RCMP Watch

Neal Hall, Vancouver, B.C. (Canwest News Service) - The electrical shock from a Taser stun gun used by police could cause cardiac arrest, a Vancouver heart surgeon testified Tuesday at a Taser inquiry.
“One can conclude the risk of death from a Taser is small but not insignificant,” Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon at Vancouver [...]

[Read more →]

Marianne White (Canwest News Service) - While the RCMP is on the hot seat at the inquiry probing the use of Tasers in British Columbia following the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, documents from the Mounties show their use of stun guns has more than doubled across Canada between 2005 and 2007.
According to documents [...]

[Read more →]

(Halifax Herald) - The grieving mother of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered by Mounties at Vancouver’s international airport last fall, last week told a B.C. public inquiry into Taser use that the incident has “shattered” her faith in the RCMP.
Police forces across Canada which use Tasers should be paying close [...]

[Read more →]

Neal Hall, Vancouver, B.C. (Canwest News Service) - The mother of a Polish immigrant who died after being shot with a Taser by Vancouver police told a public inquiry Thursday that her son would still be alive if they didn’t use the controversial weapon on him.
“I know my son would not die if he was [...]

[Read more →]

Gary Mason, Vancouver, B.C. ( Globe and Mail) - Someone else might have resisted the temptation, especially knowing he might be blackballed as a result. But Mike Webster has never operated that way.
And so, when the respected police psychologist testified this week at the B.C. public inquiry into the use of tasers, he didn’t [...]

[Read more →]

Neal Hall (Vancouver Sun) - A police psychologist blasted Taser International at the public inquiry probing the controversial use of Tasers, claiming Tuesday that Canadian police have been “brainwashed” by the manufacturer to justify “ridiculously inappropriate” use of the electronic weapon.
Mike Webster accused the company that makes Tasers of instructing police in Canada that when [...]

[Read more →]

(CBC News) - The RCMP released an incident report about Robert Dziekanski who died at Vancouver International Airport last October, but much of the information routinely released in other cases was censored.
The name and rank of the officer who fired the Taser weapon, his supervisor’s name, details about the duration of the firing and the [...]

[Read more →]

(Canadian Press) Vancouver, B.C. - Robert Dziekanski’s medical history, not potential skeletons in his past, was the focus of investigators who travelled to Poland to examine the background of the man who died after being jolted by an RCMP Taser, says the senior officer who led the overseas probe.
Dziekanski came to national attention last October [...]

[Read more →]

Neal Hall (Vancouver Sun) - Police are sometimes too quick to use force rather than trying to de-escalate a situation, a former Mountie told a Taser inquiry Wednesday in Vancouver.
“Certainly, my own opinion is that we’re moving too quickly to use force rather than using techniques to de-escalate,” said Kevin Begg, now assistant deputy minister [...]

[Read more →]

Omar El Akkad, Ottawa (Globe and Mail) - The mother of a Polish immigrant who died after being tasered by RCMP officers arrived on Parliament Hill Wednesday to speak to a house committee about the incident that grabbed the attention of Canada and the world.
Dressed in a simple black dress and accompanied by her lawyer, [...]

[Read more →]