Taser Use In BC To Be Severly Restricted

PROVINCE REACTS TO TASER REPORT

Effective immediately, all police, sheriffs and corrections officers in B.C. have been directed to severely restrict the use of conducted energy weapons (CEWs), commonly known as Tasers, in accordance with recommendations from the Braidwood Commission, Solicitor General Kash Heed announced today.

Heed issued the directive in accepting all 19 recommendations of Justice Braidwood’s report, Restoring Public Confidence – Restricting the Use of Conducted Energy Weapons in British Columbia.

Among other actions, the Province will immediately:

• Significantly raise the threshold for use of a CEW to match Justice Braidwood’s recommendations.
• New regulations will require that CEWs will only be deployed when all of the following criteria are met:
  

1. When an officer is enforcing a federal criminal law, and
   
2. The subject is causing bodily harm or will imminently cause bodily harm, and
   
3. No lesser force option has been or will be effective in eliminating the risk of bodily harm, and
   
4. De-escalation and/or crisis intervention techniques have not been or will not be effective in eliminating the risk of bodily harm.
   

• Work with police to ensure all officers equipped with CEWs have acces to the use of defibrillators.
  
• Continue to work with the federal government during ongoing contract negotiations to incorporate Braidwood’s recommendations with respect to CEW usage into RCMP policies and standards.
  
• Request that the federal government add CEWs to the list of items covered by the Hazardous Products Act.
  
• Require police to report all use-of-force incidents to the Province.
  
• Require all CEWs to undergo regular testing.

“I want to thank Justice Braidwood for perhaps the most comprehensive examination of CEWs anywhere in the world,” said Heed. “Adoption of these recommendations builds on the work already underway to strengthen the standards for use, review and oversight.”

Over the past two years, government has been working on a number of
issues that were subsequently raised by the Braidwood inquiry including:

• Development of standardized police training curricula for CEW use, crisis intervention and responding to emotionally disturbed people.
  
• Development of an electronic reporting system of incidents (including CEWs) called the Subject Behavior Officer Response System.
• Overhaul of the police audit and inspection process.
  
• Tabled amendments to the Police Act to improve the police complaint process.

In addition to changes underway or in development, during the course of this review the Solicitor General ordered all X26 and M26 model Tasers pulled from service and tested, a use-of-force co-ordinator position was created, and police chiefs were instructed to limit use of CEWs to circumstances that threaten the safety of an officer or the public.

On Nov. 19, 2007, the Attorney General ordered a public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Robert Dziekanski and a review of the appropriate use and policies currently in place in B.C. with respect to CEWs.

The report was delivered to Attorney General Michael de Jong June 22 and reviewed by cabinet. It was tabled with the clerk of the legislature today by the attorney general. The full report has been released.

Phase II of the Inquiry, which is looking into the all the events and circumstances of Mr. Dziekanski’s death, began in January 2009 and is scheduled to resume in the fall.

The entire report can be viewed using this Nanaimo Info LINK.