Curb the use of stun guns...

That's the message from Paul Kennedy, head of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, in an interim report. Kennedy's recommendations are intended for immediate implementation although there is nothing binding on the RCMP. (All emphasis mine)

The report stops short of calling for a moratorium on the weapon, but says the force needs to limit its use, increase training for officers and conduct more research on the weapon's effects.

In the report, Kennedy criticizes the RCMP for failing to manage the use of Tasers and allowing usage to grow over the past six years to include cases where people were "clearly non-combative."

"Use has expanded to include subduing resistant subjects who do not pose a threat of grievous bodily harm or death and on whom the use of lethal force would not be an option," the report says.

Yesterday RCMP Commissioner William Elliott was expressing concern that Kennedy would call for an immediate moratorium on the use of TASER™ weapons. Elliott also suggested that policies and training for the use of electroshock weapons was appropriate.

"Our preliminary assessment, and I must stress it's only preliminary, is that our current policies and training are appropriate."

Perhaps they are. But it isn't the policy that's under the microscope here. It's the actual use in the field and Kennedy has clearly described a problem.

In the report, Kennedy criticizes the RCMP for failing to manage the use of Tasers and allowing usage to grow over the past six years to include cases where people were "clearly non-combative."

"Use has expanded to include subduing resistant subjects who do not pose a threat of grievous bodily harm or death and on whom the use of lethal force would not be an option," the report says.

As it stands, Tasers are considered an "intermediate" tool alongside batons and pepper spray. The result is that the weapons are being used "earlier than reasonable," Kennedy writes.

Kennedy went on to describe an appalling condition surrounding monitoring.

The report says that there has been not enough accountability or monitoring of the use and effects of the weapons since the RCMP introduced them in 2001.

At first, their use was restricted to subduing those who resisted arrest, were combative or were suicidal, but through "usage creep" officers began deploying them in other situations.

[...]

Since December 2001, RCMP officers have deployed them more than 3,000 times, the report says.

But in that time, not one report has been produced about the force's use of stun guns, Kennedy writes, and the force only began to fully collect data four years after the weapon's introduction.

That puts Elliott's contention that the use of the weapon is "appropriate" into immediate question. If he has no information, not one report, how does he know what is appropriate and what is not?

Elliott contends, with no empirical data or in-force research to support him, that the policy for the use of stun guns is appropriate. The weapon is listed in the RCMP arsenal as an "intermediate device". In other words, one that would be used after an effort at empty hand soft control and before empty hand hard control, but well before the use of lethal force.

Kennedy is calling for the weapon to be elevated to an "impact weapon" along with the police extendable baton and the sock round.

You may be excused for believing, as many people do, that conducted energy weapons were always in the category of "impact" weapons. In fact RCMP policy allows the employment of an electroshock weapon in the same category as O.C. (pepper) spray, CS gas and a high velocity water gun.

With no clear independent testing, TASER™ weapons use policy was established based on information from the manufacturer; a manufacturer which has been compelled to change the wording surrounding the weapon's lethality to more clearly reflect that, while it is not intended to be fatal, it can cause death.

I would not support a total moratorium on the use of conducted energy weapons, but Kennedy has got it right: RCMP policy on when they will be used is wrong. They are currently being used as a "compliance" device where no threat to public or police need exist.

It will be interesting to watch what Stockwell Day does with this report. He can order William Elliott to implement the recommendations. The question is, will he?