Vancouver cops credit 'clear guidelines' with Taser use drop

May 22, 2012

By Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier

 

The Vancouver Police Department has dramatically curtailed the use of its Tasers with officers having only fired the stun gun twice this year compared to 93 times in 2006.

 

Statistics show the VPD recorded seven incidents—three in one day in February—where the Taser was involved, with two cases where it was fired.

In the other five incidents, officers unholstered the Taser but did not have to fire the 50,000-volt gun to arrest a suspect, according to incident reports posted on the VPD’s website.

The dramatic decrease in Taser use began after the recorded high of 93 times it was deployed in 2006 dropped to 74 in 2007. Usage dropped further in 2008 to 27 times.

Const. Jana McGuinness, a VPD media relations officer, said the department has 101 officers trained and carrying the Taser, which is far fewer than in previous years.

“And those who do carry it are under tighter scrutiny,” McGuinness said in an email to the Courier. “The new Police Act sets outs very clear guidelines on when the [Taser] may be used, and the legislated usage is much narrower in scope than in 2007. Simply put, the [Taser] is not used in as wide a variety of circumstances as it once was. This alone will account for a decline in usage.”

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said the decline is “good news” considering the battle his organization waged several years ago to get a moratorium on the use of Tasers in the province.

The civil liberties association requested the moratorium the same month Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died in October 2007 at the Vancouver International Airport after RCMP officers fired a Taser at him several times.

“The only bad news about this is that Robert Dziekanski and others have had to die in order for us to get to this number,” said Eby, noting the high profile of the Dziekanski case and the subsequent inquiry into his death. “This is great news. I think that the police are now using the device much more carefully, as they should have been during the beginning.”

The first VPD incident this year requiring a Taser to be fired occurred Feb. 1 in the north lane of 13th Avenue and Ontario Street. Officers boxed in a car, whose occupants were suspected of robbery, kidnapping and a carjacking involving a knife.

Police said the driver attempted to escape.

“The Taser was deployed and the driver was pulled from the driver’s seat and arrested,” said the incident report. “He was assessed at Vancouver General Hospital and then taken to jail.”

In a March 9 incident, officers were called to check on the welfare of an “emotionally disturbed woman” inside a suite in the 1400-block of West 14th Avenue.

The woman made verbal threats, was armed with knives and indicated she had a gun. A VPD emergency response team stormed the suite after a six-hour standoff.

Police fired a Taser and Arwen gun when the woman confronted officers with knives in hand, said the incident report. The woman was taken to hospital for a mental health assessment and is facing weapons charges.

McGuinness noted that in about 75 per cent of incidents involving a Taser, the suspect surrenders after police unholster the stun gun so it is in plain view.

In June 2004, Robert Wayne Bagnell died at the scene after police fired a Taser twice at him during an arrest at the Old Continental Hotel at 1390 Granville St.

Dr. Laurel Gray, who conducted the autopsy, testified at a coroner’s inquest she considered the Taser’s role in Bagnell’s arrest but determined the medical cause of death “was consistent with restraint-associated cardiac arrest due to or as a consequence of acute cocaine intoxication and psychosis.”

The five-man jury agreed and gave no recommendations.

Fraction of VPD carries Tasers under new rules

"Tasers can still be used on seniors, children, pregnant women and the mentally ill, despite warnings from the manufacturer."

January 27, 2012

CTV BC

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger

The new standards for Taser use are set to come into effect next week, and they mean that just a fraction of Vancouver police officers are carrying the conducted-energy weapons.

The changes to B.C. policy were recommended by retired judge Thomas Braidwood, who led an inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski after being stunned multiple times at the Vancouver International Airport in October 2007.

The Vancouver Police Department is already complying with the province-wide standards, which require officers to undergo training before they can carry Tasers. But the department doesn't automatically send people to be qualified and officers have to volunteer.

Right now, only 107 officers carry a Taser, and a third of those are members of the emergency response team. As of December, there were 1,327 sworn officers in the VPD.

Some of the other new policies include:

• Tasers are only to be used on violent people
• Officers must give verbal warnings before shocking anyone
• They must use, or consider using, crisis intervention first
• They must avoid chest shots
• Shocks cannot last for more than five seconds

However, Tasers can still be used on seniors, children, pregnant women and the mentally ill, despite warnings from the manufacturer.

That is a concern for BC Civil Liberties Association director David Eby, who was the only civilian member of the implementation committee on Braidwood's recommendations.

"This device, still untested on those groups, is still being used by police officers and potentially on those groups. That is a potential major issue given the recent Tasering of an 11-year old in Prince George," he said.
"There may be some mistaken notion that now they're safe, now we know what the effects of them are, now we know when we can properly use them and when we can't. I don't think police officers have that information still."

An embarrassing anniversary arrives for a broken RCMP complaint system

November 21, 2011
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association

An embarrassing anniversary arrives for a broken RCMP complaint system

November 23 is the second anniversary of B.C.’s Solicitor General filing a complaint with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (“CPC”) in relation to the 2003 death of Clayton Alvin Willey. At the time of the complaint, the Solicitor General called the investigation into the details of Willey’s death a matter of “confidence in the RCMP.” Two years later, the investigation by the CPC has not been completed.

The CPC is the same organization recently asked to conduct a multi-year investigation of sexual harassment complaints by female RCMP police and civilian staff.

“Ensuring standards of performance are met on complaints is a concern for all British Columbians. It should be a concern of the RCMP as well,” said Robert Holmes, Q.C., President of the BCCLA. “It is imperative that the Solicitor General ensure that the RCMP and CPC agree to appropriate performance measures if BC is to enter into a new contract. It shouldn’t take two years to respond to complaints. If the CPC and RCMP are going to allow multi-year delays in complaint investigations, they’re effectively thumbing their noses at those they’re supposed to serve.”

Clayton Alvin Willey died shortly after being removed from the Prince George RCMP detachment by ambulance. He had been Tasered multiple times while hog tied, and had been dragged while hog tied from the back of an RCMP SUV and allowed to drop, full weight, on his head and chest, fracturing his skull and ribs. RCMP video showed Mr. Willey being dragged through the RCMP detachment and receiving multiple Taser applications. The 2003 case rose to prominence again in 2009 when the BCCLA and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs publicly released details contained on an RCMP surveillance video of the death and called for the release of the video.

“Clayton Alvin Willey’s death is a black mark on the record of service of the RCMP in BC,” noted Holmes. “We want timely investigations and prompt accountability for any who failed to live up to the standards the RCMP is supposed to live by. Instead, we are left knowing that another season’s ice is forming on the Ottawa River and that eight years after Mr. Willey died in 2003, we still have no answers from the force or the Complaints Commissioner whose job it is to uphold the public’s trust.”

