Tonda MacCharles
Toronto Star
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
OTTAWA–Evidence at British Columbia’s Taser inquiry may mean police forces across Canada, including the Ontario Provincial Police officers who zapped a suspect in Norfolk County near Simcoe this week, could be slapped with Criminal Code charges and wrongful death lawsuits.
B.C. police complaints commissioner Dirk Ryneveld revealed new information first unearthed by an Ontario consultant that shows most police agencies in Canada are wrongly operating, likely illegally, under the assumption that the Taser is not a “prohibited firearm.”
In fact, research by Ottawa-based consultant John Kiedrowski indicates Taser guns are actually explicitly defined in Canadian criminal law as “prohibited firearms” – a designation that brings much stiffer rules around storage, training, certification and usage.
Likewise, any offence with a firearm, such as unauthorized use, would bring harsher mandatory minimum jail penalties.
Kiedrowski, who was unavailable to comment, recently completed an independent report for RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott on Tasers and the rules governing their use. The RCMP says it cannot release the report because it is not fully translated.
FULL ARTICLE @ Toronto Star
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment