Thursday, June 12, 2008

Canada's Horsemen--more shocking news

A new report, the results of a joint investigation by Canadian Press and CBC Radio-Canada of more than 3200 Taser incidents between 2002 and 2007, shows that multiple use of Tasers on individuals by the RCMP is on the rise.

In 43% of the cases, more than one shock was administered. In 31 cases, the cops used 7 or more jolts.

In two-thirds of the multiple-shock incidents, the citizen at the receiving end was unarmed.

The cops are apparently ignoring an internal policy bulletin that warned of the hazards of repeated shocks, and advised officers not to inflict them "unless situational factors dictate otherwise": a loophole, of course, that you could drive a truck through as your superiors nudge-nudge and wink-wink and close ranks as usual.

The RCMP stonewall continues. Commissioner William Elliott refused an interview about the report. The RCMP still refuses to release descriptive summaries of Tasering events.

It is clear, yet again, that this rogue police force is completely out of control. There are simply no checks, no balances, no means of getting rid of the sadistic creeps in red serge who are going around torturing Canadian citizens on whim--whether it be an 82-year-old heart patient in a hospital bed or a Native person zapped repeatedly because he wouldn't remove a ceremonial necklace. And the four uniformed killers of Robert Dziekanski are still on active duty, their names a closely-guarded secret.

This "horribly broken" organization, rife with thugs and incompetents, needs to be disbanded. Now. We need to build a new national police force from the ground up, finding a way to screen out the sadists, the punks and the time-servers, and to reassign the decent officers caught up in the current RCMP web of deadly incompetence, breaking up the tight little cliques right down to the detachment level. This latest report makes the task even more urgent. But, as I have asked before, is there the political will to take this on?

UPDATE: And if RCMP stonewalling isn't enough, there's always Stocky to run, er, political interference.

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