Police 'convinced' Tasered boy, 11, was dangerous

Apparently it is okay for our police to use a legally-defined LETHAL WEAPON against a child carrying a pen, even if it did look like a knife. And no sanctions on this rookie officer? What if the child had died? Thank God he wasn't wielding a stapler! Another justification comes from the fact that the boy gave the police the finger! That showed 'disrespect for police' apparently, so that is the rationale for using the taser. Oh-- the boy HAD been seen with a knife earlier. Truth be told, after a 40-minute stand-off, the boy was lured out on the porch and the Taser was fired. We have no indication on placement of darts, duration of stun, etc. We just have police investigating police. Again. WVPD Chief Lepine is a former Mountie. This all leans heavily towards the need for the Independent Investigation Office (IIO). When will this civilian-led body be formed?

October 18, 2011
The Canadian Press

WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — Police were convinced an armed, deaf, 11-year-old was violent and a danger to himself and others when they used a Taser on him following a confrontation last April, a police report has said.

Chief Pete Lepine of the West Vancouver Police Department said in a news release Monday the RCMP officers involved that day faced a dire situation that had little chance of a publicly acceptable outcome.

He noted officers could have declined to use a Taser and risk the situation escalating to the point where the boy harmed himself or others, possibly forcing officers to use lethal force.

Or officers could take the path they ultimately chose: Use the Taser on the boy and deal with the public relations disaster later.

"I can assure all of you that everyone involved in the original incident, as well as the investigation, was fully aware and sensitive to the fact that the police were dealing with a child," Lepine wrote.

"However, ultimately, the boy's age was secondary to the fact that his apprehension was deemed necessary in order to prevent him from causing further grievous bodily harm or death.

"...If the officers had decided not to take overt action to apprehend the child quickly, they would likely have been subjected to harsh criticism for standing idly by while the child harmed himself or someone else."

Lepine was heavily criticized last month for releasing his investigators' independent findings into RCMP actions that day by simply saying the officers were justified in using the device on a child.

He provided no explanation as to why.

On Monday, he said he was releasing a detailed account after consulting with other agencies conducting a review of the incident and also the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which has been highly critical of RCMP Taser use in the past.

Lepine said police were called to the Prince George residential group home at about 5:30 p.m. April 7 after a report that an adult had been stabbed by an 11-year-old boy.

Officers were told the boy was hearing impaired but that his hearing aids had been damaged in a previous incident.

Before police arrived at the scene, the boy had holed himself up in the large, main residence with a bottle of wine and a knife. He also had access to other weapons, Lepine's report said.

Police were told he was "prone to extremely violent outbursts, during which he exhibited extraordinary strength for his age and size and presented a viable threat to his own safety as well as the safety of adults attempting to manage his outburst," the report said.

Investigators were also told he would not back down from a physical confrontation and could attack officers.

The police who arrived on the scene positioned themselves to watch the boy and quickly determined that a forced entry of the residence wasn't reasonable.

Instead, officers attempted to negotiate with him.

Lepine's report said when the boy appeared at a small second-story window, one of the officers tried to talk to him. The boy opened the window and used a knife to cut out the screen and hung his upper body outside, prompting concern he might fall.

Discussions stopped.

Lepine's report said officers also saw the boy slashing at his sweatshirt and running a knife blade over the palm of his hand and up his arms.

Eventually, the boy asked for some belongings, the report said.

Police left them on the front porch and the boy came to retrieve them -- armed with a knife at all times. He made the sign of a cross, which police had been told was "an indication that things were going to get bad."

The boy came out of the house again to post a note, which officers couldn't read.

At this point, Lepine's report said, investigators concluded that their efforts to de-escalate the situation weren't working and that the boy was increasingly a danger to himself.

"His willingness to engage in violence and use weapons against adults indicated that physical confrontation with the boy would present an extremely high risk to all involved," the report said.

The officers decided to use a Taser if the boy came out again.

The boy was asked to come out and clarify the contents of the note. When he did, he was holding a knife and a Taser was deployed once.

Officers gained physical control of the boy and found he had a pen, not a knife, in his hand.

During the independent investigation of the RCMP's actions, Lepine said West Vancouver investigators sought the opinion of a "recognized subject matter expert" in policing that concluded the officers' decisions were "sound, appropriate to the situation and in keeping with their training and existing policy."

"It was clear to me that the officers involved responded to a dynamic and potentially deadly incident in a measured, appropriate and professional manner," Lepine concluded.

After the boy received the jolt, the boy was taken to hospital for observation and released the next day.

The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP and B.C.'s children's watchdog have launched their own investigations. The RCMP is also conducting an internal review.

Two RCMP officers were placed on administrative leave after the incident, but they returned to their full duties in late June.

Boy, 11, was holding pen, not knife, when Tasered by RCMP

October 18, 2011
Andrea Woo, Vancouver Sun

The 11-year-old boy whom Prince George RCMP hit with a Taser in April was holding a pen, not a knife, at the time, an update on the investigation reveals.

However, the boy did have a knife earlier in the incident and was described as having "extraordinary strength" and being prone to "extremely violent outbursts," the update says.

The details were released on Monday by West Vancouver Police Chief Peter Lepine, who was following up on a promise to release more information on his Sept. 15 decision not to recommend charges against the officers.

"The officers decided that the Conducted Energy Weapon (i.e., the Taser) would be their best force option for resolving the incident as safely as possible," Lepine wrote.

The officers were dispatched to a residential address at 5:30 p.m. on April 7 after a call reporting a man had been stabbed.

A 37-year-old man with a stab wound was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, while the boy, who allegedly stabbed the man, barricaded himself inside the residence.

Before police arrived, the boy had been seen drinking from a bottle of wine and walking around the residence with a knife, Lepine wrote.

According to information gathered from adult witnesses, the boy:

. Was hearing impaired but without his hearing aids.

. Was prone to "extremely violent outbursts, during which he exhibited extraordinary strength for his age and size."

. "Would not back from physical confrontation with adults and was likely a high risk to attack officers if they approached him suddenly or unexpectedly."

. Would exhibit "warning signs" before violent outbursts, including making "the sign of the cross."

Officers saw the boy slashing his sweatshirt and running a knife blade over the palm of his hand and up and down his arms, Lepine wrote. The boy also gave the officers the middle finger and threw a wine bottle and wine glass out of the window of the residence.

The boy came out of the residence several times, once to gather some personal effects he'd asked for, and again to post a note on the porch wall. It turned out to be illegible when officers tried to read it.

"He kept a knife with him at all times and, while outside on the porch, officers and adult witnesses saw him make 'the sign of the cross' in front of his chest," Lepine wrote.

After 40 minutes, officers felt the boy was growing increasingly frustrated. They decided to intervene before the situation "escalated to the point where lethal force was an appropriate option for the resolution."

When the boy emerged from the residence a third time, "the Taser was deployed in a single cycle and the boy was immobilized long enough for the officers to gain physical control over him and seize what turned out to be not a knife but a pen," Lepine wrote.

