Tasers arrive soon
winnipegsun.com
By PAUL TURENNE, POLICE REPORTER
Ottawa police demonstrate a Taser gun. Police here will have them by summer's end. (DAVE CHAN, CP files)
Brandon police officers will begin carrying Tasers today and Winnipeg police won't be far behind.
More than two years after announcing that the Thomas A. Swift Electrical Rifles would be coming to Winnipeg cops, the police service is finally nearing the end of its training and expects to have the Tasers on the streets of Winnipeg by the end of the summer.
"The training isn't completely finished, but it's almost completed. We're hoping to see the Tasers issued and in use in the near future," said Const. Jacquie Chaput, a spokeswoman for Winnipeg police, who noted training began in January.
Although Manitoba Mounties and officers in most other large Canadian cities have carried Tasers for years, no Winnipeg officers are yet authorized to use them.
ONE FOR EVERY PATROL CAR
But soon there will be one available to every patrol car and to some of the police service's specialty units, said Chaput.
A spokesman for the Brandon Police Service, whose Tasers hit the streets today, said the shock-inducing weapons have been welcomed by Brandon cops.
"Any time we have an option to use less-than-lethal force that's the way we want to go," said Sgt. Marc Alain. "The advantage of Tasers compared to other less-than-lethal force options is once you deliver the shock and it's over, it's over. Other than a little tingling, you can walk away."
Alain said that's untrue of other non-lethal options, such as pepper spray, which requires the person sprayed to be decontaminated, and batons, which can leave nasty bruises.
Kenora's cops began carrying Tasers on March 16, and Const. Bob Bernie, a community services officer with the Kenora Police Service, said they've already come in handy.
"The feedback was positive, for sure," he said. "They were very efficient."
Winnipeg is not only behind Kenora and Brandon in getting Tasers to its cops, but in fact behind nearly every major Canadian city except Regina, which doesn't have Tasers but recently voted to bring them in.
But once Winnipeg cops get them, there will be more officers carrying them here than in most other cities.
While most officers in Edmonton, Calgary, and Halifax carry them, only sergeants and/or emergency response (a.k.a. SWAT) teams in Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Toronto and Saskatoon carry them. All of Toronto's officers will begin carrying them next year.
Loren Schinkel, president of the Winnipeg Police Association, said his union is happy to see its members getting Tasers.
"None of our members want to be involved in a lethal force situation, and if this assists in de-escalating situations like that, then great."
Schinkel said he believes the delay was partly due to the service waiting for results of a study done by the Canadian Police Research Centre into possible Taser-related deaths.
The study, released last August, showed there is no evidence of a causal link between Tasers and 151 North Americans, including 13 Canadians, who have died in Taser-related incidents. |
