RCMP Watch

(Globe and Mail) - Giuliano Zaccardelli was the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when tasers were introduced by the force in 2001. He was commissioner during the period of 2002-2005, when it has been shown that three in every four suspects shot with a taser by the RCMP were unarmed. He was commissioner [...]

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Calgary, AB (CTV) - An Airdrie RCMP officer who is about to receive a prestigious award for bravery pleaded guilty to sexual assault today.
But a charge of luring a child and sexual exploitation against Constable Guy Raes were withdrawn.
He’ll be sentenced on Monday.
Raes is one of two Airdrie officers who will receive the Star of [...]

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Vancouver, B.C. - (Canadian Press) - The Polish government will be represented in the next phase of the Taser inquiry looking into the death of immigrant Robert Dziekanski.
The second phase of the Braidwood Inquiry starts in Vancouver on October 20, a little more than a year after Dziekanski died after being jolted with an RCMP [...]

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Chad Skelton, Vancouver, B.C. (Vancouver Sun) - Most shootings by RCMP members do not meet the force’s own standards for the use of deadly force, according to an internal RCMP report obtained by The Vancouver Sun.
According to the report, of the 30 RCMP shootings nationwide in 2006 (the most recent year for which data was [...]

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(CBC) - Vital communication centres that take calls from distressed people and dispatch police officers might be crippled by an earthquake or other disaster because there are no solid backup plans to keep them running, according to an internal RCMP audit.
The audit, completed last month, says the centres are also hampered by staff shortages, inconsistent [...]

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Chad Skelton (Vancouver Sun) - A fired biker-gang investigator warned during settlement talks last year that if his wrongful dismissal case ever got to trial it would expose the dysfunctional relationship between the RCMP and B.C.’s municipal police.
“We expect to have several senior police officers willing to testify about the inability or unwillingness of RCMP [...]

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Chad Skelton and Allison Cross (Vancouver Sun) - Animosity between the RCMP and the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. resulted in the failure of a multi-million-dollar investigation into the Hells Angels, a former lead investigator with the OCABC has alleged in a wrongful dismissal suit.
The investigation, known as Project Phoenix, targeted several high-profile members of [...]

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Andy Ivens, Victoria, B.C. (The Province) - Tim Shields took over his news duties as head of the B.C. RCMP’s strategic communications section yesterday promising to bring a fresh approach to a job fraught with peril.
“For me, the challenge is going to be building a better relationship with the media, one that consists of trust [...]

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(The Leader-Post) - Having recently spent an inordinate and increasing amount of time assisting with complaints of racism from RCMP officers, cadets, and RCMP civilian staff, we are left with extra questions when tragedies such as the recent RCMP shootings at White Bear and Muskowekwan First Nations occur.
What makes us even more uneasy is that, [...]

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David McKie (CBC News) - RCMP officers are likely to fire their electronic stun guns multiple times during an altercation, despite a policy that warns it may pose health risks, according to a joint investigation by CBC News/Radio Canada and the Canadian Press.
The media outlets, which analyzed the Taser-use forms RCMP officers are required to [...]

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