RCMP Watch

Brian Hutchinson (National Post ) - A rookie RCMP officer who shot and killed a man he had stopped just minutes earlier for holding a beer will be among the first witnesses to testify at a public inquiry next week.
A coroner’s inquest into Ian Bush’s death begins Tuesday in Houston, a small, northern community situated [...]

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Ian Mulgrew, Houston, B.C. (National Post) - Minutes after he shot and killed a 22-year-old mill worker, an RCMP constable was being comforted by fellow officers and told to get himself a lawyer.
A coroner’s inquest into the slaying inside the local detachment’s interview room heard yesterday that the Mounties took the distraught rookie away [...]

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(Canadian Press) - B.C. is prepared to co-operate with Polish officials who’ve opened a formal investigation into the death of Robert Dziekanski.But officials are skeptical charges against any police officers involved in the incident would be successful.
Polish prosecutors announced yesterday they have launched their own investigation into the case of the Polish immigrant who died [...]

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Ian Mulgrew (Vancouver Sun) -  Paul Kennedy, chair of the commission for public complaints against the RCMP, says the Mountie who shot and killed B.C. millworker Ian Bush after arresting him outside a hockey rink for a misdemeanor acted in self-defence.
But Kennedy nevertheless launched an inquiry Thursday into the public perception the force has inadequately [...]

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(Canadian Press) - Poland’s new foreign minister says his country intends to get to the bottom of the death of one of its citizens after RCMP officers used a Taser on him at least twice and then roughly threw him to the ground.
Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski met Thursday with Canada’s Ambassador to Poland to discuss [...]

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Kathryn May and Tim Naumetz  (Ottawa Citizen) - MPs on a Commons committee that investigated the RCMP pension scandal say they are shocked RCMP Commissioner William Elliott has reinstated a deputy commissioner the force suspended during a parliamentary inquiry into the affair.
An RCMP statement said deputy commissioner Barbara George was to return to active duty [...]

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Andy Ivens, Vancouver, B.C. (The Province) - An Edmonton police officer who testified at the Ian Bush inquest in Houston in July says he was recently threatened by a Vancouver RCMP member.
Const. Joe Slemko’s testimony cast doubt on whether RCMP Const. Paul Koester, who shot Bush during a struggle, told the truth.
Considered by many to [...]

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(CTV.ca News) - The head of the Canadian Police Association has blasted Liberal Sen. Colin Kenny for straying outside of his “area of expertise,” after the senator told CTV’s Canada AM there should be a moratorium on Taser use until officers are properly trained.
Tony Cannavino issued an open letter to Kenny on behalf of the [...]

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(CTV.ca News) - The RCMP is seeking approval to travel to Poland in order to gather information about Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died after being Tasered at Vancouver airport last month, CTV News has learned.
The RCMP told CTV News it would seek to investigate, among other things, Dziekanski’s medical history as well as [...]

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Omar El Akkad and Jessica Leeder (Globe and Mail) - The world’s most popular maker of “electrical control devices” employs an aggressive strategy that has resulted in the company, Taser International, winning virtually every lawsuit launched against it.
A recent string of deaths in Canada after taser use has put several Canadian law-enforcement agencies under [...]

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