03) CRITICS PAN PREMIER WYNNE'S TASER ROLL-OUT

            In the wake of highly-publicised cases involving police violence, the Ontario government says it will permit all officers to carry Tasers. The decision on Aug. 27, weeks after police fired nine bullets into Sammy Yatim and then tasered the dying teen. Just a day after Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur's announcement, Peel Police tasered an 80 year woman in Mississauga, breaking her hip and hospitalizing her with other injuries.

            As Toronto's NOW magazine reports, civil liberties groups, criminologists, and mental health advocates worry that "conducted energy weapons" (CEWs) may be over‑used by police.

            Restating its "long‑standing concerns about the safety and appropriate uses of CEWs," the Canadian Civil Liberties Association investments in better de‑escalation training and crisis intervention teams. The CCLA argues that the "lax" current guidelines in Ontario allow officers to fire a Taser when a subject exhibits "assaultive behaviour," which can include "aggressive body language".

            B.C.'s Braidwood Inquiry, which followed the 2007 Tasering death of Robert Dziekanski, found that the "assaultive threshold" was too low. In the wake of the Braidwood recommendations, CEW use in B.C. has plummeted dramatically, with no corresponding rise in shootings, indicating that police may be using less violent strategies in difficult situations.

            According to the Toronto Police Service, during 2012 officers used Tasers in 255 incidents, 43.6 per cent of which involved subjects deemed to be "emotionally disturbed"

            The Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) is calling on the provincial government to rescind its decision, and instead train police to de‑escalate crisis situations. The CPC(O) also demands that police should be put under strict control of civilian boards.

            A statement from the CPC(O) says that Premier Wynne hopes to absolve the government of responsibility for the increasing number of police shootings. But arming officers with another lethal weapon, the statement says, has escalated the danger of even more police killings.

            "The solution is not more force, but less force by police, and more education and training to effectively de‑escalate crises situations," says the CPC(O). "These are the recommendations of dozens of Coroner's Inquests into police killings of individuals in crisis situations ‑ recommendations that have been consistently ignored by Liberal and Tory governments.

            "Further, Police Services and Senior Staff must be held accountable to ensure that de‑escalating crises situations is the first response and that police guns are holstered. This accountability can only be ensured with public civilian control of police. The provincial government must give civilian boards the powers they need to make police accountable to the communities they police."

            The CPC(O) also points out that at $1,500 each, the Taser purchase will impact municipal services, at a time when the province is downloading costs onto over‑burdened civic governments.

            "The escalation of police shootings of individuals in crisis parallels the increased police violence against legal strikes, protests and demonstrations such as occurred at the G20 in 2010," warns the CPC(O). "In addition to putting police under public civilian control, the provincial government should act now to repeal the Public Works Protection Act, which enabled martial law and the largest mass arrest in Canadian history."

(The above article is from the September 16-30, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)