RCMP Watch

(Canadian Press) - The RCMP has done an about-face and decided to release more information about Taser use two weeks after a wave of criticism over secrecy about the electronic stun guns.

Const. Pat Flood, an RCMP spokeswoman, said Thursday the force plans to disclose additional details of Taser firings in response to requests under the Access to Information Act.

But there were early indications the Mounties would continue to withhold crucial points, including injuries to people hit with Tasers and the exact dates the incidents occurred.

A release planned for late Thursday was suddenly delayed without explanation.

Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh said he hoped the Mounties were taking extra time so they could prepare to make even more details public.

But he expressed concern that would not happen.

“They should have actually been releasing this information the whole time. They’re now releasing more — that is very good. They are still not releasing enough.”
Some injury details to be released

The RCMP said Thursday the latest batch of data would contain details of injuries to officers, but not the burns, cuts and bruises suffered by people jolted with the powerful stun guns.

“We want to know how many people are being injured per year in the use of the Tasers. Tasers are a dangerous, serious weapon,” Dosanjh said.

“Canadians have a right to be able to judge for themselves whether or not the continuing use of Tasers is appropriate.”

The RCMP, stung by criticism from MPs and human rights advocates, decided late last month to rethink stripping Taser reports of key information.

Commissioner William Elliott ordered “a further review” of recently released copies of forms detailing use of the electronic weapons “to determine if additional information” should be disclosed.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day had sought and received assurances the RCMP would review the matter. The Mounties denied their hand was forced by the minister, saying they had already decided to take a second look at the Taser forms.

The controversy unfolded after a joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC found the Mounties had begun censoring basic elements that must be recorded each time officers draw their electronic weapons.
‘Just-trust-us’ approach

The force stopped revealing whether suspects who had been stunned with the weapons were armed, the precise dates of firings, and whether the device caused any injuries.

As a result, Canadians now know much less about who is being hit with the contentious 50,000-volt guns and under what circumstances.

Advocates of more openness said the names and addresses of suspects are already struck from Taser reports, making further deletions unnecessary.

Another RCMP spokesman, Insp. Troy Lightfoot, has said internal analysis of the forms concluded the painful weapons were being used correctly.

Scathing newspaper editorials and opposition critics said that amounts to a “just-trust-us” approach.

Last November, a Canadian Press analysis of 563 cases between 2002 and 2005 found three in four suspects shocked with a stun guns by the RCMP were unarmed.

Several of those reports suggested a pattern of stun-gun use as a convenient means of keeping drunk or rowdy people in line, rather than to defuse major clashes.

Twenty people in Canada have died soon after being shocked.

Manufacturer Taser International stresses that its device has never been directly blamed for a death, although it has been cited as a contributing factor in several cases.