and recommended clear limits. People had to be "actively resisting" officers before they could be hit with the electric charge. The Solicitor General's Ministry claimed the new policy was in place. But all it did was send a one-page letter to police chiefs. As the transit police confirmed, the policy was widely and blatantly ignored. (Transit police even ignored a call to testify at the public inquiry until Solicitor General John van Dongen ordered the force to appear.)
Anyway, the policy is irrelevant for most British Columbians. About 70 per cent of them are policed by some 8,000 RCMP officers. The force does not accept any civilian oversight and refuses to allow the provincial government to set policies.
The Taser is still a potentially valuable tool. But seven people have died in B.C. after being the weapon was used on them; more than 300 in North America. Police continue to insist there is no risk, and use it accordingly. Many continue to reject the notion of civilian control or oversight.
It's a dangerous combination.
Footnote: Taser International continues to insist the only risk from using the weapon is that the victim might fall and be injured and tells police to use it on that basis. This week, two cardiologists told the inquiry the stun guns could "almost certainly" cause heart attacks.
May 16, 2008
By Keith Vass - Victoria News
The Victoria police board needed minimal discussion this week to approve a policy amendment that clears the way for police to use a 50,000-volt Taser shock for 'pain compliance.'
Last month, the Victoria News reported that the department's use-of-force policy governing Taser use was silent on the weapon's 'push stun' mode.
The written policy only endorsed the use of Tasers as a 'force presence' or for an officer to deploy the weapon's barbed probes to disrupt a subject's muscle control.
In push-stun mode, electrical contacts at the weapon's tip are placed directly against a subject.
According to training slides provided to the News by the Victoria Police Department's Taser program co-ordinator, Const. Mike Massine, "the push-stun mode affects the sensory nervous system ONLY, making it a pain compliance weapon that will not cause (loss of muscle control)."
The policy now contains a clause that reads "a push stun can be used to cause localized motor dysfunction or to gain compliance from a subject who is displaying active resistance." Police define 'active resistance' as any situation where a subject is refusing to comply with demands, including turning away or saying 'No.'
In a four-minute discussion at Tuesday's meeting, none of the board's seven members questioned the amendment or what differentiates push-stun use from probe deployment.
Before the board passed the amendment unanimously, provincial appointee Catherine Holt asked for clarity as to whether the terms 'push stun' and 'drive stun' are used interchangeably and was told they are.
Esquimalt Mayor Chris Clement questioned other sections of the policy. In response, interim Chief Bill Naughton said 120 of the force's 220 officers are trained in Taser use. He said the term 'lower lethality' used to describe the Taser indicates "the likelihood of death is remote but possible."
An analysis of 183 Victoria police incident reports from 2005 to 2007 revealed the device was used in push-stun in 57 per cent of all cases where police activated their Tasers. Often, it was used to get a subject already pinned to the ground to produce their hands for cuffing.
Naughton told the board that he expects the Taser policy will need to be amended again after the ongoing Braidwood inquiry into Taser use by police forces in B.C. Twelve other inquiries are ongoing or scheduled across Canada.
See also TASER POLICY GAP WORRYING
See also IN THE LINE OF FIRE
May 14, 2008
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER -- There is no uniform policy among municipal police forces in British Columbia on the use of the Taser, says the president of the B.C. Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police.
Bob Rich, who is also deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department, told a B.C. public inquiry into the use of Tasers that steps are being taken to address that, but right now policies on the use of force are left to each municipal department.
"The lack of clarity, the lack of a provincial policy, and different opinions is something that has made it more difficult and I look forward to the process of making it clear for our officers what we actually expect them to do,'' Rich testified Wednesday.
While there is no uniform policy, Rich said the Police Act "scheme'' on levels of force is used as a guideline.
Yet he said he would support implementation of a provincewide conducted energy weapon policy.
"The association believes a provincewide policy would ensure consistency,'' said Rich. "This province is policed by both municipal and RCMP officers and it would be appropriate for all us to be working with one policy.''
A provincial use-of-force co-ordinator has been asked to recommend uniform standards for Taser use in B.C., Rich testified.
But he testified that while he had not read the Taser policies of each police department, he believes there is reasonable consistency in training for police issued Tasers.