"Once the boy was physically secure, officers immediately removed the Taser probes from his back and had him transported to hospital."

Lepine, who also sought the opinion of a use of force expert, determined the officers' actions were appropriate.

"I understand and expect that there will be those who believe that my decision to publicize these details is an attempt to vilify the 11-year-old boy in order to exonerate the police," he wrote.

"I can assure all of you that everyone involved in the original incident, as well as the investigation, was fully aware and sensitive to the fact that the police were dealing with a child. However, ultimately, the boy's age was secondary to the fact that his apprehension was deemed necessary in order to prevent him from causing further grievous bodily harm or death."

David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which was consulted in the investigation, said he is glad West Vancouver police released more information. But he said the information is "extremely concerning" and means the investigation now must "go to the next level."

"This explanation that the child didn't have his hearing aids, that the child had no weapon at all when he was ultimately Tasered, raises some very serious questions for us and escalates this incident, in our mind, to one that requires the urgent attention of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP," Eby said.

The officer who deployed the Taser had just 18 months experience with the force. He was placed on administrative leave following the incident.

BC Cops Opt for Spin Rather than Transparency - RCMP author of Taser e-mail now advising BC on police accountability

September 2, 2011
BCCLA

British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has confirmed that the police officer whose e-mail brought the Robert Dziekanski inquiry to a halt for months is now advising the provincial government on the formation of B.C.’s new police accountability body.

Dick Bent, along with another senior RCMP officer Russ Nash, has been hired on a contract that will pay him as much as $70,000 over six months (including expenses) to “make recommendations on a strategic and operational framework” for the new Independent Investigation Office.

“We could understand why the province might bring in the RCMP to provide this advice if better and more independent advice were not available elsewhere,” said Robert Holmes, Q.C., President of the BCCLA.

“But there are civilian bodies across the world that do this kind of work every day, and have for years. Does it really make sense to have the RCMP setting this body up when that force’s failures are the reason the IIO exists in the first place?”

One of the key issues in the Dziekanski Taser inquiry was whether or not the officers had appropriately evaluated the situation at the airport in advance of using the Taser. In June of 2009, an e-mail from then RCMP Chief Supt. Dick Bent to assistant Commissioner Al McIntyre titled “Media strategy – release of the YVR video” read, in part, as follows:

Finally, spoke to Wayne and he indicated that the members did not articulate that they saw the symptoms of excited delirium, but instead had discussed the response en route and decided that if he did not comply they would go to CEW [Conducted Energy Weapon/Taser].

Commissioner Braidwood said he was “obviously appalled” at the late disclosure of such a critical e-mail message, three weeks after the last witness had testified, and almost four months after the four officers involved had testified. No explanation was ever offered about why the e-mail did not surface except that federal lawyers had “overlooked” the key document accidentally. The e-mail shut the inquiry down for three months when it surfaced.

“We suggest that the Provincial government stop asking the police how to investigate the police, because B.C.’s police have demonstrated time and again that they cannot do it effectively and in a manner that maintains public confidence,” said Holmes.

“Instead, the Province should be reaching out to Ontario’s Special Investigation Unit, the Independent Police Complaints Commission in England, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, and the South Australia Police Complaints Authority, among others.”

Excessive force a rarity for police: study

July 16, 2011
Tom Blackwell, National Post

Christine Hall witnessed a lot of drama during five years of emergency-medicine training, but one incident near the end of her residency left the young physician stunned. A patient had arrived at her Calgary emergency department violently agitated and incoherent, was restrained by security guards and injected with a sedative. And, within 2 ½ minutes, was dead.

The precise cause of the patient’s demise remains a mystery 10 years later, yet it stuck with Dr. Hall, inspiring her to launch an unprecedented and provocative study of what happens when police meet face to face with the public, apply force and, sometimes, cause serious or even fatal injuries. Her initial findings and analysis, part of which were published this month, offer a surprising — and controversial — counterpoint to the repeated allegations recently of excessive police violence.

From the Taser-related death of Robert Dzienskanski at Vancouver airport to the apparent sexual assault on a woman held by Ottawa police, the handling of suspects by Canadian law-enforcement has drawn frequent censure of late.

Dr. Hall says her study, in which officers at major forces in two provinces have been documenting hundreds of thousands of encounters with the public over the last four years, paints a different picture, however. She has identified fewer than 1,200 incidents of use of force among almost 1.8 million significant police-public interactions, and says most of the targets of the strong-arming were drunk, mentally distressed or violent, at least according to standardized reports filled in by the officers involved. One death was recorded.

What is more, Dr. Hall suspects people like her former emergency patient and others in police custody end up dead largely because of their own, out-of-control condition — not necessarily law-enforcement weapons like the Taser.

“There is a huge public misconception that every time a police officer is in a room with someone, someone is getting wounded. And in fact, when you do the data, it’s remarkably small,” said the physician, now based in Victoria.

“I think that harm is done when the public is exposed to a notion that use of force is rampant and it always turns out negatively … If the average member of the population knew that use of force represents far less than a 10th of a per cent of what police do, would we really want to spend a lot of tax money on sending every police officer to crisis intervention school?”

The physician hopes at the same time that her findings will eventually identify what type of person is most at risk of ending up dead or severely injured at the hands of police, and help officers deal with those people in a safer fashion.

Dr. Hall’s perspective on the emotional issue is not exactly embraced by everyone, though. She debated U.S. colleagues this month who believe emergency physicians like her should report suspected cases of police brutality, just as they now blow the whistle on possible domestic abuse. And she has taken flak for her focus on the victims of police use of force, rather than police actions and weapons.

The independent inquiry report on the death of Mr. Dzienskanski at Vancouver airport in 2007 concluded police officers had acted inappropriately in their handling of the Polish man, and lacked proper training in Taser use.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association released a report last October that suggested there had been more than 400 deaths in police custody over a 15-year period in the six provinces and territories for which it could obtain statistics.

Dr. Hall’s research, funded by the federal government’s Canadian Police Research Centre, which is closely tied with the RCMP and Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, seems designed to deflect attention from any police wrongdoing, charged David Eby, executive director of the civil liberties group.

“The problem is that no question is going to be asked of this researcher that will potentially embarrass a police force,” he said. “It’s frustrating for me to see this sort of political research coming out … The real questions that need to be asked are not being asked, and that is frankly putting the public at risk.”

Dr. Hall, however, says her study is designed to avoid any bias and empirically get to the bottom of what happens when officers and the public meet. She has already involved police in two major Western Canadian cities and is about to bring a third online. Two other cities have tentatively agreed to be part of the research.

Whenever officers interact with the public they must fill out a form she developed that records the nature of any use of force, including the behaviour of the subject and police weapons used. Information is cross checked with medical and coroner’s records. The RCMP, though a subject of many of the recent charges of police excesses, has so far not gotten involved in the study.

