Jul 24, 2014
By Michael Kramer
A report on lethal force used by Toronto police makes 84 recommendations.
Among them is a pilot project that would allow more front-line officers to carry Tasers.
Currently, only supervisory officers carry the weapons.
Another recommendation is that any officer with a Taser wear a body camera.
The report by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci was prompted by last summer’s police shooting and tasering of 18-year old Sammy Yatim aboard an empty streetcar.
Yatim was armed with a knife.
Iacobucci’s report also recommends that a comprehensive police and mental health oversight body be created – which would help share health care information with police, including a voluntary registry with vulnerable people.
He also called for changes to the mental health system in Ontario, although the former high court justice acknowledged – that is outside the bounds of his report.
Toronto police chief Bill Blair says the report will become a blueprint for change on the Toronto force and the document “will not gather dust, it will gather momentum.”
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