Officials slam taser verdict

July 31, 2008
Heather Polischuk, The Regina Leader-Post

Although they will respect a Friday decision by the Saskatchewan Police Commission to limit the use of conducted energy devices (CEDs) within municipal police forces, Regina's mayor and police chief say they are not necessarily pleased.

The topic came up during Wednesday's meeting of the Regina Board of Police Commissioners. Regina Police Service Chief Troy Hagen and Mayor Pat Fiacco said they hope the SPC will continue to educate itself about CEDs -- commonly known as Tasers -- with a view to the possibility of further CED deployment in the future.

"Sometimes Tasering is going to save someone's life as opposed to killing someone ...," Fiacco said following the meeting. "What we don't want to do is put our police in a situation that the only resort that they have is a gun."

Hagen said the RPS, like the Saskatchewan Association of Police Chiefs, supports "any further use of force options that may be available to our police officers, rather than having to use our service revolver. In principle, we support any devices or any training that will enhance and lessen the risks to the suspects that we're confronting.

"So initially, obviously, the (SAPC) would have preferred that we would have had an expanded deployment of Tasers to frontline personnel, insuring that there were appropriate levels of training and reporting and accountability measures built into the policies that may have been contemplated. However, the Saskatchewan Police Commission has concluded that at this time they're not in favour of further deployment of the CEDs ... We certainly respect the commission's decision."

Late last year, the Regina Police Service shelved plans to make CEDs available to all officers by the end of 2008. Instead, the devices are now only available to SWAT members for use in tactical situations.

While Taser use has been linked to deaths in several jurisdictions across Canada -- including Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski -- Regina has not been one of them. According to statistics referred to at the meeting, CEDs were deployed 11 times by the RPS in 2006 and 21 times in 2007 (once Tasers were made more widely available to members). Due to limiting their use, Tasers have not been used by Regina police in 2008.

In coming to its decision, the SPC referred to controversy that ignited over Taser-related deaths as well as a lack of adequate information on the full consequences of CED use.

Fiacco said he hopes the SPC will look into bringing in a medical professional to explain exactly what happens when a person dies after being Tasered. The mayor said he heard such an explanation last year in Calgary, during which a medical expert noted something called excited delirium caused death in some who were Tasered, rather than the Tasering itself.

"In some cases, unfortunately, it was as a result of mental issues with the individual," Fiacco said. "In other cases, it was because they were under the influence of narcotics that put them in this state ... I'm hoping that we can investigate this even further to make sure that the right decision at the end is going to be made."

The commission also looked at June's crime statistics, which showed a significant year-over-year decline in robberies and break-and-enters. Mischief and willful damage increased as did auto theft. Hagen said members of the auto theft strategy committee will meet to look at that issue.

Saskatchewan police chiefs want taser issue revisited

July 28, 2008
Anne Kyle, Regina Leader-Post
With files from James Wood

REGINA -- The province's association of chiefs of police respect the Saskatchewan Police Commission's decision to rescind the motion to expand the use of conducted energy devices (CEDS) but it doesn't fully agree with the decision.

"The Saskatchewan Association of Police Chiefs hopes this decision will receive further review from the commission in due course. Obviously, when you look at expanding any use of force tool, certainly, foremost in that decision is officer and citizen safety,'' said Prince Albert Police Chief Dale McFee, president of the SAPC.

On Friday, the commission, the province's independent regulatory body for municipal police, announced it was reversing its previously stated plans to allow Tasers. The commission was in the process of developing a policy for their use, but on Friday the commission chair Michael Tochor said it was rescinding last year's decision to approve the use of Tasers. That decision was in response to the controversy over the use of Tasers in connection with a number of deaths, including the death of a Polish citizen Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport in October, and a lack of adequate information on the full consequences of their use.

"Decisions to expand the methods of dealing with difficult issues relating to the safety of officers and citizens is something our police agencies always take seriously,'' McFee said.