The first full-blown report on the findings is being submitted for publication to a medical journal now, and details cannot be released until the paper comes out, Dr. Hall said. In a letter to the editor of the Annals of Emergency Medicine this month, however, she did divulge her finding that force was employed in just .07% of interactions. She also noted that police reported that 60% of recipients of that force were violent or very violent, and 86% seemed affected by drug or alcohol abuse, emotional distress or both.

The letter criticized a group of American emergency doctors who advocated in an earlier editorial that ER specialists report to internal-affairs departments or other authorities cases where they suspect police went overboard in their treatment of suspects. The group cited a 2009 survey of emergency specialists where 97% reported having seen patients who may have been victims of excessive force by officers. Dr. Hall called that research “seriously flawed,” arguing that few emergency doctors are qualified to gauge whether force was excessive, and cited her findings as evidence the issue is overblown.

Dr. Jared Strout, a Seattle emergency physician and one of the editorial’s authors, said in an interview, however, that emergency doctors have a duty to their patients to report suspicions, even if they cannot determine on their own if force was actually excessive.

He also acknowledged that the use of force is rare and excessive force very rare — despite the intense media coverage given some cases of police brutality. It is crucial, though, to keep an eye on those outlier cases and find out why they occur, Dr. Strout said.

“Police have a unique relationship with society, in that they are the only group that can legally use lethal force or any kind of force,” he said. “That kind of very protected status needs to be monitored extremely closely, because of the potential for abuse.”

Perhaps Dr. Hall’s most controversial assertion, though, is that the core cause of in-custody deaths may not be Tasers or other police tools, but a pattern of behaviour on the part of the victim that seems to be repeated over and over again in such cases. Like that patient in her emergency department, they tend to be violently agitated, sweaty, exhibit seeming superhuman strength and are oblivious to the police presence, she said.

Others, though, are skeptical about focusing on the individual, suggesting it is the police who must be doing something wrong. Dr. Strout said staff at his Seattle emergency department encounter and manage to subdue out-of-control patients “all the time,” with death and other complications being “exquisitely rare.”

“We don’t have weapons to use, we have medicines instead and we have different techniques and ways of dealing with these things,” he said.

“The interaction of the police and these subjects is why they’re dying and there very well may be ways the police can decrease that risk of death from their interactions.”

On that last point, at least, Dr. Hall is in agreement, suggesting that the result of her research may be some kind of protocol where police first subdue such suspects, call in paramedics to administer a sedative, then have them taken to hospital, not the police station.

“Of course,” she said, “if one believes it is all a worldwide giant police cover-up, then there is no need to investigate anything and people will continue to die while we spend our resources investigating the last police officer who came into physical contact with him or her.”

Independent, civilian office to investigate B.C. police officers accused of wrongdoing

May 17, 2011
The Canadian Press

VICTORIA — RCMP officers in British Columbia accused of serious wrongdoing will have their cases examined by an independent investigations office under legislation tabled Tuesday by the B.C. government.

The new office will be led by a civilian who has never worked as a police officer and will be responsible for investigating serious criminal allegations against officers in municipal forces as well as the RCMP.

"B.C.'s office will investigate a broader range of police-involved incidents than Ontario's model and be more independent than Alberta's, reporting to the attorney general rather than the minister responsible for policing," Solicitor General Shirley Bond told the legislature in introducing the bill.

Bond said the legislation is the fulfillment of the key recommendation from retired judge Thomas Braidwood's report into the October 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport.

Braidwood and RCMP officials were in the legislature's public gallery to witness the tabling of the bill.

Investigators with the Independent Investigation Office will have the same status and powers as police to conduct criminal investigations into death or serious harm or other incidents involving officers.

The office's director will have the ability to appoint a civilian monitor with access to all the information on an investigation and with the ability to raise concerns to the director about the integrity of an investigation, the government said in background information.

Those who work as investigators for the office will be appointed by the office's director. In the early going, ex-police officers can be hired, but they can't have actively worked as a B.C. police officer in the previous five years.

Long-term, the goal is to progress to a fully civilian investigative staff and the Independent Investigation Office will face a review before Jan. 1, 2015, to determine whether it is on the road to meeting that goal.

"It is critical that British Columbians have confidence in our police and that the police are accountable to them," said Premier Christy Clark.

"This legislation is an historic step for policing in B.C. and will strengthen public faith in the dedicated officers who work so hard to keep our families safe."

Introduction of the legislation, which has been anticipated for months, was welcomed by critics who have long complained about police investigating themselves in such incidents.

Robert Holmes, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties, said he was "very pleased" to hear the government was acting on Braidwood's "critically important recommendations."

Mounties using their heads to video crime, deal with suspects

May 16, 2011
By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The RCMP like to say they always get their man, and soon they might have video of him, too.

The national police force is studying the use of head-mounted video cameras to record confrontations with suspects.

The move follows RCMP field trials in Kelowna, B.C., and Moncton, N.B., last year in which the force tested — and later rejected — other video devices.

Included in the trials were the Taser Cam, an accessory for newer-model stun guns made by Taser International, supplier to the RCMP, and the Vidmic, an audio-video recorder that attaches to an officer's belt radio.

During the pilot, 132 Vidmic video clips were recorded and the Taser Cam was used twice, say RCMP documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. In addition, several still photos were taken with the Vidmic.

The RCMP records show the devices didn't quite meet the force's needs.

Members "expressed concerns" with the Taser Cam because it began recording only when the stun gun's safety switch was set to the armed position, says an August 2010 report on the field trials.

It meant that, in one Kelowna episode, "a significant amount of communication and negotiation" with a man who tried to harm himself and threatened police was not captured on video, notes the report.

In that case, the Taser was not fired.

"Had the situation ended differently, with the subject not complying, the efforts made by the members to de-escalate the situation would not have been recorded," the report says.

Because the Vidmic was mounted on the member's vest or jacket, it was not always pointed in the direction the member was looking, says the report.

Officers also had technical concerns with the Vidmic, including the fact it beeped every few seconds when the battery was low.

"It was noted this could have officer safety implications if the members were conducting a silent approach on foot to an incident."

As a result, late in the trial, the force began looking at a head-worn camera that slips over the ear and connects to a portable mini-computer on the belt.

Ten Axon devices, made by Arizona-based Taser International, were tested only in off-duty settings, such as training, because the video recordings were downloaded directly to a site in the United States, posing potential privacy concerns.

"The members immediately reported that the Axon camera resolved the issues and limitations they had noted with the Vidmic," say the RCMP notes.

Though officers found the mini-computer "quite bulky," the Axon "warranted a more in-depth review."

Based on feedback from officers, the RCMP began new research last month focusing on the head-mounted cameras, said Sgt. Pat Flood, an RCMP spokeswoman.

No field trial is yet underway, she said. But the internal RCMP memos say funding has been set aside in anticipation of the next trial, which might include other police forces.

