New B.C. Taser rules get no RCMP commitment

It's still unclear whether the RCMP will adopt new guidelines for the use of Tasers in B.C., following the release of a critical report that recommended sweeping changes in the way police use the stun guns.

On Thursday, former B.C. Appeal Court justice Thomas Braidwood released his 19 recommendations on the police use of Tasers in the province. The report was the first of two from a provincial inquiry prompted by the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport in 2007.

The first recommendation was that the province — not individual police departments, including the RCMP — should set the guidelines for using Tasers, which law enforcers often refer to as "conducted energy weapons."

"In the report, I bluntly state the provincial government has abdicated its responsibility to establish provincewide standards. In my view, it's the province's responsibility to set the rules about conducted energy weapons use and officer training," Braidwood said.

Immediately following the release of the report, B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed promised the government will implement every one of Braidwood's recommendations. 

All police, including the Mounties, must restrict their use of Tasers and follow Braidwood's recommendations, Heed said.

The former West Vancouver police chief said the stun guns, which are designed to incapacitate someone with a high-voltage electric shock, should only be used to enforce federal criminal laws, and only when lesser force options won't work. He also promised new provincewide standards within six to 12 months.

RCMP police B.C.

However the RCMP, which is contracted by the provincial government to police 70 per cent of the province, reports directly to the federal government.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Tim Shields said it's too early to say whether the RCMP will comply with the Heed's directive to adopt Braidwood's recommendations immediately.

"Although the RCMP is B.C.'s provincial police service, it's also Canada's national police service. Recommendations that are sweeping, involving training and policy, will also affect RCMP right across the country," Shields said.

That non-committal approach was echoed by federal Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan in Ottawa.

"I am asking the RCMP to review the findings and recommendations... with the objective of improving upon current RCMP policies and procedures with respect to Taser use," Van Loan said following the release of the first Braidwood report.

B.C.'s contract with the RCMP is up in 2012, and Braidwood wants the province to require the federal force to comply with provincial guidelines before renewing the agreement.

Heed said it's premature to start talking about consequences if it doesn't.

"We're operating from the position that we will get some kind of agreement with respect to that and we will try to enshrine it in the contract," Heed said.

Municipal police adopt guidelines

The RCMP's hesitation toward the new provincial guidelines contrasted starkly with their rapid adoption by B.C.'s municipal police forces.

Abbotsford Chief Constable Bob Rich, who is also the head of the B.C. Association of Municipal Police Chiefs, said B.C.'s police forces welcomed the new provincewide policy limiting Taser use and moved immediately to implement the recommendations.  

"I know in consultation with other police departments that by the time we left the office yesterday, we had sent instructions out to our people about exactly when they were and were not to use Tasers, and that will be followed up with more training and face to face contact and discussion," Rich said Thursday. 

Vancouver's deputy police chief, Doug Lepard, said that in 2007, Vancouver police made sweeping changes to the way they deploy the weapon and that those changes resulted in a significant decrease in Taser use.

Still, Lepard said the Vancouver Police Department is taking Braidwood's report seriously.

"The VPD is taking immediate steps to comply with these new directives.  All members are being informed today, and the information process will continue until all members of the department are aware of the new restrictions. No officer will be deployed with a Taser who has not had an in-person briefing on the new directives."

Taser International, the manufacturer of the stun guns, was critical of the report, saying it appears that "politics has trumped science."

Taser spokesperson Steve Tuttle maintained that the Braidwood Inquiry based its recommendations largely on speculation and ignored key facts, and that Braidwood's 19 recommendations do not "meet the realities of modern-day law enforcement."