RCMP Watch

Andrew Mayeda (Ottawa Citizen) - The chairman of Taser International assured a parliamentary committee Wednesday Tasers are not lethal, but opposition MPs questioned whether the electronic devices are as safe as advertised.
Since 2001, nearly 300 people in North America have died after being Tasered, including at least 16 in Canada, according to human-rights group [...]

[Read more →]

Sue Bailey, Ottawa (Canadian Press) - Coming soon to a police force near you: the Taser shotgun, capable of firing a debilitating electronic zap from 20 metres – twice the reach of current 50,000-volt stun guns.
Taser International chairman Tom Smith described the new weapon as he took tough questions Wednesday from MPs studying the safety [...]

[Read more →]

Halifax, N.S. (Canadian Press) - Nova Scotia’s top RCMP officer has issued an apology to a small black community on the province’s southern coast, saying he wants to mend a rift with residents who have accused police of racism.Assistant Commissioner Ian Atkins called a news conference Wednesday to explain why he met with 30 members [...]

[Read more →]

(Canadian Press) - Most people think of money and DVDs when they think of counterfeits. But hair irons?
RCMP in the Quebec City region announced Tuesday they have seized 4,500 of the counterfeit devices.
Cpl. Richard Faucher acknowledged hair-straightening irons aren’t the usual fakes seen by the federal force.
“But we have to keep in mind that everything [...]

[Read more →]

He may not become a famous movie police dog like Hooch in the 1989 movie Turner and Hooch, but if your choice of name for a German shepherd puppy born at the Police Dog Service Training Centre (PDSTC) in Innisfail, Alta., is selected, you can be sure the dog you named will grow to become [...]

[Read more →]

Peter Small (Toronto Star) - A retired RCMP officer who provided guns for a legendary con man has been sent to jail for five years for 10 firearms offences.
David Kift, 50, who served in the RCMP for 18 years and wrote a self-published book, The Naked Mountie, had been found guilty in December by Superior [...]

[Read more →]

Michelle Cyr-Whiting, Prince George, B.C. (Opinion 250) - Police investigating police. It occurs whenever a serious incident, like a shooting death, involves an on-duty officer.
The Vice-Chair of the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP (CPC) admits these cases pose a serious challenge in terms of public perception. He notes, specifically, cases like [...]

[Read more →]

Michelle Lalonde (Montreal Gazette) - A Quebec Court judge sentenced former Montreal police officer Pierre Goulet yesterday to 30 months in prison for the illegal transportation and possession of millions of dollars in drug money.
While he was an active police officer, Goulet made a series of trips to Miami, where he picked up millions of [...]

[Read more →]

Jack Wilson, Wetaskiwin, Alberta (Canadian Press) - A truck driver found guilty of dangerous driving causing death for smashing into an Alberta RCMP officer’s cruiser has escaped jail time.
Marvin George Smith, 61, was given a two-year conditional sentence in Wetaskiwin, court yesterday following his conviction last November.
He was also found guilty of dangerous driving causing [...]

[Read more →]

Elise Stolte (Edmonton Journal) - A truck driver handed a conditional sentence Thursday for killing RCMP Const. Jose Agostinho stood trial 10 years earlier for hitting another officer on the same stretch of road a decade ago, The Journal has learned.
The wives of both officers sat in the gallery as the sentence was read Thursday [...]

[Read more →]