"If a further pilot is approved, the recordings will be housed in Canada," say the notes. "There is also opportunity to bring other law enforcement agencies in on the expanded pilot project as the server can house their data separately."

At least two other Canadian police forces have tested body-worn video devices. A report on the Victoria police department's 2009 trial found the technology provided "the best evidence possible" and that the video could be used in court. It also said officers' awareness of their surroundings increased, while public hostility and aggressiveness decreased.

Police tout video as a means of documenting their side of the story when conflicting accounts of an altercation arise. However, civil libertarians have warned that police use of video raises important questions about the citizens' rights.

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association has argued that it's no coincidence a number of videos police misconduct have come from the public, not police.

A vivid example is the case of Robert Dziekanski — who died in 2007 after being hit with an RCMP Taser at the Vancouver airport — an episode recorded by a fellow traveller carrying a video camera.

The RCMP report recommends that future study of video look at data storage and retention, cost, training and recertification, and privacy-related concerns.

British Columbia's children's rep to probe Tasering of boy, 11, by RCMP

April 10, 2011
By Damian Inwood, The Province

B.C.'s Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, is launching her own investigation into why Prince George RCMP used a Taser on an 11-yearold boy who was the suspect in a stabbing at a group home.

"The circumstances, as I understand them at this point, are distressing," Turpel-Lafond told The Province Saturday.

"Why are we using Tasers on chilren? Did the police take steps to descalate the situation?"

Supt. Brenda Butterworth-Carr, the commanding officer of the RCMP Prince George detachment, confirmed the child was hit with Taser as he emerged from a neighbouring property from where the attack took place Thursday.

Turpel-Lafond said she wants to know why the boy was in a group home in the first place.

"I'm alarmed," she added. "There are some very hard issues that this raises. Why did it get to this point and what initiatives were taken to support this child?"

Mounties responded to a 911 call that reported a stabbing at 5: 30 p.m. Thursday.

"Police confirmed that a 37-year old male had been allegedly stabbed by an 11-year-old male and the victim was enroute to hospital for medical care," said Butterworth-Carr.

"Members began to search for the suspect and he was located at a nearby neighbouring property. Efforts were made to get the individual out of the house and, when he emerged from the home, a conducted energy weapon was deployed by a member."

The 11-year-old was taken into custody and transported to hospital for assessment, she said.

The victim was in hospital in good condition with non-life-threatening injuries, said Butterworth-Carr.

She said she didn't know the status of the 11-year-old and referred questions to West Vancouver police, who are conducting an independent investigation into the incident.

News reports said the boy barricaded himself in a Giscome Road group home after stabbing an employee with a steak knife.

Canadian medical study to look at Taser research gaps

February 15, 2011
The Canadian Press/CTV

OTTAWA — Gaps in the research on how Taser stun guns affect people will be one focus of a federal program aimed at better understanding the powerful weapons used for years by Canadian police.

Other studies will look at test procedures to ensure Tasers operate properly and ways to evaluate new weapons police might adopt, records obtained under the Access to Information Act show.

The $1.8-million Taser research program is overseen by the federal Centre for Security Science, a joint initiative of the Public Safety Department and Defence Research and Development Canada. The effort is slated to run through 2012-13.
,
Civil liberties advocates say the work is overdue given long-standing questions about stun gun safety.

"It's certainly welcome, we just wish it had been there a lot earlier," said Hilary Homes, a human rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada.

"We hope it moves ahead on time -- ahead of time, if possible."

David Eby of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association said it's positive that government recognizes the need for study, but he argued some topics have already been researched elsewhere.

"What I don't understand is why they're only doing this work now."

Almost a decade after police forces began using the Taser, the law enforcement community is still grappling with its effects.

In an effort to see common threads, the watchdog over the RCMP looked at the 10 cases, spanning 2003 to 2008, in which someone died in Mountie custody after a Taser had been used.

It urged the police force not to hog-tie people and called on the Mounties to better train officers on identifying, dealing with, and using force on the mentally ill and those with drug and alcohol problems.

Martin Champoux, a spokesman for Defence Research and Development Canada, acknowledges a need for more research to give policy makers and the policing community "scientific methodologies and tools that they need to make sure that they've got this right."

A panel of biomedical experts will deliver a report by August on existing research about the physiological effects of the Taser. That will help identify gaps and lay the groundwork for a strategy to fill them, Champoux said.

Another study will develop test procedures and performance measures to ensure Tasers are operating according to the manufacturer's specifications. Police forces will then be able to use it as a tool for checking their Tasers, he said.

The program will also include development of a protocol for "testing the next big thing" police might adopt to control suspects, Champoux added.

Though it is unclear what that might be, there has already been chatter about experimental weapons that emit sound, heat and noxious smells to disperse crowds or incapacitate would-be attackers.

"Nobody's brought anything to us to evaluate in the policing context," Champoux said.

Holmes applauded the move to create an approval process, saying it could have helped avoid the worldwide furor over safety of the Taser. "Some of that might have been mitigated if there had been a proper approvals framework in the first place."

In May, the Mounties introduced a new Taser policy, saying they would fire them at people only when they're hurting someone or clearly about to do so.

The directive mirrored a recommendation from a B.C. public inquiry on Taser use prompted by the 2007 death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport.

Tasered and hog-tied correlates with death in custody: RCMP watchdog

December 12, 2010
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—The watchdog over the RCMP is urging the police force to clearly tell officers not to hog-tie people after finding the generally forbidden technique was used in 40 per cent of cases in which someone died after being hit with a Taser stun gun.

A new report by the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP also reveals “a number of instances” among the 10 deaths where members who fired the Taser were not certified to use the powerful weapon.

The hog-tie involves binding both the hands and feet behind a person, then linking them with rope or other such restraint.

The report recommends the Mounties better train officers on identifying, dealing with, and using force on the mentally ill and those with drug and alcohol problems.

“Many of the individuals had pre-existing medical conditions and a significant number of individuals were confirmed to have had a history of mental health problems,” says the report by complaints commission chairman Ian McPhail.

It also advocates detailing all deaths in police custody in a national database, which could improve understanding of risk factors and prevent future fatalities.

The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the commission’s interim report, completed in late July, under the Access to Information Act. A final report will be issued following feedback from RCMP Commissioner William Elliott.

Tasers can be fired from a distance, felling suspects with high-voltage bursts through sharp probes that dig into the skin, overriding the central nervous system. They can also be used up close in touch-stun mode, likened to leaning on a hot stove.

In an effort to see common threads, the commission looked at the 10 cases, spanning 2003 to 2008, in which someone died in RCMP custody after a Taser had been used. Six of the deaths occurred in British Columbia, with one each in Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Yukon.

