Transit police have tightened policy on Taser use, inquiry hears

Metro Vancouver's transit police have changed their policy on using Tasers after it was revealed that several passengers had been zapped with the stun guns because they didn't pay the fare and tried to run away, an inquiry heard Friday.

Transit police fired Tasers 10 times between January 2007 and March 2008.

Transit officers also have drawn the weapon on six other transit riders so far this year, none of whom was jolted, testified Ken Allen, deputy chief of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service.

The initial policy on Tasers indicated the weapons could be used on "non-compliant" passengers, but, Allen said, the term was problematic.

"The concern was that the term 'non-compliant' could be construed to mean 'non-payment of fares by the public,' " Allen told the Braidwood inquiry into Taser use in B.C.

"At the police board's public meeting earlier this week, at which I was present, in response to a concern that there's a void in the policy that creates an officer-safety issue, the board decided to substitute the words 'actively resistant' for 'non-compliant,' " he said.

CBC News reported in April that Vancouver transit police had fired their Tasers 10 times since January 2007, and that three of the cases involved non-violent suspects.

The Taser inquiry, being held in Vancouver and headed by retired B.C. Court of Appeal justice Thomas Braidwood, was called after Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died shortly after being jolted with an RCMP Taser at Vancouver airport on Oct. 14, 2007.

Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said Friday that the old and new policy on Taser use by transit police contained the term "violent" and "suicidal" as reasons to possibly deploy the stun gun.

"Why would it not have been sufficient to have Taser use when someone was potentially violent?" Vertlieb asked Allen. "Why did you need to add active resistance?"

Allen replied that the transit police board felt officers needed some guidance for using a Taser in a situation that did not have the potential for violence but where there was still some resistance.

Braidwood asked Allen for clarification about what the term "actively resistant" means.

"Let's just give the example that you do have someone, upon being discovered he didn't have a ticket. He turned and fled and you have nothing more than that.

"Under your new policy, would you call that actively resistant?" Braidwood asked.

"No. Not in itself, Mr. Commissioner," Allen responded.

Whether an action is deemed to be active resistance would depend on extenuating circumstances surrounding why a person flees, Allen said.

B.C.'s police-complaint commissioner has begun a separate, external investigation of how transit officers use Tasers.

The transit police force has 156 officers with 20 Tasers.