Some Vancouver social activists have recently expressed concerns that homeless people may be targeted by police as the 2010 Olympic Games draw nearer. These fears are rooted in recent experiences in Salt Lake City and Atlanta, where homeless people were arrested or shipped out of town by the authorities as the Olympic Games got under way.

I was invited to comment on this issue from a civil liberties perspective. Since my remarks may have been misinterpreted by some, including a newly appointed member of Canada’s Senate, I want to repeat my views here.

I am concerned that the Vancouver Police Department’s “breaching” policy may be abused. “Breaching” is police slang for taking people into custody for breach of the peace pursuant to s. 31 of the Criminal Code, then releasing them later in another part of the city. When six Vancouver police constables took three people from Granville Mall to Stanley Park and assaulted them in the middle of the night, they relied on the VPD’s “breaching” policy to attempt to justify their actions.

As long as the VPD condones the practice of “breaching”, there is a risk that police officers may feel that they have the authority to toss people into paddy wagons and drive them across town, whether or not any offence has been committed. We must all be vigilant to endure that the civil liberties of Vancouver residents, including the disadvantaged among us, are not infringed in this fashion, now or in the future.

After enduring a fifteen month wait, the family of Robert Bagnell may finally learn something about how he died. The Victoria Police Department’s “external investigation report” was delivered to OPCC head Dirk Ryneveld and to VPD Chief Graham on September 14th. By law, Chief Graham must deliver a summary of the report to the Bagnell family by Wednesday, September 28, 2005.

Robert Bagnell, 44, died on June 23, 2004. The VPD initially told his family that Robert died of a drug overdose, then a month later revealed to the media that they had Tasered him twice just before he died. Another month after that, the VPD acknowledged that he was not a threat to anyone and that he was not involved in the commission of a crime when they sent an ERT (SWAT) team into the washroom Robert was in. The police said Bagnell was shocked with 50,000 volts so they could “rescue” him from a “fire” in his building. Although the family doubts these claims, they have been unable to obtain copies of police or autopsy reports and they have been unable to get an inquest scheduled, though one is mandatory.

In another recent development, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has dismissed the Bagnell family’s application for a Court order compelling the coroner to schedule an inquest and deliver relevant documents to the Bagnell family.

Read the decision.

After hearing submissions from lawyers representing the Bagnell family, the coroner, the Provincial government and the Vancouver Police Department, Mr. Justice Kelleher of the BC Supreme Court has reserved judgment on the Bagnell family’s application for an Order that a date be set for a coroner’s inquest and for an order that the coroner deliver documents to the family.

Robert Bagnell, 44, died on June 23, 2004, more than 14 months ago. The VPD initially told his family that Robert died of a drug overdose, then a month later revealed to the media that they had Tasered him twice just before he died. Another month after that, the VPD acknowledged that he was not a threat to anyone and that he was not involved in the commission of a crime when they sent an ERT (SWAT) team into the washroom Robert was in. The police said Bagnell was shocked with 50,000 volts so they could “rescue” him from a “fire” in his building. Although the family doubts these claims, they have been unable to obtain copies of police or autopsy reports and they have been unable to get an inquest scheduled.

Meanwhile, another death has been reported in Ohio, bringing to 153 the total number of North Americans who have died after being jolted by the “non-lethal” Taser.

The Canadian Police Research Centre today issued a technical report entitled “Review of Conducted Energy Devices” at the Ottawa conference of the Canadian Association Chiefs of Police. While the CPRC report acknowledges that “there is [sic] no known, scientifically tested, independently verified, and globally accepted CED safety parameters”, it concludes that CEDs, or Tasers, are “safe in the vast majority of cases”.

The report downplays the 151 cases of death in North America proximal to Taser use. Ten such deaths have occurred in July of this year alone, a fact that seems to have escaped the attention of the authors.

The CPRC report states “definitive research or evidence does not exist that implicates a causal relationship between the use of CEDs and death”. That statement does not square with the opinion of Dr. Scott Denton, Medical Examiner for Cook County, Illinois, who concluded in a postmortem report dated July 29, 2005 that “the cause of death in this 54 year old White male, Ronald Hasse, is from electrocution due to Taser application”.

Police studies on Tasers must be taken with at least a grain of salt. After all, manufacturer Taser International Inc. is a “Gold Sponsor” of this year’s CACP convention, at which the report was released, and has given payments and stock options to CPRC report author Darren Laur.

The clear message emerging from this latest police report is that it really is time for truly independent and rigorous testing of these dangerous weapons.

The report can be found at www.cprc.org

For another critique, see: Police in 5 states sue Taser in past 2 weeks

End of summer house and garden party with Blue Rodeo’s Bob Egan:

Monday, August 29, 2005 from 5:00 p.m. on.

E-mail or call me at the coordinates below for more details.