"We feel, if there is another tool available that improves safety for all, obviously it needs to be looked at. From a policing perspective anything that we do in relation to the use of force whether it is the use of a firearm, the use of a CED, or the use of a baton -- that is all reported and it is all reviewed. At the end of the day the police are accountable for their actions.

"Each potentially dangerous situation requires a different response and we have to remember in many situations the next response in keeping safe is the service firearm. The goal for all is safety to all,'' McFee said.

The police commission announced Friday it won't authorize the general use of CEDs by members of the province's 14 municipal and First Nation police services until more information is available. SWAT team members will continue to be allowed to use stun guns.

Regina Police Chief Troy Hagen said that the commission's decision will not change current practises within the Regina Police Service operation. Currently no Regina police officers other than trained SWAT members, who are trained in their usage, carry CEDs.

Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill said he hoped the commission would have adequate information to revisit the Taser issue in six months.

"Naturally we would like to have that option available for our officers because right now they don't have the option. They have to go right from baton or pepper spray right up to lethal force. It would make sense to us that if there is an option available we should be allowed to use it," he said Monday.

However, Weighill would not link the lack of Tasers to the four times Saskatoon police used their firearms last year. There were two high-profile police shootings in December, one that saw a women wounded by police and another that saw the death of Dwayne Charles Dustyhorn.

Further recommended reading over at Excited-Delirium's website on this topic - "That's why it's not their decision."

Tasers holstered - Regina police commission restricts use to SWAT team members

April 10, 2008
Heather Polischuk, The Leader-Post

Plans to have all officers outfitted with conducted energy devices (CEDs) by the end of this year have been shelved for the time being, after the devices were pulled from most Regina Police Service members in December.

"Back in October of last year, you recall that we began a program of training and equipping our frontline officers to carry CEDs, and that was the result of approval in principle by the Saskatchewan Police Commission," RPS spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich said, referring to the body that regulates the province's municipal police forces. "But then we were notified in mid-December by the police commission that the final authorization wasn't complete. So as soon as we were notified, we took steps right away to remove CEDs from the frontline, pending that final approval from the police commission."

A spokesperson for the SPC was not available for comment on Wednesday.

Popowich said RPS administration put out a departmental notice on Dec. 19, advising that only certain members will continue to have access to Tasers -- the brand of CED used by the RPS -- in a limited number of circumstances. "Currently, the Regina Police Service has CEDs in use only by SWAT team members, and only in tactical situations, and that would have been the same type of deployment that was present before we started an expansion," Popowich said.

CED training has also been shelved for the time being.

The December notice came only a month after now-retired RPS chief Cal Johnston said that, contrary to some police forces in the country, the RPS would not suspend its use of Tasers, at least pending further study. He had been answering media questions in regards to a Vancouver case where a man died after being Tasered. Since then, several other uses of the now-controversial weapons have also led to death in Canada.

However, Johnston had noted the RPS has "one of the most conservative, I think, policies with respect to CEDs in the country."

In 2006, RPS members deployed a CED 11 times, and there were 21 uses in 2007 -- the number being higher likely because more members had been cleared to carry them, police said. Until the devices were pulled, they were only allowed to be signed out and used by members who had successfully completed specialized CED training. The RPS also has strict reporting requirements, Johnston had said, adding that EMS is called automatically anytime the device is used. No cases of Taser use in Regina have resulted in a serious medical problem, police reported.

Popowich said the SPC's lack of final authorization to date "is not saying that our training or our requirements were inadequate," but rather "a step in the authorization process that hasn't been reached yet. We've got a very productive and very strong relationship with the police commission and if there is something that needs to be added or something that needs to change, then those discussions will occur," she said. "If the police commission makes a decision that means that program and plan is on hold indefinitely, then we're completely respectful of that decision."

