RCMP Watch

CBC.ca

The RCMP says it will consider recommendations made by a coroner’s inquest into the death of Kevin Geldart as soon as possible.

Geldart died after police used a Taser to subdue him in a downtown Moncton bar on May 5, 2005.

Several of the inquest’s 25 recommendations are aimed at police. RCMP Chief Superintendent Jim Payne says he’s still waiting for the official list of recommendations from the coroner’s office, and they will be looked at as soon as they arrive.

“We will review the recommendations and we will respond back to the chief coroner in writing as well, so we would clearly examine every recommendation and respond in terms of what we could do, how we could address those recommendations,” Payne said.

Recommendations for police include one by Chief Coroner Diane Kelly that RCMP have an outside agency investigate in-custody deaths, such as Geldart’s. Kelly said it would ensure a timely and arm’s-length investigation.

But Payne said there’s already a provincial program in place that allows joint investigations, called the Use of Force Investigative Team, and the New Brunswick Chiefs of Police and the RCMP can call on each other when necessary.

“The requesting chief of police would have members of his team of his force on that team but the investigative team would be led by the outside police agency,” Payne said.

During the inquiry, an RCMP witness said they didn’t feel it was necessary to call in another police force. Payne says that’s one of the issues they’ll have to consider when they study the recommendations.