BL - December 2017

BLUE LINE CANADA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT MAGAZINE

www.BlueLine.ca

DECEMBER 2017

COVER STORY

Duty firearms 2018

PM 40065710

Pistols, patrol carbines & ammo choices p.14

CRISIS NEGOTIATION

BACK OF THE BOOK

Emotions run high p.20

Ripple effects of a line of duty death p.26

Contents

19 December 2017 Volume 29 Number 10

Features

Columns 4 9 10 12 13 22 24 26

Editor’s commentary Q&A Deep blue Holding the line Health & wellness Case law Technology Back of the book

COVER STORY

14 Duty firearms 2018

Most agencies in Canada are now issuing patrol carbines — some have even switched one make of pistol for another. Here’s an outline of what police and law enforcement officers will be carrying in 2018 and in the near future. By Dave Brown

19 Moving to the ‘next generation’ handgun

The Ontario Provincial Police is about to become the first major police agency in North America to equip all of its uniformed officers with the next generation handgun — the Glock Model 17M. By OPP Fleet Supply & Weapons Services Bureau

Departments 5 5 7 8 24 25 26

By the numbers News Calendar Dispatches Off the shelf Marketplace Blue Links

20 Navigating the crisis in the negotiation

COVER PHOTO COURTESY GLOCK

A crisis negotiator must have quality training, skills and knowledge to manage the expressive-type criminal, or a person with limited coping skills. By Tom Hart

9 @Blue_LineMag

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24 December 2017 | BLUE LINE

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EDITOR’S COMMENTARY

BY RENÉE FRANCOEUR

BLUE LINE www.BlueLine.ca

No sonic guns for the near future

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am not the best shot. directed to perfecting the processes used In fact, I’m more likely to hit a to test and retest these types of pistols so target with an axe over a pellet gun. we don’t ever hear of the aforementioned I have a unique case of an- incident happening again. isometropia, meaning my left eye is Meanwhile, carbine rifles and the militarnear-sighted and my right eye compen- ization of the police might still be a topic of sates, saving me from the need to wear division at the family dinner table this glasses. So aiming a gun and striking the holiday season — sentencing for the RCMP, bull’s-eye is not exactly my strong found guilty under the Labour suit. (It also makes for an inter- In terms of Code of “not providing proper esting parallel park endeavour as speculating training and equipment, including what we can carbines, to officers that could my depth perception is off.)

While that’s kept me away from see from law have potentially helped prevent archery and other firearms, the enforcement some of the carnage on June 4, thought of a “futuristic, mystical firearms 2014,” takes place soon after this firearm that does it all” is a curi- down the issue heads to the printer. ous one indeed. It’s also the stuff road, Brown The carbine rifle program at of dreams, points out Blue Line’s says it won’t the Ottawa Police Service has resident firearms expert, Dave be too been active since 2006 but it Brown, in this month’s cover different wasn’t until this past June that story. (Guess Aliens’ pulse rifles from what’s police at the Ottawa Interor the sonic guns from The Min- on your hips national Airport started carrying ority Report are still a century or today. these tactical rifles, too. so away for law enforcement.)

“In today’s climate, this addiIn terms of speculating what we can see tional piece of equipment allows us to from law enforcement firearms down the continue to be prepared and respond to road, Brown says it won’t be too different events that may affect the safety and secfrom what’s on your hips today, with a few urity of our community and travelers to upgrades here and there.

Ottawa,” said Ottawa Police Airport Staff That’s not necessarily a bad thing — if Sgt. Atallah Sadaka. “This is a preventive it’s not broke, why fix it, after all? and proactive measure, and not indicative “The best gun in the world is the one you of any intelligence or threat. Our goal is to have in your hand when you need it the enhance existing security measures at our most,” Brown notes. airport.”

Earlier this summer a Winnipeg police Sadaka’s comments instantly take me officer was shot in the leg by his own back to my recent vacation to Peru, where weapon while it was holstered. On page 18, I was taken aback by the presence of Brown reveals another example where a semi-automatics on every officer I came certain pistol may discharge when dropped across — but not so much that I didn’t at an angle that allows the gun to strike a approach them to ask for directions. It hard surface on the rear of the slide at a took some getting used to.

30-degree angle to the bore axis.

In addition, it’s not only officers who are This is completely unacceptable and the carrying; we now have the topic of gun-toting last thing any firearm-carrying law en- drones to debate in Canadian policing. forcement officer should have to worry While this is no K-2SO taking out about. If our firearms are not slated for any Stormtroopers like in Star Wars, it’s still new large technological makeovers anytime for policing and is undoubtedly set to change soon, then maybe attention should be tactical response strategies in the future.

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GROUP PUBLISHER | PAUL GROSSINGER pgrossinger@annexweb.com EDITOR | RENÉE FRANCOEUR rfrancoeur@annexweb.com ACCOUNT MANAGER | JANICE EATON janice@blueline.ca ACCOUNT MANAGER | APRIL LENSEN april@blueline.ca ART DIRECTOR | SVETLANA AVRUTIN savrutin@annexweb.com ACCOUNT COORDINATOR | TRISH RAMSAY tramsay@annexweb.com CIRCULATION MANAGER | BEATA OLECHNOWICZ bolechnowicz@annexbizmedia.com COO | TED MARKLE tmarkle@annexweb.com PRESIDENT & CEO | MIKE FREDERICKS ANNEX BUSINESS MEDIA 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Tel. 416-442-5600 • Fax 416-442-2230 Publication Mail Agreement No. 40065710 ISSN 0847-8538 Printed in Canada SUBSCRIPTION RATES Canada — 1 Year $30.00; 2 Year $50.00 plus tax USA — 1 Year $100.00 USD CIRCULATION email: asingh@annexbizmedia.com Tel: 416-442-5600 ext 3553; Fax: 416-510-5170 Mail: 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9

Occasionally, Blue Line will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above.

Annex Privacy Officer privacy@annexbizmedia.com; Tel: 800-668-2374 © 2017 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions.

Readers are cautioned and advised that articles presented herein are edited and supplied for your personal awareness and should not be used for further action until appropriate guidance is received from a supervisor, Crown Attorney or other persons in authority.

All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval.

Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. The publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of this publication.

NEWS

Premier Horgan meets with participants of the Surrey Wrap program.

SURREY

Surrey gang prevention program receives ongoing annual funding

The Surrey Wraparound (Wrap) program to keep at-risk youth out of gang life will receive ongoing annual funding from the province of British Columbia, as announced recently by Premier John Horgan.

Wrap identifies youth who are at risk of joining gangs and connects them with police outreach workers and teachers. The government doubled funding for Wrap to $500,000 in August 2017 to help eliminate the program’s waitlist. Now, this most recent announcement makes annual funding of $500,000 for Wrap permanent.

“Surrey Wrap is about stopping the flow of young people into positions in the drug trade that open up when someone else dies or goes to jail,” said Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth. “By keeping youth out of gangs, we can stop this vicious circle and build a better future for our communities.”

ONTARIO

Ontario policing set for transformation

PHOTO COURTESY GOVERNMENT OF B.C.

The Ontario government caused quite the stir with the announcement of how it plans to modernize its policing framework.

Marie-France Lalonde, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and Attorney General Yasir Naqvi introduced the

Safer Ontario Act, a bill they say, if passed, would “represent the largest policing and public safety transformation in a generation.”

Changes include a new Missing Persons Act, strengthening oversight by creating a new Inspector General of Police, making it possible to suspend officers without pay and redefining police duties, just to name a few. The legislation would also enable First Nations to choose their policing service delivery mode, including the option to come under the same legislative framework as the rest of Ontario.

The reforms are in response to the recommendations made in the Independent Police Oversight Review conducted by Justice Tulloch and released in April 2017.

Mike McCormack, the president of the Toronto Police Association, told Blue Line there “isn’t much” about the act that is encouraging for police officers.

“No one is saying we don’t want oversight,” he said, “But when the government is talking about increased accountability and oversight, they’re saying they’re going to privatize that function. Private entities are driven by profit... it’s not about providing a public service. And what is really concerning, from a policing perspective, is an erosion of police officers’ rights.”

McCormack said the association will be dialoguing with the government and “major clarification and amendments” would have to take place before he entertains support of the regulations.

