RCMP watchdog Paul Kennedy's report, based on a review of more than 4,000 cases where the weapon was used or threatened, was approved in principle yesterday by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and the RCMP.
But both Kennedy and Day signalled the RCMP has reservations about the impact on its operations.
While Kennedy rejected a ban on the use of Tasers, he criticized the RCMP for failing to act on his main interim recommendation in December to immediately restrict their use to situations where "combative" or "assaultive" suspects threaten death or "grievous bodily harm" to themselves, officers or the public.
Kennedy, commissioner for public complaints against the RCMP, said Tasers are still used in situations where suspects cannot even be described as "resistant."
Now, after a seven-month probe, Kennedy says Mounties must go even further and restrict the stun gun's use to experienced officers – above the rank of corporal in urban centres, and constables with five years' experience in rural detachments – and must summon medical attention every time it is discharged.
If adopted, the recommendation to limit who can carry a Taser could affect nearly half the Mounties now deployed on active duty, and take the stun guns out of the hands of many cops in rural and remote areas, where junior officers are frequently posted.
In all, the report contains 12 recommendations that slam RCMP data reporting on Taser use as faulty, unsupervised, and a poor justification for relaxing the rules around its use since the Taser's introduction in 2001.
Day had asked Kennedy to study RCMP protocols on Taser use in the wake of the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport last October.
"We see this somewhat as a victory," Walter Kosteckyj, the lawyer for Dziekanski's mother Zofia Cisowski, said yesterday. "This report was essentially calling for a conditional moratorium."
Kennedy said he accepts that there is likely an "as yet undefined" link between the stun gun's use and some deaths.
Yet he said police risk losing public confidence if they fail to become more publicly accountable for the increased use of the weapons.
"Nobody is calling for the police to be disarmed and not use weapons," said Kennedy. But, he added, "the police alone cannot and should not decide what is appropriate use of this weapon."
Day and RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott issued written statements yesterday that welcomed Kennedy's rejection of a moratorium on the weapons.
Elliott said he would act "to provide clearer direction to our members, to further restrict situations in which the (conducted energy weapon) can be deployed, and to develop and implement measures to enhance accountability and to promote officer and public safety."
But he stressed that any "specific steps" would be need to considered along with the geographic realities and "operational imperatives" faced by the national police force.
Neither Elliott nor any other senior RCMP officer would comment further or do interviews on the report, a media spokesperson said.
Staff Sgt. Brian Roach, a staff relations representative of the RCMP's rank-and-file members, said he was "relieved" that Kennedy supports "the continued use" of the Taser.
"It is an important intervention tool that not only enhances officer safety, but public safety. Obviously, proper training and clear policy on the proper circumstances for its use are important."
Kennedy admits his data analysis did not prove younger, inexperienced officers were quicker on the Taser draw.
But he said he inferred it from many of the complaints he received, including 117 cases where 13 to 16 year-olds have been shot with a Taser.
Kennedy painted a disturbing picture of the typical police user of Tasers, and the average victim. The weapon is most often deployed when two or more officers are present, usually constables on general patrol duty. The jolts are frequently cycled multiple times.
Tasers are most often used on males, aged 20 to 39, who are usually drunk, on a Friday or Saturday night, when police are called to scenes of a disturbance or assault, or when the subject is disruptive in a cell.
"These activities have been going on since man found firewater ... we've been able to confront them without resort to the Taser," Kennedy said.
The weapon should only be available to officers who have "the maturity of judgment" and experience.
Kennedy also dismissed the "storyline" in the RCMP's training program that says it's appropriate to use a Taser to control a person in the throes of "excited delirium" so the individual might receive prompt medical attention.
Day said the government "accepts the report and its recommendations in principle, including the main recommendation to further restrict the circumstances within which conducted energy weapons may be used."
But Day quoted Elliott as telling him that he would act "in a manner that takes into consideration the operational requirements of the RCMP."
RCMP watchdog's analysis of Taser use
WHO USES TASERS, WHERE AND WHEN:
• Mostly RCMP officers in the West, between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m., often on Friday or Saturday nights.
• Often two or more officers are present; usually constables on general patrol duty.
• Most likely involves a "disturbance" or assault-related offence.
WHO GETS HIT:
• Usually males (90 per cent), unarmed, between the ages of 20 and 39. However, many have been aged 13 to 16.
• Individuals suspected of, or confirmed to be, using a substance, usually alcohol.
HOW:
• In "probe" mode – where electrodes attach to a suspect and discharge a jolt over a wide area, which "translates into muscular incapacitation in addition to pain" – the weapon is most likely cycled once for five seconds.
• In "push-stun" mode – where the weapon is pushed against a person's body or clothing, and a five-second shock is discharged that generally does not cause muscular incapacitation – police often (40 per cent of the time) cycle the weapon two or more times.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
• Individuals are likely to receive medical attention if they are 50 or older; if they are female; if they are suicidal or having a mental health crisis; if weapons are involved.
• If substance use is suspected, they are less likely to receive medical attention.
• Medical attention is also likely if weapon is deployed in "probe" mode alone, or if combined with "push stun" mode, or if multiple officers are present.
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