Ottawa police board chair will support Taser expansion proposal

OTTAWA — The chair of the police services board says he will support a request by Ottawa police that the board change its policy on which officers can carry Tasers and then agree to buy as many as 100 of the weapons next year.

Coun. Eli El-Chantiry said Thursday he thinks the police service has done the necessary leg work. He had earlier asked Chief Charles Bordeleau to give him and other members who still needed convincing a full picture of Tasers and their pros and cons before asking for money for the weapons.

“I’m hoping the board will support (the proposal) because I think it’s a step in the right direction,” El-Chantiry said.

Supt. Uday Jaswal, who oversees front line patrol units at the force, led the team that developed the proposal.

The two-year plan is conservative by some measures — no money would be spent on purchases this year and a maximum of 100 could be bought in 2015. Those purchases alone would up the number of readily accessible Tasers on the road at any given time in the city from between five and 15 to between 29 and 39.

More than half of Ottawa police officers who responded to a survey on Taser use said they had been in at least one situation where they needed a Taser but one was not immediately available.

Jaswal said the proposal was realistic given not just the hard and soft costs — about $2,000 per Taser and continual training — but what the force can operationally handle.

“I think we want to be very pragmatic about our approach. Budget is certainly a consideration,” Jaswal said. “I think we also have to look at our capacity as an organization to train members and maintain their training as well, going forward. There are a number of factors that we’ve looked at. I think it’s a very thoughtful approach that we’re putting forward.”

The proposal comes after weeks of consultations with police officers and the public.

Police developed an online questionnaire that drew about 1,200 responses, more than half from officers.

Police also met with the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, the Ontario Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Community Police Action Committee, the Elizabeth Fry Society and the John Howard Society.

“Consultation was a very significant part of our approach for developing the recommendations,” Jaswal said. “The benefit to us is we’ve actually been able to incorporate some of the suggestions and feedback we got, especially from the key stakeholders that we met with.”

As a result, officers will get more training on how to communicate and de-escalate situations. Suicide intervention training will be part of new recruit training, and internal policies will mandate that anyone who has a Taser used on them must receive medical attention.

Police will also seek to strengthen data collection on deployments to make sure they have accurate numbers on when they are used.

The proposal itself will ask the board to assign Tasers to first-class constables who are coach officers or are recommended by their platoon commanders, have good overall work performance, and are assigned to areas where front line Taser access can be improved. They must meet all of the criteria if they are not coach officers.

The board’s existing policy was heavily influenced by guidelines put in place by the province in 2000 that allowed only supervisors and members of specialty units to carry the weapon. The province changed its policy in November of 2013 to allow police boards to decide whether to equip front line officers with Tasers. Boards and chiefs can now work together to expand who can carry a Taser. Training must be increased from eight to 12 hours, with additional time spent ensuring officers make judgment-based decisions and try to de-escalate situations.

If the Ottawa police board approves the proposal, it would then be given another report in two years to examine the effects of expanded Taser use.

Will expanded use mean Tasers are deployed more than the 19 times on average they are used by Ottawa police annually? If yes, would that mean less use of other weapons?

A report in two years would have to answer those important questions, El-Chantiry said, and begin to paint a picture of how Tasers have been used by the force to give a full evaluation.

“Time will tell,” El-Chantiry said.

If approved, the city would, so far, be the only municipality in the province to have a revised policy following the new provincial guidelines.

While both the chair and the police service support the proposal, it has to be accepted by the entire board.

“We’ll accept whatever decision they make,” Jaswal said.

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