Similarly, Bruce Chapman, president of the

Police Association of Ontario, said PAO was one of the first organizations that came out to say it supported the vast majority of Tulloch’s recommendations, but that the Safer Ontario Act is problematic.

“The government wants enhanced oversight and expanded oversight for the policing sector, yet it’s allowing privatization of some police duties, which takes away some of the accountability you demand from the police,” he told Blue Line. “One of the biggest concerns when we polled Ontarians was that they do not want their private information in the hands of a private security company.”

He added, PAO is “prepared to work with the government to ensure that it’s fair for everyone.”

Lalonde said the government is not looking at privatizing policing.

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police released a statement, saying it welcomed the act. Special Investigations Unit Director Tony Loparco said the agency “wholeheartedly welcomes the SIU having independent legislation, a recommendation that has been made by our organization numerous times over the years. Not only will updated and separate legislation provide the Unit with the ability to conduct more rigorous and independent investigations, it will also allow for more transparency and accountability for policing and oversight as a whole. As well, new legislation will increase the SIU’s ability to adapt more quickly to circumstances as they change.”

Tim Saunders, the chief business development officer at G4S Canada, said there is “absolutely an opportunity for all stakeholders to win in this.”

He noted that G4S is in 122 countries and has experienced when similar partnerships work and there are synergies with police, and also when the boundaries have been pushed too far.

“We believe there are efficiencies in this financially and we would never recommend any kind of public safety concession at the cost of efficiency,” Saunders said.

BY THE NUMBERS

RIWI Corp. and the Canadian charity Parachute surveyed more than 1,600 young drivers across the country and found some alarming stats about device use behind the wheel as well as drugged driving. More results are available at parachutecanada.org.

71% 39% 19% 21%

of young drivers age 16-24 don’t consider using their phones while driving to be very distracting.

@Blue_LineMag

of young drivers admit they text behind the wheel.

of all fatal crashes involving teen drivers cited distracted driving as a factor.

of teens have driven within one hour of using drugs.

December 2017 | BLUE LINE

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NEWS CANADA

Implications of drones in security

Drones present a huge potential for new surveillance and patrolling opportunities, but preparation is key. Canadian Security, published alongside Blue Line by Annex Business Media, brings you more details on some of the major implications, including privacy, technology and regulation, in the latest video episode of Security Insider.

“We can show from the data that the public has a high confidence in the police use of these technologies,” says Mark Aruja of Unmanned Systems Canada, one of the experts interviewed.

Watch the full video at youtu.be/bk5jpLtUWes.

ABBOTSFORD

Slain officer described as brave

A police officer who died in the line of duty in British Columbia was remembered for his bravery in protecting others and his community commitment in the work he did with children.

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Const. John Davidson gave his life to protect the public on Nov. 6, 2017.

PHOTO COURTESY ABBOTSFORD POLICE

Abbotsford police say Const. John Davidson, who was 53, had been an officer for 24 years and spent the last 11 years with the department in the Lower Mainland.

“John Davidson is my hero, he’s this community’s hero,” Chief Bob Rich told a news conference.

Davidson died after an exchange of gunfire between a suspect and police who

were responding to a report of a possible stolen vehicle and shots fired at members of the public.

Rich said Davidson followed his training in dealing with an active shooter, giving his life to protect the public on Nov. 6, 2017.

“We train our police officers, we ask our police officers that when somebody is putting people’s lives in danger, when there is an active shooter, we no longer wait for cover, we no longer set up teams, the first person in goes,” he said. “John Davidson was the first person in, and away he went, and he died protecting you and me.”

Police say Oscar Arfmann, 65, of Alberta has been charged with first-degree murder.

Davidson is survived by his wife and three adult children.

He worked in the patrol, youth squad and traffic sections in Abbotsford and was active in the community.

The B.C. Law Enforcement Memorial lists only one other Abbotsford member in its online registry of officers who died in the line of duty: Const. John Goyer.

- The Canadian Press

www.BlueLine.ca

2017-01-18 12:52 PM

CALENDAR Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Career Fair Jan. 18, 2018 Toronto, Ont. www.ableorg.ca Left to right: Auxiliary Const. Amanda Jackson, Insp. Cathy Bawden, Const. Paige Coulouras, Sgt. Stef Finateri and Const. Pascal Li take part in the first DRPS Women’s Symposium.