Mayor Pat Fiacco, chairman of Regina's Board of Police Commissioners, said he also supports the SPC in its regulatory role, noting the continued absence of a final decision may be in part due to public concerns about CED use. "I've learned in this job over the past eight years that sometimes these things take longer than one would expect," Fiacco said.

Even so, the mayor said the issue will remain firmly on his radar until the SPC delivers an answer. "The question we have to ask ourselves is: What is the downside of not having (Tasers) available?" Fiacco said. "We haven't experienced the downside as of yet. But we'll be into four or five months at the next Board of Police Commissioners meeting and I'll be raising the question with the acting chief of police."

RCMP buying more tasers for West

January 22, 2008
Glen McGregor, Canwest News Service

After pledging to restrict its use of Tasers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is stocking up on the electronic stun guns for distribution to its members in Western Canada. The force is seeking suppliers to provide 160 new Tasers and holders for replacement cartridges, even amid ongoing public concern about the use of the device following several in-custody deaths.

The Taser X26E unit specified by the RCMP in tender documents is available only to law enforcement agencies and replaces an older model that gradually is being phased out. It fires a probe that zaps a 50,000-volt charge, temporarily incapacitating the target.

The order for a new batch of "conducted energy weapons" comes after safety concerns were raised when a Polish man arriving in Vancouver in October died after he was Tasered and pinned to the floor by RCMP officers.

The Mounties contend Tasers remain a preferred alternative to other forms of force and say they almost always are safe. RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said a moratorium on the Taser would put the safety of RCMP members at risk.

But the force last month promised to curb the use of Tasers following an interim report by Paul Kennedy, the head of the watchdog Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP. The RCMP appeared to agree with Kennedy's recommendation that would restrict Tasers to situations where suspects are combative or risk seriously injuring themselves or others. The force policy now dictates Tasers may be used only on persons who show "active resistant behaviour and higher categories of behaviour, e.g. combative or death, grievous bodily harm."

Human rights monitor Amnesty International says it has recorded more than 290 deaths involving police electric shock weapons in the U.S. and Canada, from June 2001 to Sept. 2007. The organization calls on law enforcement agencies to stop using them until their safety can be assessed through independent study. While Amnesty recognizes Tasers can be a preferred alternative to more deadly force, it is concerned about the potential use as a "pain compliance" tool for individuals already in custody.

The RCMP contract offer specifies the new Tasers and cartridge holders will be distributed to its "D" Division, in Winnipeg and Regina.

It has a maximum range of about 10 metres and can penetrate clothing as thick as 5.1 centimetres, according to the product specification sheet. It also is available with a USB interface that allows the weapon's firing data to be downloaded to a computer.

The weapons sell for about $800 US apiece, but likely could be acquired at a lower cost in bulk.

An RCMP spokeswoman said the purchase of new Tasers follows normal procedures. "There is no embargo or legislation that instructs us not to use it," said Sgt. Nathalie Deschenes. "Our members require this tool."

More Regina police to get Taser weapons

June 28, 2006
CBC News

The Regina city police will be training more of its officers to use Taser-type weapons, a new report says.

The hand-held devices deliver a powerful electric shock through wires fired at a suspect. They're considered a non-lethal way of subduing a person, but they are not without their detractors.

The RCMP has been using them for years. So have officers on the Regina Police Service's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams.

Now, according to a report being considered by the Regina Board of Police Commissioners, Regina city police are expanding their use to front-line officers.

Taser is a trademark for weapons that are generically known as conductive energy devices, or CEDs.

The Regina police will buy the devices and phase them in over three years. It has already developed policies for their use and says it will train officers in "best practices."

The report says several coroner's inquests have recommended that police be given more options dealing with suspects that don't involve lethal force.

It also notes Taser-type devices have been controversial in some jurisdictions.

Regina police chief Cal Johnston said he would make sure other officers are properly trained and only use the device in approved circumstances.

He said any time one is used, it will be reported to the department's "use of force" board.