Canada’s Police Forces Under Fire

True to form, humans and their technological imaginations and advances have transformed the infamous Star Trek phaser into a deadly reality - the Taser.

More and more we hear about ‘taser incidents’ - from men in their 60’s to those under the age of 16 - taser use is becoming common place, often killing it’s victims. Though the percentage of deaths compared to the number of uses may be small - isn’teven one death derived from something that’s only supposed to stun too much? Isn’t this where the law makers need to say “Wait a minute here...this thing isn’t working the way it should”.

Well apparently Amnesty International Canada, whose focus is on international human rights, is saying just that. Though they agree law enforcement require weapons, their position is that the least amount of force should always be used. Amnesty International has serious concerns about the use of electroshock devices in general, both in terms of their safety and their potential for misuse.They have made several recommendations including: ‘TASERs should not beused as a routine weapon to enforce compliance in the absence of a threat of serious injury or death of the subject, a member of the public or a law enforcement officer.’

Of course there is the famous tape of poor Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport. He was just 40 and had spent the last 10 hours of his life in a secure area trying to reach his mother who he came to visit. Upon release from this room, Dziekanski who spoke no english was greeted by several law enforcement officers carrying tasers. Dziekanski received several zaps from the tasers and died minutes later.

This incident and many others are under investigation. The federal government defence lawyer in Dziekanski’s case Helen Roberts, recently resigned from the inquiry when it became evident an email containing suspicions that the four officers discussed using the taser on the man before they even arrived on the scene. Roberts says the email was accidentally omitted as evidence and quietly resigned.

How much of a threat could this man have been? Being held in a secure room surely gives one confidence he has no weapons. How frustrated would any of us be after being held for 10 hours and not being able to communicate?

Watch for this one in January (Edmonton) - A few years ago there was a child arrested for breaking and entering. He was tasered but not before “accusing, charging, detaining, stripsearching, convicting and punishing
the boy before he was ever brought before the court” the judge said. In addition to these harsh words, the judgestayed the charges in the second trial stating “that prosecution of the boy would have been offensive” because of this mistreatment, “The police officer abused the power placed in his hands." He’s been charged with assault with a weapon and is scheduled to go on trial January 25.

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is promising to take a look at the use of tasers in Alberta at the request of Alberta NDPLeader Brian Mason. Mason asked the premier for a provincial review into Taser use, sayingat least five Albertans have been severely injured or died after being shot with a Taser by police. “We'll undertake that with the justice minister and solicitor general to see if we can look at the rules, review them and bring forward to the assembly the results" Stelmach said.