CANADA

Call for First Nations policing to be entrenched as essential service

The First Nations Chiefs of Police Association (FNCPA) unanimously passed a resolution at the recent annual general meeting in Toronto, calling for the feds and provincial partners to “entrench First Nations policing as an essential service,” provide adequate human resources, infrastructure, operations and maintenance resources; and “sufficient, predictable and sustained funding that meets the unique needs of each department.”

The 2017 FNCPA annual general meeting in Toronto. PHOTO: FNCPA TWITTER An independent research report (titled “Set Up to Fail?”) analyzed self-administered Indigenous police services in Canada. It found these services have been facing a number of issues, including some of the highest crime rates with the lowest number of officers.

“The administration of the FNPP (First Nations Policing Program) over the past quarter-century is one of benign neglect; that by doing nothing or ignoring the problem, the challenges confronting Indigenous policing would somehow manage or resolve themselves,” the report concluded.

“This status is in keeping with a long history of promising much but delivering little to Indigenous peoples.”

WHITBY

DRPS hosts first Women’s Symposium

Durham Regional Police Service is on a @Blue_LineMag

mission to see more women join its officer ranks, hosting its first Women’s Symposium in Whitby, Ont., this fall to assist females interested in policing.

About 90 women of all ages participated in the daylong event, learning about the drug squad and the steps it takes to become a police officer. There was also a mock interview session to prepare for a successful application and a panel presentation where the attendees could ask questions.

Panel questions centred on “how old is too old to apply,” technology, work/life balance tips and managing negative perceptions about police.

“The leadership in this service is extremely progressive,” said Insp. Cathy Bawden. “We’re policing in an ever-changing environment; the world is not linear any more.”

Everyone on the panel was nodding when Auxiliary Const. Amanda Jackson, who is currently undergoing her application to become a police officer, mentioned the reason she’s been drawn to the law enforcement field.

“Serving the community doesn’t feel like work when it’s your passion,” she told the crowd. “That’s how you know this is right for you.”

WINNIPEG

Manitoba announces new security measures at the Legislative Precinct

The government of Manitoba has implemented new security measures at the Legislative Precinct, including improved security planning and response protocols, announced Justice Minister Heather Stefanson.

Some of the changes include the establishment of the position of director of legislative security as well as a Legislative Security Management Working Group, the provision of peace officer status to legislative security officers and authorization of the use of reasonable force by security officers to deny entry or evict a person.

NSSF Shot Show Jan. 23-26, 2018 Las Vegas, Nev. www.shotshow.org Paramedic Nat’s 2nd Annual Evening For Mental Health Jan. 27, 2018 Thornton, Ont. www.tinyurl.com/y6wvutxf CACP Information, Communication & Technology Committee Workshop Feb. 25-28, 2018 Vancouver, B.C. www.cpa-acp.ca Calgary Police Cyber Summit March 5-7, 2018 Calgary, Alta. www.cybersummityyc.ca International Human Trafficking Conference March 19-21, 2018 Toronto, Ont. www.tinyurl.com/y9l7w87j ILEETA 2018 March 19-24, 2018 St. Louis, Mo. www.ileeta.org/ileeta-conference-expo Hardeep Kang Memorial Hockey Tournament Apr. 19-20, 2018 Brampton, Ont. www.hkmemorial.com Blue LIne Expo May 3, 2018 Mississauga, Ont. www.bluelineexpo.ca International Police Association Canada AGM May 24-29, 2018 Vancouver, B.C. www.ipacanada.ca

December 2017 | BLUE LINE

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Accident Support Services International Ltd.

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Issue 42

Accolades for Accomplishment Honouring Excellence and Achievement

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hrough the years, Accident Support Services International Ltd. has been honoured to sponsor a number of awards recognizing individual officers and Police Services for their dedication to community wellbeing through citizen education and engagement and proactive traffic safety programs. The initiatives and programs recognized through the nomination and award process serve as models for other officers and services in their community service and enforcement planning.

ASSI President Steve Sanderson was pleased to present the following awards to deserving officers.

was nominated for Public Safety through Social Media.

