Senator Kenny wading in again this morning on the Taser question.
Published: 2007-12-15 in The Chronicle Hearld, Halifax NS
Time for a strategic retreat on Taser use
By COLIN KENNY
RCMP Commissioner William Elliott says he doesn’t want a moratorium on the use of Tasers. Nor does Paul Kennedy, Commissioner for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, recommend a moratorium in his interim report on Taser use within the agency.
So why am I recommending a self-imposed RCMP moratorium on the use of Tasers? Because there is no way of getting to Mr. Kennedy’s goal – more restrained and capable use of Tasers by the RCMP – without one.
There are two hurdles to making Taser use beneficial that a moratorium would help solve. The first is that too many RCMP officers are undertrained in the use of Tasers, which Mr. Kennedy points out.
Until the RCMP can assure the public that every officer using a Taser is well trained and understands the consequences of misuse, the officers should not be using them.
Second, the RCMP is using outdated Tasers that will need to be replaced. That will take time – to order the new Tasers, get them delivered, and train personnel in their use.
The Taser – manufactured by Taser International Ltd. – is meant to be a less lethal alternative to the gun, to be used when other options such as words, headlocks, pepper spray and batons aren’t up to defusing situations in which the physical safety of officers or other people appears to be in danger.
That last part is important – no police force should be using Tasers in situations in which someone’s personal safety isn’t threatened. Yet Mr. Kennedy’s report reveals that RCMP policy allows for the use of Tasers even in cases of simple resistance, rather than in combative situations in which there is risk that an officer or anyone else could be killed or suffer grievous bodily harm.
Mr. Kennedy believes that Tasers should not be used in simple cases of resistance. He is dead right.
He also laments the fact that officers as well as their supervisors should be given better training on the use of these weapons. But here is where he confuses me. When the RCMP first began using Tasers, officers were required to retrain on them every year – as they are required to retrain on the use of pistols, pepper spray and batons. Somehow the requirement slipped to every three years on Tasers, while it stayed at one year for the other control devices.
That makes no sense. Mr. Kennedy recommends recertification every two years. Surely if baton and pepper spray retraining is required every year, Tasers should be as well.
The Auditor General released a report in 2006 emphasized that too many RCMP officers are young, and too many are not fully trained. The report said that 16 per cent of newly graduated cadets had not received what is supposed to be mandatory field coaching – a valuable form of mentoring. She also noted that 12 per cent of field coaches had less than two years of experience in the force, and that 18 per cent of those coaches hadn’t taken the courses that are supposed to be required to do the coaching.
These gaps can’t be redressed without a moratorium. Nor can the fact that, as Mr. Kennedy points out, most RCMP supervisors have not, themselves, been trained in the use of Tasers. They should be, if they are going to make the decision as to when their units are sufficiently trained on the weapons to use them wisely.
They should also be using modern Tasers, not the outdated Tasers that the cash-strapped RCMP is stuck with. The older model they use, the M26, doesn’t accommodate audio-video equipment. The modern X26 Tasers allows users to add two ounces of audio-video equipment for approximately $400 a weapon. This equipment has been available since 2005. It records everything that the Taser is pointed at as soon as the safety lock comes off.
How much more likely is a police officer to show restraint in the use of a Taser if everything that officer does is going to be recorded? I suggest there would be a lot more restraint. Furthermore, reviewing officers will have a clear picture of what transpired from the officer’s perspective.
City police forces in places like Ottawa and Edmonton use Tasers equipped with audio-video equipment, which helps turn the Taser into what it is capable of being: an effective, civilized alternative to riddling suspects with bullets.
It is crucial that the RCMP convince the public that these Tasers – which when used correctly and with restraint can save lives – aren’t going to be misused. If there are many other mishaps with Tasers, the public won’t be calling for a moratorium – it will be calling for abolition.
This is supposed to be a law-and-order government. It needs to quit starving the RCMP of funds and allow the force to buy up-to-date Tasers, or Canadians are going to lose an important law enforcement device.
Our police officers are often confronted with situations in which it is extremely difficult to tell whether there is a hidden weapon or hidden madness. Far too many Canadian police officers have died when people they were trying to treat with civility declined to return the favour.
These officers live through terrifying moments that most of us can’t imagine. But none of this justifies police using Tasers improperly. The public won’t put up with it, nor should it.
We’ve got to stop using them until every Canadian inside and outside our police forces knows they are being used properly. The RCMP needs to retreat before it advances in the use of Tasers. A little short-term pain will lead to a lot of long-term gain.
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’If there are many other mishaps with Tasers, the public won’t be
calling for a moratorium – it will be calling for abolition.’
