Canada police pledge Taser change

By Ian Gunn
BBC News, Vancouver

Use of the stun gun by Canadian police has increased

Canada's national police force says it will change the way it uses stun guns in response to a critical report issued by the public watchdog that monitors the police service.

The independent Police Complaints Commissioner, Paul Kennedy, spent eight months investigating the use of stun guns by Canada's national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

His investigation began after amateur video showed RCMP officers using a stun gun on a Polish immigrant at the Vancouver airport last year.

"We agree with Mr Kennedy that the RCMP must properly instruct our members to appropriately deploy the [stun gun] in an operational setting and account for our use of the weapon," the police service said in a written statement.

Public Debate

The electric stun guns have been the focus of a great deal of attention in Canada since Robert Dziekanski died shortly after being shot with the weapon at Vancouver's airport in October.

The use of a stun gun on a Polish immigrant was caught on camera

Video of the incident, taken by a bystander, was shown widely on television here and sparked public outrage.

For many Canadians, it was the first time they had seen the stun gun in use. Others were troubled that the police used the Taser within seconds of meeting the agitated Mr Dziekanski, apparently before trying less severe methods of restraining him.

Politicians ordered a series of high-level investigations into Mr Dziekanski's death and the ways that Canadian police use stun guns.

An official coroner's inquest will examine precisely how Mr Dziekanski died. A public inquiry by the province of British Columbia is currently looking at the use of Tasers by police forces.

The RCMP themselves have completed an internal investigation of the police officers involved in Mr Dziekanski's death. A spokesman for prosecutors says they are examining that report and have not yet taken the decision whether to lay criminal charges against the officers.

None of the investigations has yet suggested that the Taser itself caused Mr Dziekanski's death directly.

After he was stunned, Mr Dziekanski fell to the floor and four police officers restrained him. The video shows at least one officer leaning heavily on the Polish immigrant's chest and neck.

Restricted use

In his report, Mr Kennedy urges the RCMP to restrict use of the weapons, to ban their use completely by inexperienced junior officers and to seek immediate medical attention for anyone they have used the weapon on.

Mr Kennedy also takes the police force to task for poor record keeping. Internal police paperwork on the use of the stun gun is so incomplete, he says, that the public cannot be sure how the police are using the weapons and on whom.

Investigations by Canadian media outlets in recent weeks suggest that use of the Taser by Canadian police appears to have increased sharply in recent years and that many of the people on whom it is used require some form of medical attention afterwards. But the journalists also note that the police records are incomplete, making analysis difficult.

Government support

While both the police force and the government minister responsible say they accept the new report, neither is committing implementing the recommendations completely.

The ruling Conservative government has generally supported the continued use of the weapons by the RCMP.

The Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, says he accepts the report's conclusions in principle. However, Mr Day says he has asked the force to implement its changes "in ways that will help to maintain the safety of the public and the men and women that protect our communities".

The report is notable in that it does not recommend a complete ban of the use of the weapons - something some critics have called for.

However, Mr Kennedy does suggest that if the police and government do not restrict their use of the weapons and improve reporting of how and when they are used, he could call for a ban on stun guns by the police here in the future.