Eligon jury back with recommendations
By Will Koblensky | Posted: Feb 13 2014 10:29 am Find original story here.
There were mentally ill people waving scissors and knives, there
were police shooting them to death, and now, a jury has
recommended methods of avoiding these tragedies.
Suffering from illness and bullets were Reyal Jardine-Douglas, 25,
Sylvia Klibingaitis, 52, and Michael Eligon, the 29-year-old who was
gunned down on an East York street. These three very similar cases
from 2010 to 2012 were the subjects of a coroner’s inquest that now
has its jury verdict. That verdict does not bring with it any criminal
charges like a conventional court case would. Instead, the jury has
proposed changes to police practices, aimed at preventing this from
happening again.
They sifted through 220 proposed recommendations, and yesterday
settled on 74, including: refinements in police training to help officers
better understand mental illness and associated behavior; training in
verbal de-escalation of confrontations with the mentally ill; and
investigation into better defensive equipment for police, like shields
and body-worn cameras.
“I believe Michael Eligon would be alive today if one of the police
officers had just said ‘Hey, lets talk to him in a calmer, slower
manner,’” Peter Rosenthal, the Eligon family’s lawyer said. Talking in
a calmer, slower manner is a type of a de-escalation technique,
something mental health advocates have been asking for and police
have been resisting when an “edged weapon” is involved.
“You can use de-escalation techniques when you have the time,” the
president of the Toronto’s police union, Mike McCormack, said.
“When someone’s charging at you with a knife, you have to react.”
The lawyer representing Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair told the
inquest expanded use of Tasers is the way to go. McCormack is
adamant on Tasers too.
“I don’t know if they (Tasers) would always change the circumstances
but it gives the officers an intermediate use-of-force option between
the baton and the gun,” McCormack said. “But it won’t change the
outcome in every situation…. Sometimes, lethal force is necessary.”
That’s not a universally held view.
“Tasers are not appropriate weapons for these types of situations….
One of the darts could fail or improperly attach to the person,”
Rosenthal said. “I’m very opposed to further or expanded use of
Tasers.”
Rosenthal thinks police should coax the individual to stop rather than
barking orders in the traditional sense, “because mentally ill people
can’t respond to traditional orders.” Officers use de-escalation
techniques, but they don’t necessarily take that person’s state of mind
into account.
“An officer could (also) approach the individual with a shield and
apprehend them that way,” Rosenthal said.
Using a shield or body armour isn’t a practical option according to
McCormack, because it’s too bulky to carry or wear.
Implementing “mobile crisis intervention teams” and putting body
video cameras on cops were other suggestions put forward by
lawyers for the victim’s families and mental health activists.
McCormack doesn’t think cameras will change police conduct.