Sunday, June 28th, 2009

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Police Use of Deadly Force

Mounties shoot man in Gibsons
GIBSONS/CKNW(AM980)
6/27/2009

RCMP say they had no choice but to shoot a man after he began advancing on them with a claw hammer friday night.

Sgt. Peter Thiessen says the were acting on a request from Langley RCMP to check on a man accused of uttering threats on a social networking site.

Thiessen says they were speaking with the 34-year-old when he came toward the officers with the hammer above his head.

“It was as a result of that action that one of the officers drew his sidearm, firing at that suspect, striking him twice.”

Police have not released the man’s identity. He remains in hospital in serious but stable condition.

This type of occurrence is a particular bitch of mine. I don’t know what its like in other places, but in the Vancouver area police feel justified in shooting down people who have some kind of non-projectile weapon in their hands. Knives, hammers, screw-drivers, whatever. In the news reports they usually say the person brandished a weapon. I guess brandishing is a new captital crime that hasn’t made it into the legal statutes yet.

The thing that really pisses me off about these kinds of cases is that the officers are not in fear of their lives or protecting the public in any immediate sense. The victim is usually a poor schizophrenic who has gone off his meds or is intoxicated on some illicit substance and is simply waving the tool around and raving. This is admittedly an unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation that has to be dealt with, but there is no immediate threat to anyone. It seems to me that the officers simply don’t want to mix it up and take the easy way out. Bang.

Another aspect of this is that the shootee is usually not a suspect or perpetrator of any description. The officers are generally questioning them about something or just trying to get them to move on down the street.

What happened to batons? I simply can’t believe that well trained police, acting in a co-ordinated manner, are unable to disarm somebody that’s waving a knife ,hammer or screw driver. Sure, somebody might get hurt, but if they aren’t willing to get their hands dirty maybe they should quit the force and get a job driving taxi or something.

I also have a problem with the number of people who are being shot or killed simply for acting like ass-holes. People are dying for offences which would get a suspended sentence or a day in jail if they went to trial. That isn’t right and its happening more and more around here. And isn’t it strange that the people shot are always street people? The cops react quite differently when some trader from Howe street gets a skinful and starts taking apart one of those toney bars or smacks the girl from the escort service around.

End of rant.

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