Vancouver transit riders tasered for not paying fares

[A second article follows below - MW]

by ROD MICKLEBURGH; April 16, 2008 - Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080415....

VANCOUVER — The country's only armed transit police have been tasering passengers who try to avoid paying fares.

According to documents provided in response to a Freedom of Information request, police patrolling public transit in the Metro Vancouver area have used tasers 10 times in the past 18 months, including five occasions when victims had been accosted for riding free.

In one incident, a non-paying passenger was tasered after he held onto a railing on the SkyTrain platform and refused to let go.

"After several warnings to the subject to stop resisting arrest and the subject failing to comply with the officers' commands, the taser was deployed and the subject was taken into control," said the report provided by TransLink, the region's transit authority.

An internal review of the incident concluded that the action taken by transit police officers complied with the force's policy and was within guidelines "set out in the National Use of Force Model," the report said.

On another occasion, a passenger was tasered when he fled from police who found him without a payment receipt during a "fare blitz." This time, however, the passenger got away because, as recounted in the report, "the Taser was ineffective due to the subject's clothing and [he] escaped the custody of the officers."

Politicians and civil-liberties activists alike decried the use of tasers on individuals who were attempting merely to avoid paying a fine for not buying a ticket to ride.

"I think it's absolutely uncalled for, absolutely reprehensible, and the police should not be doing that," federal Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh said in Ottawa yesterday.

On the face of it, the use of tasers by transit police here is far outside guidelines that say they should be used only if someone is suicidal, violent or about to injure himself or someone else, Mr. Dosanjh said.

"Their current use is absolutely inappropriate," he said, adding that the latest revelations, coming after a storm of recent controversy over taser use by regular police forces across the country, have brought him close to calling for a moratorium on the powerful stun guns.

"This is the kind of example that would lead people like me, who have so far resisted asking for a moratorium, to actually call for that," he said.

Murray Mollard of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, which supports a moratorium, said he was shocked by the news of transit passengers being tasered.

"To apply a taser on someone fleeing the scene while trying to evade a fine is, quite frankly, an outrageous abuse of this weapon," Mr. Mollard said.

"Do we really need police officers with guns and tasers using them in the context of fare evasion? I don't think so. This really is very hard to believe."

But he stopped short of blaming the police. "They do what police do," he said. Instead, he pinned the fault on cabinet ministers responsible for the police who refuse to restrict taser use.

In a move that sparked heated debate in the province, the government gave the green light for transit cops to carry weapons 2½ years ago. There are about 125 officers on the transit force.

The region's popular, elevated SkyTrain system operates on a partial honour system, without turnstiles. However, riders caught without a ticket are subject to heavy fines, as high as $175. Officers ask passengers at random for proof of payment.

Yesterday, the head of the RCMP admitted the police force did not do a good job making information public about taser use, and vowed that changes will be made.

"Frankly we did not handle this matter very well," Commissioner William Elliott told the Canadian Club of Ottawa. "We should not have needed two kicks at the can. We must learn from that and do better."

The taser controversy will be in the spotlight again today - the mother of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after being tasered by the RCMP last year at Vancouver International Airport, is expected to testify before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa.

With reports from Omar El Akkad in Ottawa and The Canadian Press

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Vancouver's 'come along' tool
Outcry grows over Vancouver transit taserings

by Rod Mickleburgh; April 17, 2008 - Globe and Mail

Vancouver -- A veteran psychologist who specializes in teaching crisis management skills to police says it is totally inappropriate to use tasers to subdue non-paying passengers on Metro Vancouver's transit system.

"There is a wide gap between someone who presents a threat to life or grievous bodily harm and someone who is merely oppositional, combative, or cantankerous, refusing to buy a ticket on the train," Mike Webster said yesterday, during a break from teaching a first-response course to members of the Vancouver Police Department.

Adding his voice to a growing outcry over the disclosure that local transit police in recent months had tasered five passengers who resisted being given a ticket for riding without paying, Mr. Webster said police are now using the potentially lethal stun gun as a convenient "come-along tool."

"Jumping immediately to an intermediate weapon such as a taser when someone won't buy a ticket or is trying to run away is simply inappropriate," he said.

"There is no threat to life. This is not Clifford Robert Olson or Willie Pickton running away from the police. This is someone who's in the realm of accumulating parking tickets, or something like that. You don't taser them."

Former B.C. Court of Appeal judge Thomas Braidwood, who is heading an inquiry into taser use in the province, said he was as surprised as anyone to learn that the country's only armed transit police had tasered non-paying passengers.

"I didn't know that until I read about it," said Mr. Braidwood, adding that he will ensure that this is part of his inquiry. "This really sort of red-flagged it."

Responding to a Freedom of Information request, the region's transit authority, known as TransLink, disclosed that members of its police force had tasered 10 individuals since they began carrying the weapon last July.

Five were passengers accosted by police for not buying a ticket to ride the elevated SkyTrain system, which operates without turnstiles that would ensure that users pay.

According to TransLink's report, tasers were used after one passenger struck an officer, another was described as "combative," two tried to flee, while a fifth merely hung on to a railing and refused to budge. The fine for not paying is $173.

Although there are no reports that the taser victims suffered any permanent harm, about 20 people in Canada have died in tasering incidents, including Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport last fall.

Transit police spokesman Sergeant Willie Merenick has declined to talk to reporters about the force's taser policies.

In a statement, however, Sgt. Merenick said that all enforcement tools used by members of the transit police "are used with safety in mind, for the public and the police officers."

He added that officers are well-trained in the use of tasers, and the force will be watching the results of Mr. Braidwood's public inquiry.

Beth Grayer of the activist Bus Riders' Union said transit police should not be armed.

"But TransLink is hiring more and more cops and giving them more weapons at the same time as fares are rising," Ms. Grayer said.

"If they are worried about passenger safety, they should have more frequent service, especially at night. Armed police should not be checking fares and then kicking people off the transit system."

Jenny Kwan of the provincial [New Democratic Party] reissued the party's call for a moratorium on police use of tasers in the province until the inquiries have determined their safety.

"With so many unanswered questions, we really question the use of force on the transit system against individuals who are unarmed and non-violent, when we know from what happened to Mr. Dziekanski that it can result in tragedy," Ms. Kwan said.

"Until we have final answers, shouldn't we err on the side of caution?"

She said she intends to raise the NDP's concerns with the province's police complaints commissioner.

Ms. Kwan also criticized the provincial government for appointing a majority of police officers to the board overseeing transit cops, who have the same training and authority as other B.C. police.

The chairman of the transit police board is New Westminster Police Chief Lorne Zapotichny. The board also includes two high-ranking officers of the RCMP and one from the Vancouver police force.

"The government needs to ensure the voice of civilians there," Ms. Kwan said.