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A picture of Robert Dziekanski lies next to a bouquet of flowers during a news conference in Vancouver last year. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

RCMP would consider changing Taser policies

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Canada AM: B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal
AM0219_taser

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Date: Tue. Feb. 19 2008 4:23 PM ET

A top RCMP official says the Mounties would consider changing their Taser use policies if a public inquiry provides evidence for such a need.

Gary Bass, the deputy commissioner of the RCMP's Pacific Region, made the comment as B.C. began its inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after an incident involving a Taser at Vancouver International Airport in October 2007.

"We are pleased to participate voluntarily with this inquiry or any other process with the goal of ensuring that our policies, techniques, methodologies and equipment are working properly and doing what they were designed to do,'' Bass told The Canadian Press.

The inquiry into Dziekanski's death was launched this week. Dziekanski, an immigrant from Poland, died after a confrontation with police at the airport after his arrival from Europe on October 14. In a witness video of the incident, it appeared that the RCMP used an electric stun gun -- commonly known as a Taser -- at least two times on Dziekanski.

Wally Oppal, B.C.'s attorney general, says the inquiry wants to find out what happened to Dziekanski in the hours leading up to and during the incident. He said it will also look into police use of Tasers in B.C.

"We want to know whether the use of Tasers is appropriate for the police under the circumstances," Oppal told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.

"There's been a lot of evidence out there about deaths and other evidence that have been raised since that incident."

Oppal said there has been a call by some to completely ban the use of Tasers, "but I think that would be premature."

He said the inquiry wants to hear from all sides of the argument before making any recommendations.

The inquiry can make findings of misconduct into Dziekanski's death. However, when it comes to the phase of the inquiry that looks into the use of Tasers, it will not be able to force witnesses to testify. It will also not be able assess blame for individual misconduct in that phase.

The inquiry would be able to give its recommendations about Taser use to the federal government, which has jurisdiction over the RCMP.

Comments are now closed for this story

Carol
said

My concern is what if a person is suffering from a severe heart condition, or is acting irrational because of an epeleptic seizure,or being overdosed on perscribed medicine for a debilitating sickness.How would an officer know in advance why a person is re-acting the way he or she is before tazering that person,and possibly causing that persons demise from a severe re-action.The officer instantly becomes judge and jury.


Bob from Winnipeg
said

To all the people that do not like Tasers I would suggest you take a week out of your life and spend it down town at night and see what the police have to deal with on a daily basis. Then participate in a little experiment. First day get yourself peppersprayed time how long it takes to recover.
Second day have someone hit you with a baton 10 seconds should do it if it's someone who likes you 5 if it's not. Again time how long it takes for you to recover.
Third day get yourself Tasered. Time how long to recover.
Last day get yourself shot, preferably not leathal.
time recovery. anilize all data from your experiment and I think you will find Tasers to be the least painful and fastest to recover from.


Alex
said

TASERs are an absolutely invaluable tool to policing. It has saved countless lives of citizens, both suicidal and criminal, as well as police officers. Imagine a situation where a suicidal person is charging an officer with a knife, without the taser that person would be shot, and legally the officer would not be in the wrong. Then the inquiries would come out, why was he shot, couldn't a taser have been used, what about pepper spray or a baton. People of the Lower Mainland need to stop and think about what their goals are and possible consequences for their uproars about tasers. You never know, it could be your husband or child who ends up being shot, when their life could have been saved with the taser.


Jim
said

As a 1960-1970's Ex Member of the RCM Police, I have to comment. In those days, there was no pepper spray, no zappers, just a 3 cell flashlight, and the butt of a 38S&W. It could get messy, but very rarely did. There seemed to be some respect in those days.

Mind you, we had to learn how to manage a horse before we could manage a man.

In those day, I even had respect for some of the Judges. Some could even add big, big numbers.

But....times have changed. Then, and now, keep the peace, be good, and don't piss off the nice policeman.


GGE
said

To City Police Officer:

Obviously in your situation those would be considered ' appropriate' deployments of the taser. The problem is with the Dziekanski and other deployments, which clearly demonstrate the 'improper/inappropriate ' use of the taser. Surely even you can see that and understand why the public has major concerns on the use of the taser. Just use BETTER JUDGEMENTS and these inappropriate uses will diminish and avoidable deaths using the taser will occur. Thus better policies and training of those policies need to be employed. Look at it that way.


Gary F Duff
said

Tasers are essential tools of the law enforcement agencies.Police officers need these to control those individuals who act in contempt of our laws.


JPC
said

Taser use has prevented personal injury to hundreds of police officers...do we really want to reverse that?


CityPoliceOfficer
said

What gets me is you never hear how many times the TASER has saved a life, only when someone dies after the TASER was deployed and a struggle ensues. The simple fact is that that TASER has save accountless lives over the years and results in less injuries to Officers and Suspects. I have personal used the TASER twice on suicidal people armed with knives who had the knife to their own necks, but these incidents never made the news.


Allister MacDonald
said

Taser use must ultimately come down to each individual officer's judgement. Policy concerns cannot be top priority when dealing with each unique situation that comes along in police work. That said, in my mind a taser should be used only in situations where the need to stop a suspect's actions is so great that it doesn't matter if the suspect is seriously injured in the process. Police officers don't have a lot of time in these situations to decide whether a taser or firearm is necessary, but in most situations, I'd rather have them diffuse a situation and deal with the consequences than have the situation escalate.


D.Bergman
said

It's like the death penalty, does it pay to have a lethal tool if the chance exsists of it killing an innocent person? Canadians have always said no. RCMP sceamed then that they needed the death penalty to deter criminals, well they were wrong then and wrong now. Stop the use of Tazers. If I ever got shot with one just because it was an easy way for an officer get me down for a crime that was not endangering anyone I would feel viotated by the officer.


Concerned but Supportive Canadian
said

This is simple simon....tasers can be a useful/valuable device for policing....if the police force/agencies would just use them properly and appropriately!! Surely they must realize that these devices MUST NEVER cause a death or serious injury. Thus thus the simple solution is to ENSURE that appropriate policies are in place, and enforced. If the police forces cant convince the public they can self administer and enforce these operative policies, then a special independent oversight body with ' true' teeth power must be installed to ensure compliance. Unfortunately the police have a bad public perception of improper use of force and cover ups. Public confidence is paramount.


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