Bill McNaughton, interim police chief in Victoria, said the Taser is now considered an "intermediate'' weapon on the use-of-force continuum, but he conceded there are different models there, too.
"Discussion around this is clouded because of different use-of-force models and potentially different wording that can create some confusion,'' McNaughton said.
But there is an "overarching principle'' that guides all use of force, he said.
"That is the principle of proportionality or reasonableness. They are determined by a wide range of circumstances over which officers generally will have control over very few of those elements.''
But McNaughton agreed with commissioner counsel Patrick McGowan that specific language to better guide Taser users might address so-called "active resistance'' or "assaultive behaviour.''
McGowan suggested that without a clearly defined minimum standard before deployment, there will always be the potential for inappropriate use.
"Are you in favour of a clearly defined minimum standard before which the Taser can be deployed?'' he asked Rich.
"We owe it to our officers to be clear to them when we expect them to use it and not,'' Rich responded.
The inquiry is currently looking into Taser in general by B.C. law enforcement officers.
A later phase will look specifically into the case of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being hit with a Taser last fall at the Vancouver airport.
Solicitor General John van Dongen ordered the Metro Vancouver transit police Wednesday to make submissions before the inquiry.
Inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a former judge, expanded the inquiry to include transit police after documents revealed Tasers were used 10 times in the previous 18 months, including five times against riders trying to ride for free.
The transit police had been invited to appear but declined. Van Dongen said that is not an option.
"I have been very clear, unequivocally clear, with the chair of the board what my expectation is and if that isn't met, then I will pursue whatever remedies that I believe are appropriate,'' said van Dongen.
Sgt. Willie Merenick, spokesman for the Metro Vancouver transit police, said they would indeed attend. "We have made application for a time slot and we are waiting for them to get back to us (for a time),'' he said.
Several police chiefs defended use of the controversial shock weapons at the inquiry Wednesday.
Rich said things can go wrong in two ways: misconduct and mistakes. "One, is there is going to be misconduct instances. The other issue is competence, where officers make mistakes. They are human,'' he testified.
Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu told the inquiry that Tasers were used about 100 times in total in 2007 -- about 0.4 per cent of the 25,000 arrests Vancouver police made that year. The province's largest municipal force has 130 Tasers.
Taser use -- and the number of Tasers in the hands of various forces -- also varied greatly from force to force.
Delta police Chief Jim Cessford said he has 160 officers, 30 Tasers, and the weapon was deployed 27 times in the past six years.
But Victoria has 241 officers and 20 Tasers, and deployed them 106 times last year -- more than in Vancouver.
McNaughton said the high percentage reflects the nature of the policing in Victoria.
Although the force polices about 90,000 residents, "the number of people in the city during the day can triple.''
He blamed "significant under-resourcing'' and said that Vancouver police have more backup.
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SEE ALSO: TASER INTERNATIONAL A MAJOR SPONSOR OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE CONFERENCE
SEE ALSO: BC POLICE CHIEFS VOTE IN SUPPORT OF TASER
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May 7, 2008
CTV British Columbia
Canadian medical researchers are disputing the theory that stun guns do not cause irregular heart rhythms that are sometimes fatal.
Tests had shown that Taser shock could cause fibrillation -- a very rapid, irregular contraction of muscles fibers -- in any muscle, except the heart.
"Bottom line is we think that assumption is incorrect," said Dr. Paul Dorian, a medical researcher from the University of Toronto. "Under certain circumstances, the Taser electrical discharges can, in fact, cause the heart muscle to beat and to beat very fast."
Dorian and his team shocked six pigs with stun guns looking for signs of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and other adverse heart effects. The results echo a recent Chicago study, where prolonged stun gun shocks caused VF.
Two pigs died in the Chicago study. One pig died of VF in Dorian's study and the other five pigs showed cardiac disturbance.
When it occurs in humans, VF can be lethal, Dorian said.
"When this rapid irregular heart rhythm occurs, the heart doesn't beat effectively," Dorian told CTV News. "No blood is pumped from it, and the victim, unless they get CPR and gets an electrical shock to the heart, will die within 10 minutes."
