Commissioner William Elliott yesterday offered his apology for Robert Dziekanski’s death on behalf of the RCMP.  The apology comes more than a year and a half after Mr. Dziekanski’s death in custody.

Along with an apology, Elliott addressed BC’s order to the RCMP to pull the old M-26 Taser model from service after tests have shown them to be unreliable.  The failure rate is approximately 80%.  Elliott responded by recalling all M-26 models across Canada, which amounts to approximately 1500 units.  The models will be put back in service when they are independently tested, repaired and retested.

The BC Civil Liberties Association has called for a moratorium on Taser use until all in-service units have been independently tested for safety and reliability and national policy has been developed on their use.

Check out the story in The Province.

Tags: Death In Custody, RCMP, Taser
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Today, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) released its final report on the in-custody death of Kevin St. Arnaud.  The report clears the officer involved, but offers sharp criticism of the RCMP internal investigation.  The investigation took four and a half years.

The death of Kevin St. Arnaud is a shining example of why the police should not investigate themselves when it comes to in-custody deaths or serious injuries. A witness stated at the coroner’s inquest that Mr. St. Arnaud put his hands up and surrendered to RCMP constable Ryan Sheremetta. Constable Sheremetta’s account was found to be inconsistent with ballistics evidence, forensics experts and another RCMP officer who witnessed the shooting. And yet, the Chair of the CPC, Paul Kennedy, has decided that Sheremetta acted in self defence.The  investigation that assessed Constable Sheremetta’s actions is, according to Kennedy, “inadequate” and “lacking impartiality”.  The RCMP have accepted this finding.

Whether it be Mr. St. Arnaud, Ian Bush, Robert Dziekanski or the countless others that have died in police custody, the public is never going to have confidence in an internal investigation. These investigations need to be done by a civilian investigation team like Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) or similar agency. The usual argument against such a change is that police agencies are capable of impartial and unbiased investigations, an argument dismissed in jurisdictions like England and Ontario, among others, as well as by William H. Davies, Commissioner of the Frank Paul Inquiry.  Many also argue that only the police have the skills to investigate these matters.  This argument has also been dismissed, for example, by Andre Marin, Ombudsman of Ontario and former head of the Special Investigations Unit in Ontario.

The BCCLA has pushed for an SIU in BC for years, and we’ve been joined by numerous others: William H. Davies, Andre Marin, Linda Bush (Ian Bush’s mother), Cameron Ward (a Vancouver lawyer who has represented a number of families whose relatives died in police custody including the families of Kevin St. Arnaud, Kyle Tait and  Donald Lewis), and countless other individuals and community organisations.  Manitoba recently made a decision to create an SIU, which shows that change can happen.

Watch the CBC’s report.

Cameron Ward has written on his blog about the findings of the Coroner’s inquest.

Tags: BCCLA Police Complaints, Death In Custody, RCMP
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Police psychologist Mike Webster today sent an open letter to the mother of Robert Dziekanski, offering what he says “is probably as close as you will come to a genuine apology from the RCMP.”   Dr. Webster had his contract work cancelled by the RCMP after openly criticising the force last year with regard to the in-custody death of Robert Dziekanski. Zofia Cisowski responded to the letter by stating “nobody so far exposed the truth about the RCMP as Dr. Webster did.”

The letter is printed below in its entirety, and the discussion of slash gloves is particularly interesting. Below are  a few of the more scathing criticisms Dr. Webster leveled at the RCMP:

An inept, insular and archaic group of RCMP executives has let the Force fall out of step with 21st Century policing.

The idea of intimidating people is entirely consistent with the RCMP management’s way of managing conflict not only with the public but also with its own membership.

[The RCMP executive] view themselves as somehow apart from the rest of us, an elite group whose safety is more important than that of the most unfortunate among us.

We have become the `enemy’ and they go to `war’ with us each day, rather than collaborating with us to form a cohesive and consistent approach to policing our communities.

Unfortunately, the long history and rich tradition of the Force manifests itself today as arrogance and defensiveness.

The RCMP is in need of significant transformational change in order to genuinely reconnect with the public and its own membership.

The BC Civil Liberties Association has completed the RCMP’s stakeholders survey. We’re not sure which organisations were asked to participate, but we’re glad to help the RCMP when we can. In an unrelated note, many of the survey questions seem to mirror criticisms made in the Brown investigation into the RCMP’s pension problems.

Tags: RCMP
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The Green Party of BC would replace the RCMP with a provincial force, something the BC Civil Liberties Association called for last year. The RCMP contract is up in 2012, so it’s a perfect time to be discussing such a transition.

The Greens state that local control equals better accountability. The BCCLA position was motivated by broader reasons after the release of the Brown Report, a federal task force report on overhauling the RCMP. Jason Gratl, then president of the BCCLA, stated that “the Brown Report suggests deep and broad problems with human resources and financial management, management oversight and contract policing. In our view, the solution is to build from within British Columbia – the answer to our provincial policing problems will not be found in Ottawa.” The Greens have also called for a Taser ban. The BCCLA has called for a moratorium on Taser use.

Check out a couple of articles on the Greens’ position, including some negative response from the NDP and Liberals and mayors in RCMP-policed cities Burnaby and Surrey. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of all, the mayor of Richmond was a little circumspect on the issue, stating “we are in the process of analysing whether [the RCMP] are the long-term solution for this city.”

Tags: RCMP
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RCMP media spokespersons Cpl. Dale Carr and Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre will be testifying at the Braidwod Inquiry. The BCCLA filed a police complaint over public statements made by the two officers in the days following the in-custody death of Robert Dziekanski. The complaint alleges that the two RCMP officers misrepresented facts and engaged in character attacks against Robert Dziekanski and Paul Pritchard. The complaint also alleges that the RCMP attempted to suppress the video footage recorded by Mr. Pritchard.

The investigation of the complaint has already been completed, but the BCCLA has argued that the investigation is woefully inadequate and recently filed a Request for Review with the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. While we’re waiting to see if we can get an adequate investigation, let’s hope that Commissioner Braidwood can get some answers from the RCMP.

Check out the BCCLA original complaint, the investigation report, the request for review, and an article in the Vancouver Sun.

The BCCLA is represented by BCCLA Litigation Director Grace Pastine and BCCLA Articled Student Sara Dubinsky at the Braidwood Inquiry.

Tags: BCCLA Police Complaints, Braidwood Inquiry, Death In Custody, RCMP, Robert Dziekanski
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