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QaR
October 2008 
RCMP Taser Death Video - very upsetting
Posted on Nov 15th, 2007
by 
ponysong
ponysong
Canada's national police force is getting some bad press right now - this story shocks me to my very core. I am saddened and distraught at the apparent callousness of the police and airport authorities. The seemingly cavalier use of the Taser seems to be an ongoing problem with many police forces.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html
I'm sad and upset by this today. I love my country; I have always trusted the police, and take pride in their reputation for professionalism, probity and compassion. RCMP officers have been among my friends and acquaintances. But more and more, it appears that our police officers are not only human, with frailties just like everyone else, but are subject to a systemic failure of compassion, probity, and even common sense.
I'm not naive, I know there have always been instances of police brutality in this country ( our First Nations peoples have been among the most frequent victims). But now I fear that there is a system-wide lack of maturity, lack of training, lack of sense, among our police. I hope this can change.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html
I'm sad and upset by this today. I love my country; I have always trusted the police, and take pride in their reputation for professionalism, probity and compassion. RCMP officers have been among my friends and acquaintances. But more and more, it appears that our police officers are not only human, with frailties just like everyone else, but are subject to a systemic failure of compassion, probity, and even common sense.
I'm not naive, I know there have always been instances of police brutality in this country ( our First Nations peoples have been among the most frequent victims). But now I fear that there is a system-wide lack of maturity, lack of training, lack of sense, among our police. I hope this can change.
Access: Public
This is an excellent topic for a post. I have to say it disappointed and saddened me to hear this news. Just as it did (for a different reasons, naturally) when I heard of the deaths of two R.C.M.P. officers in separate incidents recently in the North. It is a more stressful and violent world which the officers of the R.C.M.P and local police forces have to deal with today, than when my uncle was an R.C.M.P officer. My cousin's husband is also a member. I think this incident should open a discussion about training, stress management, and disciplinary procedures. Policing is not a job I would be able to do. Tha majority of officers take their jobs seriously and are mortified when some “bad apples” go over the line between reasonable force and brutality. Thanks for this.
Thanks, Otter (Catherine), for your comment.
I really think it has gone beyond the “bad apples” that we have seen in the past. I think there is a systemic failure of training and accountability, not just in the RCMP, but in police forces across the country. Maybe in the U.S. too. I wonder if this is an inevitable effect of the labour shortage, and a reflection of the fact that police forces are having trouble recruiting new officers. How likely is it that new officers are being pressed into service to soon, without adequate training or evaluation of their abilities or even their suitableness for the line of work? Like you, Catherine, policing is not a job I feel capable of doing myself, although I did consider it on graduation from university. It is a job that cannot be done well without exceptional presence of mind, maturity, probity and compassion. All rare qualities.
I don't know if the RCMP in BC are worse than other forces, but this is their second major incident in which an individual has died due to police use of force, and apparently as a direct result of a failure of training and lack of experience on the part of the officers involved.
I hope that the truth will come to light and we will eventually learn what failures led to Robert Dziekanski's taser death, but the RCMP have been stonewalling for two years on another death in custody, that of 22 year old Ian Bush, so I don't hold out much hope that they will tell the truth in this new case. Bush was arrested for holding an open beer, and then giving a false name to the arresting officer, outside a hockey game in his home town of Houston, BC. 20 minutes later, he was dead in an RCMP interrogation room, of a bullet to the back of the head:
http://mostlywater.org/sudden_death_the_police_murder_of_ian_bush_from_houston_bc
I cry every time I think about this young man's family, their devastating loss, and their fruitless quest for answers.
The RCMP in British Columbia are getting a reputation, for “shoot first, then refuse to talk about it or let anyone else investigate”. It looks like it's time for our governments to change the laws about who investigates when civilians die in police custody. Conflict of Interest doesn't even begin to describe it. Here is an article describing the investigations into the shootings of Ian Bush and another victim of police gunfire in Vanderhoof (not far from Houston), a young man named Kevin St. Arnaud:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/rcmp/civilian-shooting.html
And here's a CBC accounting of Taser-related deaths in Canada, since 1999, when police forces in this country started using the weapon (although the earliest incident listed here is 2003, so I don't know if this documentation is complete).
http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/map-tasers-canada/
Hi back, I just listened to a fellow who wrote a book about the RCMP, who talked about the deterioration in training, etc. which the force has experienced over the last 20 years. If these deaths are not to be in vain, then the federal governent must undertake a review of the force and make changes. It has a proud reputation, and there are many good people working for them, despite these inexcusable deaths. If they have the money to spend on a public inquiry into Brian Mulroney's dealings, then surely they have the resources to make the necessary changes to the RCMP.
the rubber bullets of our times