In response to the Toronto study, manufacturer Taser International said it will present results from three cardiac studies of its own later this month at the Heart Rhythm Conference in San Francisco, California.
"Taser International is dismayed by attempts to present this information as something it is not," the company said in a statement.
"I can understand if they're dismayed," Dorian said. "I'm dismayed as well. Dismayed that we have a technology that potentially can cause harm."
When Victoria police conducted Canada's first Taser trials in 1999, VF was the medical problem they were most concerned about.
But no one was considering the adverse effects of another medical condition caused when muscles are shocked and contract too quickly. High levels of acidity, or low levels of alkalinity in the body fluids, including the blood, can cause acidosis.
"The problem with acidosis is that the organs don't function properly when the acids are present in the blood," Dorian said.
Inspector Darren Laur, who spearheaded the Victoria Taser trial, told CTV News in an email that VF was the only medical concern of their research.
"I was not involved in any studies surrounding acidosis," he wrote.
Ken Stethem, a use-of-force expert from Washington, D.C. said acidosis, which worsens if victims are stunned repeatedly, needs to be considered in the Taser debate.
"These devices being used and backed up by policies that don't limit the number of stuns of the length of the exposure times -- it's hard to believe how that would support public safety," Stethem said.
The officer who is in charge of the Taser program for the Victoria police department told a public inquiry Tuesday that he's uncertain if Tasers cause death.
"I think I would be negligent as a police trainer if I stood up here and said they don't cause death," Constable Mike Massine told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge who is conducting the first public inquiry into the controversial use of Tasers.
"I don't know if they do. I don't know if they don't," the officer added. "Maybe there is a correlation, I don't know. I hope when we find out what it is, I hope we find that silver bullet."
Massine said putting a moratorium on Tasers would cause a knee jerk reaction, adding stun guns are a necessary tool for officers facing violent suspects.
The inquiry, which started Monday in Vancouver, is scheduled to continue until May 23.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger
May 7, 2008
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun
The mother of a Vancouver man who was jolted by a police Taser about two months ago told an inquiry Tuesday that there should be a better understanding of the mentally ill.
Cathy Gallagher recalled her 37-year-old son Chris, who is bipolar, was off his medication and became psychotic before police were called to his Kitsilano home on Feb. 24.
Chris Gallagher wouldn't open his door, so police broke it down and ordered him to get down on the floor, she said, adding her son was given a Taser jolt when he didn't comply.
He was in his own home and he was psychotic," the mother told the inquiry looking into the controversial use of Tasers, officially known as conducted energy weapons (CEWs).
"When he's psychotic, he doesn't understand who I am," she added. "So how can police expect compliance?"
Gallagher said her son, who has a master's degree, has no history of violence. She suggested the proper response was to send Car 87, which has a nurse trained in mental health issues.
"It's systemic prejudice against the mentally disabled," said Joseph Gallagher, the father of Chris and a retired English professor at Simon Fraser University.
Cathy Gallagher said the Taser incident terrified her son, who is still under psychiatric care in hospital. "He had a period when he didn't speak, which is very strange because he talks a lot."
Outside the inquiry, she told reporters there should be a moratorium on the use of Tasers.
It was the first time the inquiry had heard from family members of a person who had been subjected to a Taser jolt by police.
Earlier in the day, Dr. Christine Hall, a Victoria emergency doctor who has a research interest in in-custody deaths, produced a chart showing that while Taser use by police in B.C. has shot up to about 650 incidents in 2006 from about 150 in 2004, the number of Taser-related deaths has remained relatively stable.
There have been seven Taser-related deaths in B.C. since 2003 -- two that year, two in 2004, one in 2005 and two last year.
Over the same period, there were 20 Taser-related deaths across Canada, so about one-third were in B.C.
The reason behind those numbers needs more study, Hall said.
She said there is an overwhelming similarity to the circumstances of in-custody deaths -- the subjects are usually violent, agitated and incoherent, and an unexpected death happens in minutes.
"An acutely agitated person may be a medical emergency manifesting itself as a police call," Hall told the inquiry.
She said police need to appreciate who they are dealing with and get the person medical attention "once the person is under physical control."
