Watch above: One year after reintroducing Conducted Energy Weapons in Saskatoon, police Chief Clive Weighill speaks about how officers have benefited from having the controversial weapon at their disposal. Wendy Winiewski reports.
SASKATOON – Constables with the Saskatoon Police Service have discharged conducted energy weapons (CEW’s), commonly known as Tasers, eight times since they were reintroduced on Dec. 18, 2013.
Controversy surrounding the weapon mounted in 2007 after Canadian immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, was killed after being Tasered five times at Vancouver International Airport. Many police departments, including Saskatoon Police Service, pulled CEW’s from the belts of constables at the time, reintroducing them years later.
“So far the use of conducted energy weapons has been a very useful tool for our officers. It has de-escalated some very serious violent events that have happened in Saskatoon,” said police Chief Clive Weighill.
Most recently, a lone officer discharged a Taser on Dec. 13. Attending a call near Avenue U South, an altercation outside escalated, resulting in a man breaking into a home. Five teenagers were babysitting two young siblings at the time.
MORE: Break-in terrifies Saskatoon family
“There are some instances where you run into a violent individual where if you were to use your pepper spray and baton and draw out the encounter you’d probably end up doing a lot more harm to either the officer or the person” said Weighill.
- B.C. Sikh leader ‘vindicated’ by arrest of Indian nationals in Nijjar killing
- London Drugs remains closed, says it is reviewing billions of lines of data
- How toy guns brandished by Ontario youth in ‘assassins game’ is prompting real fear
- Trump trial hears recording discussing hush money scheme: ‘What do we got to pay?’
“In this occasion, I think it was a very good judgment call. The officer used the CEW, contained the event and no further injury to anybody was done.”
Each time a CEW is discharged, the recipient is checked by a medical practitioner and the use of the Taser is reviewed by a sergeant and a board of executive officers to ensure policies have been followed. The review is then passed to the Saskatchewan Police Commission. All eight discharges in Saskatoon are found to be justified.
The use of a Taser is made public at each discharge. CEW’s were reintroduced in Regina on March 14, 2014 and have been discharged there eight times.
During a Saskatoon incident in April, a Taser failed when an officer attempted discharge. The Police Service says this hasn’t happen again since then.
Comments