Use of force by Sudbury police dropped last year, chief cautiously optimistic

Greater Sudbury Police Service (GSPS) officers needed to use force less often in 2017 compared to the year before.

That's according to statistics presented at the GSPS board meeting on Thursday evening.

The document identifies 94 incidents and 128 reports of GSPS officers using force during interactions with people in 2017.

That's fewer than the 108 incidents and 147 reports in 2016, and roughly the same as the 93 incidents and 129 reports in 2015.

Multiple reports can be submitted in single incidents involving more than one subject or police officer.

A "Use of Force report" is submitted when a police officer:

• Uses physical force on another person resulting in injury or complaint of injury
• Uses Oleoresin Capsicum (pepper spray)
• Deploys a Conducted Electrical Weapon (CEW, or stun gun)
• Draws a handgun in the presence of a member of the public
• Points a firearm at a person
• Discharges a firearm
• Deploys an ARWEN (gun that fires plastic bullets)
• Releases police canine resulting in injury

Greater Sudbury Police Chief Paul Pederson was cautiously optimistic about the numbers.

"I will say it's always tough to jump to conclusions from one year to the next," noted Pederson. "All it really takes is one particularly violent situation or a series of violent occurrences and the statistics change."

He explained, however, that the analysis is a way for the GSPS to learn more from each occurrence and train officers to best deal with such situations in the future.

"We are at the forefront of de-escalation training and only use force when de-escalation techniques are no longer appropriate," said Pederson.

"Our officers clearly take that seriously, and that's a good thing," he added.

No guns shot at people

The most-often used method of force was the Conducted Electrical Weapon, or stun gun. It was used or displayed by Sudbury police 52 times in 2017.

Pepper spray and the police baton were not used as a force option in 2017.

The document also points out that no people died or were injured when a police firearm was discharged in 2017.

Of the 128 use of force reports in 2017, 37 involved a police firearm. Three of those involved discharging of a gun. Those incidents "solely involved the dispatching of animals."

Pedersen also noted that no bears were shot by police in 2017, a drastic reduction compared to the previous year.

"I'm always careful about what does that mean?" offered Pederson.

"I'm not sure if there were more blueberries available. I'm not sure if it's because we've embraced that bear-wise approach and we know that for the most part they're not a threat, they're not a danger, and passing through a community doesn't warrant us calling out officers [to shoot them]."