The commission examined 50,000 pages of material related to the cases to come up with “a very general overview” of the people who died, namely:

A male who was initially unarmed;

A suspected or known user of a drug, most often cocaine;

Highly agitated; and

With pre-existing medical conditions, most likely cardiovascular in nature.

The use of the Taser most likely involved a police response to a disturbance call, was fired in both touch stun and probe modes, and involved three to four members.

The complaints commission generally found that relevant Taser policy was followed. But it noted the hog-tie was “still being readily used” to restrain people after stun gun firings despite being prohibited by the RCMP in 2002 with only specific exceptions.

The report says given that a number of autopsy reports listed body position as a preceding circumstance or contributing cause of death, the RCMP “ought to ensure that members understand the potential impact of using prohibited restraint mechanisms.”

It recommends the RCMP “develop and communicate to members clear protocols on the use of restraints and the prohibition of the hog-tie, modified hog-tie and choke-holds.”

The commission also found the RCMP’s “In-Custody Death” form — intended to capture information about the circumstances of a fatality — was not completed in eight of the 10 cases.

A separate Mountie Taser use form was filled out in seven cases, but many were completed “a significant time after the incident.

In addition, the information on file was often too limited to determine what officers did to try to de-escalate confrontations.

Continued employment of the hog-tie and the fact a number of officers weren’t qualified to use a Taser are reasons for concern, said Hilary Homes of Amnesty International Canada.

“I think this is a good example of why you need to have strong minimum standards.”

David Eby, executive director of the British Columbia Civll Liberties Association, wondered why it took an Access to Information request to dislodge the report. “This is important information that should be available widely.”

The RCMP said it would be inappropriate to comment on the interim report before the commissioner’s formal response is sent to the complaints body.

In May, the Mounties introduced a new Taser policy, saying they would fire stun guns at people only when they’re hurting someone or clearly about to do so.

The directive mirrored a recommendation from former judge Thomas Braidwood, head of a B.C. public inquiry on Taser use prompted by the 2007 death of air passenger Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport.

Police-related deaths higher in British Columbia

October 27, 2010
Ian Bailey, Globe and Mail

British Columbia had twice as many jail and police-related deaths as much more populous Ontario in a recent 15-year period that was the focus of a study on the issue for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

The study, released Wednesday and calling for reforms in the investigation and prevention of such incidents, also finds that B.C. had the highest number of deaths a year of any of six provinces and territories for which numbers were available.

“We have what looks like people dying at a higher rate in British Columbia than in any other jurisdiction in the country that provided data,” said David MacAlister, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University and author of the report.

The study covered 1992 to 2007 – the period for which statistics were available. It crunched data from B.C., New Brunswick, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, the Yukon and Ontario. Statistics were not available elsewhere.

In that period, 267 people died in police custody in B.C. – 53 per cent of them accidentally – though the numbers declined from 24 in 1992 to 11 in 2007. That compares with 113 people in Ontario, which provided data only from 1992 to 2006 and has three times the population of B.C.

B.C had the greatest number of deaths per capita, with one per 254,550 people a year, compared with one for every 1.63 million people in Ontario.

Mr. MacAlister, director of SFU’s Institute for Studies in Criminal Justice Policy, said he did not have a theory or explanation to explain why the numbers are so different in B.C.

His research concluded that one person died every three weeks in B.C., every 6.5 weeks in Ontario, every 19.5 weeks in Saskatchewan, every 31 weeks in New Brunswick, every 45.5 weeks in the Northwest Territories and every 71 weeks in the Yukon.

David Eby, executive director for the civil liberties association, said the findings speak to failings in the manner in which B.C. deals with such cases.

“It’s safe to say the safeguards that are supposed to be in place to prevent these deaths in B.C. are not working,” he said in an interview.

He said he was referring specifically to recommendations from various coroners’ inquests and accountability measures when police are accused of using excessive force.

Mr. Eby said the association is hoping the report spurs the government to step up its plans to establish a civilian-led Independent Investigation Office, which would probe in-custody deaths or police cases involving serious injury.

Currently, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, which is a civilian oversight body, investigates public complaints against officers in B.C.’s non-RCMP municipal forces. The federal Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP deals with complaints against the Mounties.

Former solicitor-general Mike de Jong has said legislation creating the agency could be tabled next year. Rich Coleman, this week named Solicitor-General in a cabinet shuffle, was not available for comment.

Mr. Eby also said he hopes the report will encourage B.C. to look at how to make recommendations from relevant coroners’ inquests more meaningful.

“It’s embarrassing that B.C.’s numbers are so out of whack,” he said.

Justice ministers issue national guidelines on Tasers

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.

Call for police watchdogs growing across Canada

July 27, 2010
Shannon Kari, National Post

Standing on the front steps of the sandstone facade of the Osgoode Hall courthouse in downtown Toronto, Evelyn Minty grieved openly about the loss of her son, Douglas, who was fatally shot by an Ontario Provincial Police officer last year.

"I want answers. I want to know what happened with my son," she said outside a court hearing this spring. "I don't want mothers to go through what I have gone through. It's been a year. I can't forget it. I can't sleep nights."

Her developmentally disabled 59-year-old son had a knife and was allegedly approaching an officer in the small community of Elmvale, about 120 kilometres northwest of Toronto, when he was killed.

The Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the civilian agency in Ontario that probes incidents of serious harm or death involving police, ultimately decided not to charge the officers involved. It was not an unexpected decision: No criminal charges have been laid against a police officer in Ontario in any of the 45 fatal shootings of civilians over the past decade.

Frustrated by the lack of information about the case, the Minty family and relatives of Levi Schaeffer, another man fatally shot last year by police, went to Ontario Superior Court. They want the court to order an end to practices such as officers consulting with lawyers before drafting their notes in these types of cases. What is unusual is that the families have the support of the SIU. Its director, Ian Scott, agreed that the vetting of notes and the potential for collusion when several officers retain the same lawyer are preventing the agency from conducting independent and timely investigations.

It is the first time in the two decades since the SIU was created that its director has complained publicly about impediments to investigating police.

Standing on the other side of the court aisle were lawyers representing every major police organization in Ontario.

"We have a pretty good model," said Ron Bain, executive director of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, in an interview. "The SIU has evolved over time to be more operationally sound. I am not hearing anything out of the Atttorney-General's office that the SIU needs changing."

Resisting change, however, may be a futile pursuit. The call for better police oversight is growing.

The Alberta and Manitoba governments are moving to greater civilian oversight of incidents of serious injury or death to a civilian involving police. The Toronto Police Services Board has agreed to a review of the actions that led to the arrest of hundreds of people at the G20 summit in June.

Perhaps most prominent are the recommendations of Thomas Braidwood, who presided over the inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, who died after being Tasered at Vancouver International Airport in 2007. He is calling for the creation of an oversight agency with the broadest powers in the country. "The debate is no longer whether British Columbians should have a civilian-based investigative body, but what it should look like," wrote the retired B.C. Court of Appeal judge in his report released last month.