Victoria police Const. Mike Massine, who is in charge of the Taser program for the Victoria police department, told the inquiry that he's uncertain if Tasers cause death.
"I think I would be negligent if I stood up here and said they don't cause death," he told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge who is conducting the first public inquiry into the controversial use of Tasers.
The officer said Victoria police have been using CEWs since 1998 and the city has not experienced a CEW-related death.
"The weapons appear safe," Massine told the inquiry, adding there may be a variety of factors involved in CEW-related deaths, such as medical conditions and the behaviour of subjects.
Massine, who has a master's degree but works on street patrol and has used CEWs 50 times, said a common misconception is that the Taser is used as a substitute for deadly force.
The CEW is an intermediate weapon within the category of bean-bag guns, police batons and anti-riot weapons that fire rubber bullets, he said.
Such weapons are used when someone is actively resisting arrest or police commands, he added.
He said he believes police do not get enough training in control tactics -- Victoria police only get eight hours each year. Massine also said Tasers are not checked to make sure they are discharging electrical current to the manufacturer's specifications.
The inquiry, which started Monday and continues today, is in its first phase of public forums, which are scheduled until May 23.
May 6, 2008
The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — The co-ordinator for Victoria police's Taser weapons program is recommending a provincewide training program for officers.
Const. Mike Massine told a public inquiry into the use of Tasers by police that there's a lot of talk about amalgamated police units and it shouldn't be any different for training programs.
He says training experts from several different departments around the province should be brought together as a team with provincial standards.
Massine says that would mean members from very small police departments could be trained in the same manner as officers from large departments.
He says many police departments spend less than one per cent of their budget on firearms and use-of-force training and yet those are often the issues that land police departments in court.
Massine took the witness stand on the second day of the inquiry, which will look at the general use of the shock weapons by police as a result of the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport last fall.
May 6, 2008
Staff Reporter, The Province
VANCOUVER -- The Braidwood Commission inquiry into Taser use continued Tuesday with emotional evidence from Cathy and Joseph Gallagher, parents of a mentally ill Vancouver man who was subdued by seven police officers and Tasered twice.
Cathy Gallagher held up a small, red T-shirt with a hole in it showing where her son -- a slight, 37-year-old man who had an MBA from McMaster University -- was Tasered in the heart.
Christopher Gallagher has remained in hospital since the incident, which occurred on Feb. 24. The Gallaghers want a complete moratorium on Taser use.
The inquiry also heard from Victoria police Const. Mike Massine, a conducted-energy weapons trainer for the Victoria Police Department, who said Tasers pose very little risk and are useful weapons for police.
The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Thomas Braidwood, continued Tuesday afternoon with evidence from an emergency-room physician and a prison warden.
On Monday the inquiry opened with presentations by two American experts who concluded after years of research that the weapon poses very little risk.
Electrical engineer J. Patrick Reilly, a consultant and Johns Hopkins University lecturer from Maryland, said "the hazards are very low, but probably not zero." Outside the inquiry, Reilly said the Taser is "not benign" and admitted he wouldn't want himself or any family member to be Tasered, but insisted the Taser may be one of the more acceptable weapons in the police arsenal.
"If you compare [the impact of a Taser] with a bullet, it's a no-brainer," said Reilly, adding "safety is relative." Inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood, a retired Supreme Court judge, said there will be two inquiry phases -- the first, a series of public forums throughout May to get expert opinion on the use of "conducted-energy weapons [Tasers]," by B.C. police forces, sheriffs and corrections officers.
Wisconsin biomedical engineer John Webster outlined by videolink his detailed experiments on pigs that concluded the chances of Taser use causing a person's heart to stop "are extremely low." Webster said the probability that a Taser could stop a person's heart, even in the worst-case scenario where the darts hit a slight or thin person in vulnerable spots near the heart, would be one in several million.
More than 300 people across North America have died after being stunned by Tasers.
The "electrical stun weapons" manufactured by Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., can shoot two barbs attached to wires, or the gun can be applied directly to a person's skin.
The second phase of the commission will look into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being Tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver International Airport on Oct. 14, but will not start until the RCMP has finished its own investigation in the fall.
See the archived map for the period February 2009 to February 2010 here.
