Following is the material I presented to the Nelson Police Board (NPB), July 30, 2013 - a bit after the fact of the Taser's return to Nelson, but I was abroad for a while, NPB meetings are not regular, and - after all - accountability is and remains accountability. Generally a weak link in Nelson's matters civic :
NPB/NPD Accountability - Example: Taser
The re-introduction of Tasers in rather than to Nelson has raised concerns twofold among the Nelson public:
1. Tasers as such
2. The manner of communication - or lack thereof - prior to, during and
after the re-introduction
Both - for the general public - are anchored in accountability: the Nelson Police Department's (NPD) Integrity, Respect, Innovation, Compassion and Accountability and the NPB's The Nelson Police Board is accountable to the community of Nelson.
Considering Nelson's (violent) crime-rate being minimal, the recent addition of 2 police-officers and carrying Tasers made voluntary - the decision to bring them back clearly is not need-based. The Taser - according to Chief Constable Holland: an additional tool in the police-officers' tool-belt. But at what multi-level cost?
In on-the-ground reality, use of a Taser here could become a short-cut - even lethal termination - in conflict-resolution, whereas interpersonal communication-skills were the prominent and most often sufficient tool previously.
In Canada 17 people died by Taser - between 2002 and 2007.
Using a Taser on a tourist - no matter what the NPD's justification - would clearly do far-reaching damage to Nelson as a tourist destination.
Recent official declarations that use of a Taser - if applied appropriately by retrained police-officers - generally is safe for those tasered, fail to take into account police-officers' psychological state before/during use of their Taser and the ordinarily unknown physical condition of those to be or being tasered.
Example of the former: Part of a current investigation in Toronto - a police-officer seemingly tasered a man AFTER he was already shot (several times) by another (other) police-officer(s)!
Although the Board ostensibly is accountable to the Nelson community, and its Strategy 2011-2015 claims to want to increase communication - in my memory, it never has communicated thus been accountable here.
The latest: The Taser-issue - which should have been recognized as very sensitive to many - was neither announced as intention nor explained comprehensively as an accomplished fact.
The BC Coroner Service's declaration of (Robert) Dziekanski a homicide (after being tasered multiple times at the Vancouver Airport) - just days after the brief local Taser announcement in the Nelson Daily (only!) - should have moved the NPB to give a public in-depth account: but again - there was nothing!
There recently have been some (mostly minor - one seriously major!) adjustments to the NPB's website - clearly prompted (only) by my initial presentation to the Committee Of The Whole (COW), April 22, 2013, and subsequent blog-posts. Mention of the Board Strategy's plan to increase communication was (seriously major!) deleted!
In fact - clearer now than before the adjustments: the NPB is neither in communication- nor accountability-mode.
Taser-related announcements by NPD members - prior to the NPD's presentation to the COW, May 27, 2013 - only superficially addressed the re-introduction. I received no reply to an e-mail sent to the chief constable (police chief) immediately after the initial announcement - only got pieces of disjointed information by phoning the Department.
Not once then, in that COW or since has there been an explanation - period - for WHY Tasers in Nelson. Much of the public's perception of the prompt use of a Taser here - only 3 weeks subsequent to said COW - is framed by: Well, of course they'd make a point!
The NPD's presentation to the COW was not based on the public's need to be informed: the NPD had to be invited.
COW - Chief Constable Holland
a.
The Chief's distinction between Tasers not being lethal force but high-intermediate use of force distinguishes between homicide-by-Taser and homicide-by-Taser.
b.
The Chief's defense of Taser-use by claiming that there is less risk of injury by Taser than by police-officers using fists and/or batons to restrain is troubling for 3 reasons:
1. Using fists and/or batons on a person does not mean the person is being restrained but beaten into submission. Restraining is done with words or hands - not fists and/or clubs!
2. The Chief offers a violent either/or-scenario only- disregarding a less or non-violent alternative.
3. How many people were killed in Canada by police-force with fists and/or batons between 2002 and 2007 - when 17 were killed by Taser?
COW - Deputy Chief Burkart
According to the Deputy Chief (Inspector): in his 18 years as police-officer he has arrested thousands of people but only used his Taser less than a handful of times. Which raises the obvious question: So why have these expensive and dangerous toys? As per the Nelson Star - he spent 5 of those years in Calgary but has been in Nelson the last 13. I don't see how he could have arrested thousands - meaning at least two thousand - of people within those years; the vast majority of them Nelsonites. Particularly when considering his time-off between sets of shifts, administrative duties (towards becoming deputy chief) and vacations (plus other police-officers surely making arrests as well).
There is a lack of credibility in actions/inactions and statements/silence by either group and as a unit all along. The presentation to the COW by the NPD - oddly but not surprisingly without the NPB - did not clarify but add to a general perception of both groups' detachment from the Nelson public as people: it seemed patronizing. The NPD's and NPB's proclamation of accountability sounds hollow. As does that of respect by the NPD.
Regardless - public record has it continuously and extensively that police-officers - despite explicit rules and intensive training - are fallible. Potentially this includes the Nelson police-force. I never used to feel unsafe in Nelson before the return of Tasers - but I do now. Not because I fear being tasered - although who knows! - but because of the manner of (and people behind) re-introducing - or not! - the Taser. Even though both groups supposedly are accountably focused on the public's safety.
Also see posts:
Nelson: A Shock to the System
7 April 2013
Harperville And The Cop-Shop
12 April 2013
Taser Nelson, Please!
23 April 2013
City Hall - Zap! Gone!
26 June 2013
End of my presentation to the Police Board
A Yahoo-poll, involving 44.000 respondents - days after the Toronto killing -found that nationally 56% have no trust in the police. Police-activity with negative fall-out in specific locales will automatically bleed into national consciousness. Go figure! And public perception usually is more persuasive than media-fact. Meaning Nelson, too!
No matter how efficiently the NPD may see itself doing its job: this being a smallish town - needs and successes of the NPD are relative to smallish-town criminal activity. Clearly without need of Tasers.
The Chief priding himself in his force apprehending a van-thief plus returning the van - within a couple of hours - to the owner: a single, new-arrival-in-Nelson mother of 2 small children (no cute bunny-rabbit!) - is gratifying in proportion to the Nelson scene. But insignificant within a larger context. And coming from that context in Nelson is vital - certainly more honest. Without that mindset cops here may be perceived as just overpaid, overindulged elitists - with overpriced scare-tactic toys. At the same time: doing the community-relations thing alone - in feel-good get-togethers with particular groups over tea and cookies - won't do either: they may be seen as bit-by-bit infantilization of the general public. Lulled.
A positive - if not necessarily happy-making - ending to this: A recent conference of the BC Association of Police Boards (BCAPB) voted in favor of electing Chairs within Boards - instead of having a mayor automatically fill that position. Currently as per the stupidity of BC politics - and of low-voltage productivity.
To all units: Reporting a stolen moment ... repeat... reporting a stolen moment!
Images: Stephanie Marrott, Julia Letheld
Police have a challenging job and I have nothing but respect for the NPD officers. Conversely officers should have the same respect for the people they deal with.
ReplyDeleteI'm under the impression that many cops come to Nelson at the end of their careers, to basically go into semi-retirement mode, burnt out from big city life. Therefore, they take the least path of resistance and do as little as possible.
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