NCJ Number
99125
Date Published
1985
Length
211 pages
Annotation
This monograph analyzes statistics about Canadian police shootings, current laws governing police powers, and selected police shooting deaths in British Columbia. Recommendations concerning legal and administrative controls over police use of deadly force are presented.
Abstract
The report provides a statistical overview of variables pertaining to the use of deadly force in Canada and summarizes a research study conducted in Toronto. After noting the inadequacy of empirical research on the subject, this discussion concludes that persons killed by the legal use of police deadly force are predominantly young male adults. It also comments that the use of deadly force varies substantially across the province, that official statistics reveal only a fraction of police firearm use, and that the Canadian police lack a systematic method to document police shooting incidents. Three provisions which govern the amount of force a police officer may use and the circumstances under which it is justified are reviewed: The Canadian Criminal Code, judicial decisions, and police regulations. Also examined are the investigatory processes related to police shootings. The monograph analyzes 13 deadly force incidents using data obtained from the coroner's files on death caused by police use of firearms in British Columbia between 1970 and 1982. These victims had an average age of 27, and the majority were carrying firearms. There was no doubt in six cases that the suspects were threatening the police who shot them. At least five of the deadly force cases seemed to involve persons whose attempts to escape arrest resulted in the discharge of police firearms. Recommendations focus on training, policy and law, investigatory mechanisms, and gun control legislation. Case studies and footnotes are supplied.