May 26, 2011
Katherine Wilton, Montreal Gazette
...
Police use of Taser stun guns dropped to seven incidents last year from 11 in 2009.
The public security committee, which held hearings last year into the force’s use of Tasers, has ruled that police should use the stun guns only when they’re the sole alternative to a firearm.
...
April 3, 2010
ALANA COATES, The Gazette
The city of Montreal is to hold a public consultation on the use of Tasers by police officers.
Residents and representatives of organizations are urged to express their opinions on the issue at one of two sessions April 27 at city hall.
Last year, city council mandated the city's public security committee to analyze the pros and cons of Tasers, which use an electrical charge to disable targets. The consultations come as part of this inquiry, headed by Verdun borough mayor Claude Trudel.
The committee is to submit a report and recommendations to city council, which can then decide to pass it to Quebec Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis, city spokesperson Darren Becker said.
Taser use is already highly restricted in Montreal, Becker noted.
"There are only 16 Tasers for police officers in Montreal, and they can be used only in very specific circumstances to apprehend a suspect," he said.
Taser use came under scrutiny in Montreal after the death in 2007 of Quilem Registre, who died two days after being tasered six times by police as they tried to arrest him.
The consultations are set for 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 27 at city hall. People who wish sign up in advance to speak can call 514-872-3770.
Commentaries can also be sent to commissions@ville.montreal.qc.ca
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Excited-Delirium blog said...
The problem with seeking input from the general public is that most are apathetic, oblivious, or ignorant. And the law enforcement community are often naive, misled, or even worse... ...fully paid-up members of The Church of Taser.
The problems with tasers are extremely well documented.
1) Tasers are far too often overused, misused and abused.
Solution - gain control of the taser training. The OEM training is defective. It is misleading. It is propaganda. Next add Use of Force training. Highlight that lawful force is a damn noun.
2) Tasers can kill. Directly. Even healthy adults.
Solution - restrict tasers to only those cases where the subject is already, actively, being violent. Not just the old "an aggressive stance" bull sh_t.
3) The manufacturer denies the risk of death and encourages overuse.
Sue them. Sue and sue and sue. Deceptive and misleading advertising that leads to death is pretty serious.
The problems are well documented. The solutions follow logically. It's not something that needs anything more than information and honesty.
October 26, 2009
Brian Daly, ctvmontreal.ca
Quebec's system of cops investigating each other must be scrapped because officers usually can't be objective, critics said as a CTV investigation reveals that such probes rarely lead to criminal charges.
Under Quebec law, an outside police force is called in whenever officers are involved in shootings or other incidents that affect civilians. The ministerial policy has been in place since the 1990's.
But a prominent anti-racism group and a former head of the province's police ethics commission both say that data obtained by CTV News shows that the system doesn't work.
Through Access to Information, CTV obtained the results of six years of investigations -- 97 cases where civilians died in police shootings, chases and arrests that involved a confrontation.
Only once did the outside police force recommend criminal charges.
The sole case brought to trial resulted in an acquittal and a 60-day suspension for SQ officer Hugo Potvin, whose blocking maneuver with his cruiser led to the death of a young ATV driver northeast of Montreal in 2003.
But outside forces closed the book on 96 other cases, including some of the highest-profile police-related deaths in recent years. Here's a summary:
Quebec Police Confrontations:
Jan 2003 - May 2008
Shootings 46
Chases 39
Road Accidents 8
Arrests/Takedowns 4
Total 97
Criminal Charges 1
Paul Monty, who headed up Quebec's Police Ethics Commission from 1999 to 2005, said he was so troubled by CTV's findings that he had to speak out.
"I was shocked," he said in a recent interview from in Ste-Foy.
"We have one of the best, if not the best police officers in the world but . . . if the population will be shocked, the support can change and it can be the beginning of more difficult tasks for the police department."
Though he would not give specific examples, Monty said that some of the cases examined by CTV warranted criminal charges.
"I remember some cases that could be sent to the Crown -- it was negligence, criminal negligence of police officers."
Explosive cases
Many of the cases dismissed by police are explosive:
•The August, 2008 shooting death of 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva by Montreal police officer Jean-Loup Lapointe that triggered riots, a lawsuit and a coroner's inquest that got underway Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
•Quillem Registre, 38, who died during an October 2007 arrest after Montreal police tasered him six times in less than 60 seconds. Police say Registre was high and hysterical at the time. A coroner later said the stun gun might have contributed to his death.
•Mohamed Benis, 25, shot and killed by Montreal police in December 2005 as he happened across a drug operation in Cote-des-neiges. Police claim Benis tried to attack an officer with a knife but his family disputes the claim.
•And Michel Berniquez, who died after being subdued by six officers in Montreal North in 2003.
Outside police forces reached the same conclusion in all four deaths -- case closed, no charges.
Defends system
Quebec's Public Security department is in charge of the outside investigations, all of which are handled by the Surete du Quebec, Montreal police or investigators with the Quebec City police.
The department says the system works.
"The police forces that conduct these investigations possess the necessary expertise and experience to manage these cases," spokesman Martin Vaillancourt said in an emailed response.
Vaillancourt says there are multiple checks and balances on police conduct including:
•The Police Ethics Commission, which investigates citizen complaints against police and can suspend officers:
•The coroner, who can hold an inquest into police actions:
•The Public Security department, which can review operational and administrative practices:
•And the police forces, which are bound by internal discipline rules.
