Mounties to use Tasers only in cases of 'bodily harm'

OTTAWA - The Mounties say that from now on they will fire stun guns at people only when they're hurting someone or clearly about to do so.

Accused of relying too heavily on Tasers, the RCMP introduced new policies Tuesday to restrict their use to nipping violent confrontations in the bud.

The revamped operational manual says officers should limit Taser use to incidents in which a person is "causing bodily harm" or will "imminently" lash out.

Bob Paulson, an assistant RCMP commissioner, said the threshold is more specific than the previous one, defined as "a threat to officer or public safety."

"We feel that this is more precise," he said in an interview.

The directive mirrors a recommendation from former judge Thomas Braidwood, head of a B.C. public inquiry on Taser use prompted by the death of airline passenger Robert Dziekanski.

The RCMP changes come in response to the B.C. inquiry, new Alberta guidelines and persistent criticism from human-rights advocates that the Taser was often being used to make people obey police commands, not to defuse the most serious threats.

The new RCMP policy says that when possible, Mounties should warn suspects they are about to be zapped.

The policy continues to advise that multiple firings of the Taser may be hazardous. It also reinstates direction that officers must not use the stun gun for more than five seconds on a person and should avoid multiple stuns unless truly necessary.

It also calls for better records on Taser use and more testing to make sure the devices are operating correctly.

The RCMP now issues quarterly reports on Taser use but they lag a year behind.

"It's not timely enough," said Paulson. "It's not acceptable and we're going to improve that."

The RCMP watchdog, which has sharply criticized the force's stun-gun policies, welcomed the announcement as a "significant improvement."

Restricting Taser use to the "clearly defined threshold" of bodily harm should help reduce the risk of "usage creep" -- the tendency to stun people as a convenient means of making them comply, said Ian McPhail, interim chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

"This change, along with the recognition that additional precautions must be taken before using the weapon, is a prudent move on the part of the RCMP," McPhail said in a statement.

While "causing bodily harm" is still a broad category, the new wording is a step in the right direction, said Hilary Homes, Amnesty International Canada's campaigner on human rights and security.

Dziekanski died in October 2007 after he was hit with a Mountie Taser at the Vancouver airport. He was en route from Poland to join his mother in Kamloops, B.C., where he hoped to begin a new life.

A video of the confrontation filmed by a fellow passenger, in which an agitated and sweaty Dziekanski is zapped repeatedly, was seen by millions of people -- stirring public outrage and sparking widespread re-examination of stun-gun use.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott said in a statement Tuesday the national police force is continually working to improve policies, procedures and training on Tasers. "These latest amendments reaffirm our commitment to continuous improvement and to protecting Canadians."

In his initial report, Braidwood said while the stun guns can kill or gravely injure people, they can also be a valuable option for officers.

In addition to calling for more selective use, Braidwood recommended Tasers be tested periodically.

Alberta has declared that Tasers used in the province be tested annually and that new ones be scrutinized before they're put into service.

The RCMP destroyed or retired hundreds of Tasers after laboratory tests found several Mountie stun guns were not performing properly.

Internal RCMP notes obtained by The Canadian Press said 15 per cent of the older M26 model Tasers and one per cent of the newer X26 models did not test within technical tolerances.

McPhail said discussions continue with the RCMP to address outstanding commission recommendations, including mandatory medical attention after every Taser use, as well as restricting their use to members with at least five years of experience.