(CBC News) – Hours before the scheduled release of a highly anticipated final report on the use of stun guns by Mounties, the RCMP complaints commission abruptly cancelled the Thursday event.
Spokesman Nelson Kalil said the report by RCMP complaints commissioner Paul Kennedy will be released next Wednesday instead, at the request of Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day. He did not specify a reason.
Canadian Press quoted a commission spokesman as saying the delay resulted from a last-minute call late Wednesday from the minister’s office requesting a meeting with Kennedy. Kennedy agreed to meet with Day early next week.
Day, who is travelling, received an advance copy of the report on Tuesday.
Last December, the RCMP watchdog released an interim report calling for the force to curb its use of Tasers, saying the weapons were increasingly being used to subdue resistant people rather than those who pose a threat, including people who were “clearly non-combative.”
It also recommended an overhaul of Taser training, stricter reporting requirements and more research on the devices.
The final report was expected to detail specific conditions and restrictions on the Mounties’ use of Taser guns, said CBC’s investigative reporter David McKie.
A day before the Taser report’s expected release in Ottawa, a joint investigation by CBC News/Radio-Canada and the Canadian Press found that RCMP are likely to fire their stun guns multiple times during an altercation, despite warnings issued to officers that it posed a health risk.
The investigation found that Mounties zapped a person more than once in 43 per cent of all 3,000 incidents nationwide between 2002 to 2007. In nearly 18 per cent of the incidents, officers fired the stun gun three or more times.
The RCMP told officers in 2005 that multiple deployment of stun guns “may be hazardous to a subject” and warned them not to cycle the weapon repeatedly. But the investigation found that multiple firings of Tasers continued to rise.
The investigation also revealed that in 73 per cent of the incidents in that period, the person Mounties were dealing with was unarmed.
The complaints commission, an independent civilian agency, launched its probe into how the force uses Tasers following the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, a case that attracted worldwide attention after a videotape capturing his death was released.
Dziekanski, 40, died Oct. 14, 2007, after four RCMP officers zapped him with a stun gun at least two times. Early on, investigators named excited delirium as a possible cause of death.
Excited delirium— a condition disputed by some groups, who see it as a way for police to deny responsibility — has been listed by coroners as the cause of death in numerous Taser-linked deaths.
Those suffering from excited delirium are said to become agitated, sweat profusely, act violently and become insensitive to pain. The victim’s heart races, then stops.
My condolences, the report supports the continued use of the zapper.
Technicality eh?, Not the RCMP but I guess the Edmonton people have to follow the rules too.
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“Canada.com
EDMONTON – Disciplinary charges were tossed out on a technicality Tuesday against a Edmonton city police constable accused of using a Taser on two sleeping men.
The same technicality threatens charges in 11 other cases, said acting Insp. Chris Boehnke of the Edmonton police professional standards branch. Two were already thrown out May 1, but at that time the branch thought it was an isolated problem.
“The extent of the problem just became apparent today,” Boehnke said.”
http://www.edmontonpolicewatch.org/
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“The investigation also revealed that in 73 per cent of the incidents in that period, the person Mounties were dealing with was unarmed.”
I do not know why people keep up this mantra. So what? Maybe its small cops and big strong fighting bad guys. Maybe its old cops in their 50’s against some young iron pumper. If somebody had a weapon and I had a gun, I would use it before some wire unfolding dart gun anyway.
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Safety minister’s request delays release of watchdog’s Taser report
Ottawa (Canadian Press) — A last-minute call from the public safety minister delayed release of what’s expected to be a hard-hitting report on RCMP Taser use.
A spokesman for Paul Kennedy, the RCMP complaints commissioner, said the minister’s office asked late Wednesday for a meeting on the report, resulting in hasty cancellation of its publication Thursday.
Nelson Kalil said Kennedy agreed to meet Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day early next week, and release of the Taser report is now slated for Wednesday.
“Paul was happy to do this. He wanted to meet with him beforehand, to explain to him what he’s recommending. Unfortunately this comes at the last minute,” Kalil said.
“But it doesn’t change the report. The report’s done.”
Day, who is in Japan to discuss issues with G-8 allies, received an advance copy of the findings Tuesday.
“Minister Day has accepted Mr. Kennedy’s offer to meet in person prior to the release of the report,” Day aide John Brent said in an e-mail message.
Brent added the minister also plans to discuss the report with RCMP Commissioner Wiliam Elliott.
He did not explain why Day waited until Wednesday to request the meeting, given that Kennedy had announced plans Monday for a Thursday news conference on the report. “I do not have control over when Mr. Kennedy issues his media advisory,” Brent said.
Last November, Day asked Kennedy to study the RCMP’s Taser use amid a public uproar over the stun guns.
Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died in October after being repeatedly zapped with an RCMP Taser and subdued by officers at Vancouver International Airport.
Kennedy’s interim report, released in December, stopped short of calling for a moratorium on the 50,000-volt weapons.
But it recommended an overhaul of Taser training, stricter reporting requirements, and more research on the controversial devices.
A Canadian Press CBC-Radio-Canada investigation of more than 3,200 incidents in which Mounties fired the powerful stun guns in the last six years shows that officers used the Taser multiple times in almost half of cases.
The pattern of repeated shocks has continued in recent years despite a 2005 RCMP directive warning numerous zaps could be hazardous.
The RCMP, which also received a copy of Kennedy’s final report Tuesday, declined comment Thursday on its officers’ Taser use.