One recommendation, which by Mr. Braidwood acknowledges is potentially controversial, is that the new agency would eventually be made up only of civilian investigators. This is not the case in Ontario, where most SIU investigators are retired officers.

This is not something police in B.C. would necessarily oppose. "Our concern is only that the investigators have the proper training and expertise," said Clayton Pecknold, president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police.

The association first said last fall that it supported a civilian oversight agency in B.C. "These investigations take up a lot of resources. We are happy to have an agency take this one on," said Mr. Pecknold, who also serves as deputy chief constable of the Central Saanich Police Service.

"While we have confidence in our past investigations, we need to deal with public perception. Let's get this up and running."

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is also urging the province to move quickly to implement the Braidwood recommendations. "I am very optimistic. This is what the public wants," said Robert Holmes, president of the civil liberties group. "Oversight is not about criminal charges [against police], it is about public confidence."

For its part, the B.C. government indicated the new oversight agency would be up and running within a year. Attorney-General Michael de Jong declined a request for an interview.

Julian Falconer, who represents the Minty and Schaeffer families, said better oversight will increase public confidence in police. "It does police services no good to justify or conceal bad policing. Good police officers should not be left out of the equation of those who benefit from effective oversight," Mr. Falconer said.

In Ontario, there may also be political obstacles for the SIU, as well as the relatives of Mr. Minty and Mr. Schaeffer.

Superior Court Justice Wailan Low ruled recently that it was not for the courts to decide on whether the vetting of notes and one lawyer representing multiple officers violate Police Act regulations. While two provincial reports recommended an end to the practices, "whether the government adopts the suggestions in the reports and enacts laws to implement them is within its province alone," she concluded.

Lacking confidence that the Ontario government will act on those two reports, the families recently filed an appeal of Judge Low's ruling. That appeal is unlikely to be heard until the fall.

---------

SIU FACTS

Often described in other provinces as the "gold standard" for civilian oversight of police panels, the Special Investigations Unit in Ontario, however, has been beset by controversy since it was created in 1990. Some facts:

-No fewer than seven government-commissioned reports have examined policing, oversight and the complaint process since the SIU was created.

-Its annual budget of $6.8-million (according to its 2008 annual report, the most recent available) is less than half that of the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland, even though Ontario has seven times the population.

-Between 2003 and 2008, criminal charges were laid against police in less than 2% of the more than 1,000 cases investigated.

-A 2008 report by Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin, himself a former SIU director, suggested it was still a "fledgling" organization that was "administratively and technically challenged."

BCCLA celebrates the end of police self investigation

June 21, 2010
by British Columbia Civil Liberties Association

The BCCLA celebrated Friday’s announcement by B.C. Provincial Solicitor General Mike De Jong that the Province would end the practice of police investigating themselves by establishing a new civilian investigation body. The announcement came in response to Commissioner Braidwood’s recommendations at the inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski.

The BCCLA was the only agency at the Braidwood Taser Inquiry that argued for the end of the police investigating police system, and has advocated for the creation of such an agency for at least the past fifteen years.

“We simply cannot improve on Commissioner Braidwood’s recommendations and we are thrilled that the province will move to implement them in the next year,” said Robert Holmes, President of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association. “We offer our congratulations to the province for taking this historic step, as well as our support and assistance in ensuring that the new body is as robust and independent as Commissioner Braidwood clearly hopes it will be.”

The Braidwood Commission’s recommendation of the establishment of an Independent Investigation Office follows on the Frank Paul Inquiry’s Commissioner William Davies’ recommendation of the same policy reform, the call of the Police Chiefs of British Columbia for this reform and new federal legislation introduced this week that mandates the RCMP to pass investigations of serious matters and police involved deaths to civilian investigation bodies where such bodies exist.

“There is no way to articulate how important this reform is to enhancing public confidence in our police,” said Holmes. “The implementation of Commissioner Braidwood’s recommendations will make B.C. a national leader in police accountability. B.C. residents have demanded it, and our province is delivering.” The BCCLA has sent a letter to the Province congratulating the Solicitor General for this initiative.

For immediate release

British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
June 21, 2010

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Robert Holmes, President, 604-681-1310
David Eby, Executive Director, 778-865-7997

British Columbia's coroner system questioned by forensic pathologist

May 6, 2010
By Carlito Pablo, The Georgia Straight

Forensic pathologist John Butt wants B.C. to introduce a medical examiner system; currently, the chief coroner isn’t required to have a medical background.
A renowned forensic pathologist says B.C. should change its system for investigating sudden deaths.

John Butt is recommending a shift from the current coroner setup to a medical examiner system, which is used in a number of other provinces, namely Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

“In the investigation of sudden death, there are five questions that have to be answered,” Butt explained to the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “The question that carries the greatest responsibility and is commonest and costs the most money is the question ‘Why?’, which is the medical cause of death.”

Butt is a former chief medical examiner for Alberta and Nova Scotia. He now works in Vancouver as a private consultant in forensic medicine, and specializes in providing expert testimony.

B.C.’s Coroners Act doesn’t require the chief coroner to have a medical background. For almost 30 years, between 1981 and 2010, the post was held by ex–police officers. Robert Galbraith was followed by Vincent Cain; Larry Campbell, who later became Vancouver mayor and is now a Liberal senator; and Terry Smith.

On April 1, Diane Rothon took over the B.C. Coroners Service, becoming the second physician to head the death investigation agency since the province’s first chief coroner, William McArthur, who held the position from 1979 to 1981.

Although Butt is pleased that the new chief coroner is a doctor, he suggested that the province consider introducing a medical examiner system.

“The medical examiner system is led, governed by an expert in forensic pathology,” he said. “That means that they have to be a forensic pathologist, not just a doctor. Just like the operating room is the tool of the surgeon, the tool of the forensic pathologist is the autopsy.”

Butt pointed out that the B.C. Coroners Service doesn’t have forensic medical expertise. As such, it contracts out autopsies to hospitals.

The Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General didn’t make Rothon or any other official available for comment. However, in a statement e-mailed to the Straight, a ministry spokesperson asserted that there is no compelling reason to switch to a medical examiner system.

Like Canada, the U.S. employs a mix of coroner and medical examiner models in different jurisdictions. However, a report released last year by the National Academy of Sciences, a Washington, D.C.–based private advisory body, recommended Congress earmark funds to set up “medical examiner systems, with the goal of replacing and eventually eliminating existing coroner systems”.

The report cited the need for unbiased death investigations in sensitive cases like police shootings and those occurring in jails, as one of the reasons for having a medical examiner. “The medical examiner is first and foremost a physician, whose education, training, and experience is in the application of the body of medicine to situations that have a legal dimension that must be answered by a practitioner of medicine,” the document states.

