KAWARTHA LAKES-Officers with the City of Kawartha Lakes Police drew their guns or pointed a firearm eight times in 2017.
The 2017 statistics were released to the Police Services Board today in Lindsay.
A report on the Use of Force says, “The majority of incidents where a handgun was drawn or a firearm pointed involved a high-risk drug investigation or weapons call.” Police discharged their guns twice but both times where to “humanely destroy an injured animal.”
A Conducted Energy Weapon commonly called a taser was drawn 8 times by officers in 2017. In 4 of those incidents, the weapon was deployed. In each case, officers encountered violent resistance as they attempted to apprehend an individual and the CEW was deployed in order to gain control of that person according to Inspector Mark Mitchell who prepared the report. Officers also used paper spray once to gain control of a suspect.
In Ontario, all police officers are required to submit a “Use of Force Report” in any of the following circumstances:
- Anytime a member draws a handgun in the presence of the public
- Anytime a member discharges a firearm in the course of their duties
- When a weapon, other than a firearm, is used on a member of the public**
- When any force is used that results in an injury that requires medical attention
There were 11,500 incidents within the Lindsay area, patrolled by the Kawartha Lakes Police Service in 2017. Seven complaints were lodged against members of the police service last year. Three were for neglect of duty, two for use of excessive force and one for discreditable conduct. Four complaints were screened by the Office of the Independent Review Director (OIPRD)and no further action was taken. Two were investigated and deemed unsubstantiated and one is pending review by the OIPRD.
The Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) is responsible for the intake of all public complaints against the police in Ontario. Upon receipt of a public complaint, the OIPRD can screen out the complaint and take no further action, refer the complaint back to the police service for investigation, ask another police service to investigate or conduct their own investigation. Complaints that are vexatious, made in bad faith, older than 6 months or not in the public interest may be screened out at the discretion of the OIPRD.
Chief John Hagarty says he’s not concerned about the numbers. “It’s pretty insignificant from a concern perspective. Their are seven and all of them have been either no further action by the OIPRD or two where investigations were required, they were deemed to be unsubstantiated by us.” Hagarty says. “Those reports go back to the public complaints for review and have not come back to us.”
The numbers are consistent with the last few years with one big exception. “We had eight the previous two years so its pretty consistent year over year.” Inspector Will Hebert said, “What’s not consistent is there’s a higher percentage of those that have been screened out versus investigations. To have only two investigations ordered is exceedingly low.”