Call for change
Ontario is the only province where police forces are overseen by civilian agency - the Special Investigations Unit.
British Columbia is considering more civilian involvement in t he wake of the taser death of Robert Dziekanski, who died at Vancouver Airport in 2007 after he was hit with a stun gun during an altercation with four Mounties.
Civilian competence questioned
The Quebec ombudsman, Raymonde Saint-Germain, will soon table a report into Quebec's system of police investigating police.
She has previously said the system has problems, but a source in Quebec law enforcement questions the idea of bringing civilians into the process.
He says that complex investigative techniques such as ballistics, DNA and accident reconstruction are best left to the experts.
"This is not something where you could take a guy who's a security guard and put him in there," said the source.
"How do you keep (civilians) up to date?"
CRARR reacts
Fo Niemi of the human-rights group CRARR says it's ridiculous for police to circle their wagons amidst all of the criticism.
"Anybody can be trained, even if they're not a police officer," says Niemi.
"Even doctors can be very effective investigators, just like coroners don't have to be police officers to determine the cause of death in criminal circumstances.
Another solution?
Monty has another solution - he says the police ethics commission should be given expanded powers to investigate allegations of police wrongdoing. He says the civilian-led agency is familiar with the files and represents a lower-cost option than an all-new civilian agency.
The ethics commission can currently recommend disciplinary, but not criminal, sanctions against police officers.
Oversight of Quebec police will be under more scrutiny in a few weeks.
A coroner's inquest into the Villanueva's death is now underway at the Montreal courthouse. The Crown's decision not to press charges in the Villanueva case followed a Surete du Quebec report that the Montreal police officer was justifiably engaged in justifiable defence.
Were these x26 or m26 tasers??
March 28, 2009
Sue Montgomery, Canwest News Service
Quebec will destroy five Tasers after they malfunctioned during testing, Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis said Friday.
The five were among a group of 52 stun guns that were made before 2005, but Dupuis didn't know what was wrong with the weapons.
He said the remaining 115 guns available to 14,000 police officers in the province will also be tested.
"We want them all to be well-functioning," Dupuis told a news conference.
He said that to avoid being shocked with a Taser -- a means of restraining suspects by hitting them with a 50,000-volt electric charge -- a person need only obey police officers.
He said police have been given strict guidelines on how to use Tasers. Police have to give a verbal warning before firing, can't fire at a person's head, neck or genitals, and must test the Taser when they take possession of it.
About 20 deaths in Canada after police used a Taser to subdue someone have led to calls for a ban on the weapons.
In Montreal, Taser use came under fire after the 2007 death of Quilem Registre, who died two days after being Tasered six times by Montreal police as they tried to arrest him.
March 27, 2009
CBC News
The Quebec government is pulling all its Taser stun guns off the street for testing after new lab results revealed problems with some of the weapons.
Quebec was the first province to order testing of the stun guns after a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation showed some used by Canadian police did not meet the manufacturer's specifications.
The province sent 52 stun guns made before 2005 to an independent lab for testing. Five of them performed outside normal range.
With the results in hand, on Thursday evening Quebec Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis ordered all of the province's police departments to send their Taser stun guns to the lab immediately.
As a result, 167 of the weapons will remain off the streets until they are checked.
"All of the measures possible will be taken," Dupuis said in his statement. "Quebec is on the leading edge in this work and nothing will be neglected in guaranteeing the responsible use and security of this type of weapon."
The Quebec government has not yet provided details on how the guns malfunctioned or how much current they delivered.
The problem weapons came from Longueuil, Eastmain and Akwesasne. Police say none of the weapons had been used against a person. The five stun guns will be destroyed.
Quebec tests echo CBC/Radio-Canada findings
Quebec first became concerned about stun guns after a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation last fall. CBC tested 41 Taser stun guns and found that 10 per cent delivered higher jolts of electric current than specified by the manufacturer, Taser International. All the Tasers that malfunctioned were older models.
Pierre Savard, the biomedical engineer who conducted the CBC/Radio-Canada analysis, also worked with the province on developing the protocol for its study.
"It is difficult for me to say something definite about those results but it clearly shows that all Tasers are not perfect," said Pierre Savard.
There are thousands of Tasers in use by police across the country and most major police forces are in the process of having their the stun guns tested.
Critics, supporters applaud recall decision
Critics of stun gun use in Quebec were pleased by the minister's decision.
Marvin Rotrand, a Montreal city councillor, hopes the recall will lead to a full ban in Quebec. "Is this a valid part of the police arsenal? The proof has not been made conclusively," said Rotrand.
"The minister now has an opportunity not only to test whether Tasers in the police arsenal across Quebec actually are safe, but whether we might be better off if Tasers were retired from the arsenal altogether."
Claude Dauphin, the executive committee member responsible for public security, said the Montreal police department will send its 17 Taser stun guns to the lab as requested.
He supports the government's decision to test the stun guns, and hopes the findings will reassure the public that they are important tools for police.
"When we use the Taser gun it is the last resort before the real gun," said Dauphin. "That is why on the island … we made sure with our police authorities that [the stun gun] has to be used in a very restricted operation."
Dupuis is expected to hold a news conference Friday to give more details.
Taser International has not responded to the Quebec action. However, the company has criticized CBC/Radio-Canada's investigation, saying the testing methods were flawed.
See the archived map for the period February 2009 to February 2010 here.