For many years in B.C., deaths in police custody were automatically subject to coroners’ inquests. However, in March of this year, the provincial government passed legislation giving the chief coroner the discretion to waive inquests in these cases, a move that civil-liberties advocates like lawyer Cameron Ward argue will weaken police accountability.

How this new legislation will be implemented is one of the issues the B.C. Civil Liberties Association intends to raise with Rothon in a meeting scheduled for June 1, BCCLA executive director David Eby told the Straight.

Hundreds of faulty RCMP Tasers destroyed or pulled

April 18, 2010
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The RCMP has destroyed or retired hundreds of Tasers after laboratory tests found some Mountie stun guns were not performing properly.

Internal RCMP notes obtained by The Canadian Press say 15 per cent of the older M26 model Tasers and one per cent of the newer X26 models did not test within technical tolerances.

Draft statistics provided by the force say that as of December, 149 M26s and 60 X26s from across the country had not performed within specifications.

The Tasers that did not meet tolerances "were destroyed and replaced by divisions," says a December briefing note to RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, released under the Access to Information Act.

In addition, the draft figures indicate several RCMP divisions had either replaced or planned to retire more than 200 other M26 stun guns.

The RCMP declined to provide additional updates, saying the force would publish the final test results this spring.

It's "inherently problematic" that the RCMP, which has been using Tasers for more than eight years, didn't test the devices before putting them in the field, said Rob Holmes, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

"It should have been done from the get-go."

Serious questions of stun gun reliability first arose in December 2008 when a scientific review commissioned by the CBC and French-language Radio-Canada concluded that four out of 41 guns tested actually discharged more electrical current than Taser International says is possible.

In some of the test firings the police weapons delivered 50 per cent more current.

Last June, Elliott ordered all Tasers in the RCMP inventory be tested. A short time earlier, he directed all divisions to pull their M26s from service until testing could confirm they were operating within specifications.

The RCMP's testing protocol was developed in January 2009 by MPB Technologies, an independent electronics lab, with input from the government-run Canadian Police Research Centre, Carleton University scientists and stun gun manufacturer Taser International.

The RCMP has long maintained the Taser contributes to officer and public safety when properly used in appropriate situations by well-trained officers.

Critics say police use the powerful devices to make unco-operative people comply with orders even when they don't pose a threat to officers or bystanders.

The force is working on an overhaul of its Taser policy following recommendations from inquiries prompted by the death of air passenger Robert Dziekanski.

Dziekanski, en route to British Columbia from Poland to join his mother, Zofia Cisowski, died in October 2007 after being hit with a Mountie Taser at the Vancouver airport.

A video of the confrontation filmed by a fellow passenger, in which an agitated and disoriented Dziekanski is zapped repeatedly, was seen by millions of people -- stirring public outrage and widespread re-examination of stun gun use.

The RCMP recently apologized to Cisowski and agreed to a financial settlement.

The RCMP's Taser destruction and retirement program represents a shift towards the newer-model stun gun, seen as more technically reliable than the older version.

As of mid-March there were 1,114 M26 Tasers in use by the RCMP, down from 1,623 when testing began, and 2,262 X26 Tasers in the Mountie inventory, up from 1,561.

Former judge Thomas Braidwood, who led a B.C. public inquiry on Taser use, said while the guns can kill or gravely injure people, they can also be a valuable option for officers.

In an initial report, Braidwood said police should use a Taser only when someone is causing harm to another or there's a possibility they will imminently do so. He also recommended that stun guns be tested periodically.

Alberta has declared that Tasers used in the province be tested annually and that any new ones be scrutinized before being put into service.

"As a result of the guidelines issued by B.C. and Alberta, a long-term strategy will have to be developed for ongoing testing," says the RCMP briefing note.

Taser International did not respond to a request for comment on the RCMP-commissioned lab tests.

BC Civil liberties association pans plan to eliminate some coroner's inquestsCivil liberties association pans plan to eliminate some coroner's inques

April 2, 2010
Vancouver Sun

A plan to eliminate mandatory coroner's inquests for some in-custody and police-involved deaths was criticized by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Wednesday.

A press release by the association said mandatory inquests ensure some accountability by the police and are especially important given that "public confidence is at a low because of Mr. Dzekanski's death and other high-profile cases."

Robert Dziekanski died in October, 2007 after being hit by a Taser repeatedly by RCMP at the Vancouver airport.

The BCCLA sent a letter to B.C. Solicitor-General Kash Heed, asking that he withdraw the proposed amendment to the Coroners Act that would eliminate the requirement for some in-custody and police-involved inquests. "Government should make inquests full, fair and open proceedings, not shut them down before they get underway," said BCCLA president Robert Holmes in a press release.

The BCCLA would prefer government make changes to the Coroners Act, such as requiring B.C.'s chief coroner to be a medical professional.

B.C. police complaints commissioner to review transit police Taser incident

See also: WWW.EXCITED-DELIRIUM.COM

March 6, 2010
Frank Luba, The Province

Since voluntarily changing the rules in 2008 around when Tasers are used, the transit police have used the conducted energy weapon just once.

The transit police had used Tasers a total of 10 times in 2007 and 2008, which resulted in a complaint from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner.

The transit police said Friday they have been exonerated in their use of the weapon in nine of the 10 instances, with the disciplinary authority asking for a review of the 10th incident.

The police also released a DVD of videos of the incidents taken by cameras on the Tasers or by cameras in the station where the incidents took place.

The BCCLA was surprised to hear about the exoneration of the police because the group hasn’t seen the decision.

Insp. David Hansen of the transit police said the police complaints commissioner’s report is still not complete but that the force intends to discuss it with the civil liberties group after the investigation is finished.

BCCLA executive director David Eby still wants improvements around the use of Tasers.

“There needs to be a [consistent] policy around when it’s used and how it’s reported,” said Eby.

He conceded the situation has improved, particularly after provincial Solicitor-General Kash Heed directed police, sheriffs and corrections officers in July to severely restrict the use of Tasers.

“It’s a much better situation than it was when transit police were Tasering people for fare evasion,” said Eby.

Heed was not available for comment Friday but a ministry source said the province is working with the federal government as part of ongoing negotiations to incorporate the Braidwood Commission’s recommendations about Tasers into RCMP policy and standards.

The transit police’s use of the Taser plunged after the force voluntarily changed the guidelines for using the weapon from suspects being “non-compliant” to “actively resistant.”

So instead of Tasering someone because they were fleeing after being asked for their ticket, as had happened previously, the last time transit police used the Taser was on an actively resistant suspect armed with a butcher knife.

The subject was later convicted of assaulting a transit police officer.

Despite the reduction, Hansen wouldn’t drop the weapon from his force’s armoury.

“It’s a valuable tool,” he said. “To us, it’s something we need. It’s another step. It’s a less-than-lethal option. I still feel there’s a need even though there’s only been one incident [since the guidelines changed].”

The complaints commissioner’s office did not respond to a request for an interview on Friday.