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WPS following Taser recommendations, Council told

By: Bartley Kives

9/11/2009 11:22 AM | Comments: 7

The Winnipeg Police Service is already following most of the recommendations of B.C.'s Braidwood Inquiry into Taser use, city councillors were told this morning.

Earlier this year, Winnipeg's police were asked to respond to 19 recommendations made by the Braidwood Inquiry, which issued a report following its examination of the death of Polish airport visitor Robert Dziekanski following multiple Taser discharges by RCMP officers.

Const. Hank Bergen, a Winnipeg police use-of-force expert, appeared before council's protection and community services committee to dissect all 19 Braidwood recommendations and said most but not all are already followed by a police service that's highly trained in protocols governing taser use.

That said, recommendations to only use Tasers to enforce criminal-code offences or when officers are certain bodily harm will take place will not be implemented, Bergen said, because police need to have all enforcement options at their disposal and could place themselves or others in danger if they stop and consider too many variables in emergency situations.

Another recommendation -- to stop deploying Taser probes on police trainees during testing -- was put into place several months ago, police Chief Keith McCaskill said. Trainees are now zapped in stun-drive mode -- that is, without the projectile probes -- instead.

Yet another recommendation to place defibrillators in all police vehicles may not be feasible, but Winnipeg's police will explore the idea anyway because the devices could prove useful in a variety of medical situations, McCaskill said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

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7 Commentscomment icon

Taser or bullet ?????? In the end the criminal decides - everytime.

Transalated in english...It only means that the WPS will be using tasers at their discretion only and we the public have absolutely no restrictions put on the use of these weapons...What a waste of time and money to accomplish absolutely nothing new and once again have the public at the mercy of some officer who may or may not have the right tools available to use proper discretion at that moment and therefore more will die before this weapon is finally regulated...This weapon is so often being deploy first instead of using other means of restraint because it is what has been happening out there...The real question for me is simple...What did police do before this weapon came along...They certainly didn't use their real firearms to restrain someone...and now they use these tasers instead which have been proven to kill...GGF

@Vapor...Who cares about the recommendations that are supose to be followed when we don't have a system that would make an officer accountable or punish that officer if he or she breaks the rules/recommendations...GGF

Vapor, Tasers are primarily used not as an alternative to lethal force, but as a way for police to control and intimidate people. A study soon after the Dziekanski incident showed that 79% of all RCMP taser victims are unarmed.

It is only acceptable for police (or anyone else) to use a Taser when their lives are threatened by deadly force or grievous bodily harm. Not because someone is being unruly (of course unruly could mean anything that is not complete, knee-jerk deference to police in all situations regardless of the officer's conduct) or annoying, or for any other reason.

It is not the Taser that is the problem, it is the power of the police and their willingness to use these electro-shock torture devices as an instrument of control and summary justice.

"That said, recommendations to only use tasers to enforce criminal-code offences or when officers are certain bodily harm will take place will not be implemented..."

My point exactly.

Vapor:

There's no way Mr. Reader would be able to read and list any of the Braidwood Inquiry recommendations...he's too blinded by his ignorance...

It's funny how armchair critics like Mr. Reader have no idea what happens when the police are involved in an incident that requires the taser to be deployed. Mr. Reader strikes me as the type that would be able to rely on his outstanding communication skills to defuse any hostile situation (end sarcasm)...failing that, he'd probably turn tail and run the other way...

That's right Mr. Reader. More broken bones and shootings with real bullets.

@Mr. Reader;

Since you're so educated, perhaps you could list one of the 16 recommendations that are currently being followed? Here -- I'll help you out;

http://www.braidwoodinquiry.ca/report/P1_pdf/10-Recommendations.pdf

You, and the public, will still be fine. The Taser is a valuable tool and provides a much safer resolution to many incidents or situations that previously would have involved the use of certain lethal force.

So this is basically a useless announcement... they are gutting the most important parts of the recommendations. Tasers should be banned or severely restricted. More tragedies will continue to happen as police will continue to use them with no real restrictions placed upon how they should use them. They can obviously be applied with no regard for a proportionate response as shown by the tragedy of Mr. Dziekanski... the public (not just the hardened criminals) should be very afraid.

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