Using many social media platforms, he provides pertinent information to media outlets and the public and provides his numerous followers with current traffic conditions and event updates. Sergeant Schmidt was presented with this prestigious award for his exemplary leadership in the development of the OPP’s successful social media program delivering safety messaging.

OACP – Community Safety and Crime Prevention Award

Aurora, Supt. Bishop promotes self-care in educating young people on the use of exercise in helping to deal with mental health issues. Young woman are a focus of the program because of unique mental health challenges they face. The program’s goal is to provide youth with early access to strong social support when dealing with mental health challenges and lessen the need for shelters, police engagement and repeated hospitalization.

OACP – School Resource Officer Award of Excellence

CACP – National Police Award for Traffic Safety

This award recognizes excellence, dedication, initiative and an outstanding contribution to road safety through education, enforcement, training or community-based programs over the previous calendar year. The National Police Award for Traffic Safety 2017 was presented to Sergeant Kerry Schmidt, Ontario Provincial Police Highway Safety Division.

Sgt. Schmidt

This Issue:

The Community Safety and Crime Prevention Award is presented in recognition of police agencies and community partners working together to improve community well-being and safety.

Superintendent Carolyn Bishop of the York Regional Police Service was the recipient of the 2017 award for her leadership in establishing the YRP Run for It Mental Health Program, a program extolling the benefits of exercise on the mind and body. Working with York Region High Schools, the YRP Mental Health Support Team and program partners Flow Marketing and the Running Room

The School Resource Officer Award of Excellence was designed to recognize an officer contributing to the overall well-being of students and their community, building relationships that bridge the gap between students, schools, communities and police. Ontario Provincial Police Constable Andrew MacDonald is the officer recognized in 2017 for his creative and innovative work with students in the Orillia area.

Focusing on specific needs he observed among students, he has Continued on Back Cover

Drive Safe, CARSP Lifetime Achievement Awards, SGI joins ASSI

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Cobourg Police Service - Community Safety/Mobilization Officer Meeting

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he Cobourg Police Service hosted a two day Community Safety/ Mobilization Officer meeting designed to bring together officers and civilians from small to mid-sized police services who are working in community mobilization units. The meeting was very successful in creating opportunities for these officers to meet each other, network and share best practices in collectively responding to their community needs in a more effective manner.

Accident Support Services International Ltd. was pleased to be in attendance at this event.

L – R – BBQ Team - ASSI VP Operations Lynn Hemingway, Cobourg Deputy Chief Paul VandeGraaf, Cobourg Police summer student B. Bowmans, Cobourg Police Youth in Policing Initiative Summer Team Leader Sara Sheils, Cobourg Police Chief Kai Lui, Brockville Police Service Constable Mark Heffernan, Cobourg Police co-op student, Thomas Wilson.

Drive Safe! Share the Road ASSI President Steve Sanderson travelled to Ottawa to participate in the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Drive Safe Campaign Launch. ASSI is a proud sponsor of the OACP’s Drive Safe Campaign, “Share the Road”, reminding drivers to be aware of the “Move Over” legislation to allow safe passage for emergency vehicles, pedestrian and cycling safety and collision scene safety for emergency responders.

L – R – Ron Bain, OACP Executive Director, Joe Couto, OACP Director of Government Relations and Communications, Ottawa Police Service Chief Charles Bordeleau, ASSI President Steve Sanderson, Chief Supt. Chuck Cox, OPP, Toronto Police Service Superintendent Gord Jones.

Halton South CRC on the Move! SGI Joins ASSI’s

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SSI’s Halton South Collision Reporting Centre has now moved from the former Bronte Road location to a new CRC at 95 Oak Walk Drive in Oakville.

Hours of operation for the new location are Monday to Friday from 10:00 am. to 6:00 p.m. The CRC is closed weekends and holidays.

Accident Support Services International Ltd. operates three Collision Reporting Centres in partnership with the Halton Regional Police Service.

The Burlington CRC is located at 3800 Constable Henshaw Blvd, and is open Monday to Friday

from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., as well as on Saturdays, Sundays and Statutory Holidays from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Milton CRC is located at 490 Childs Drive and operates Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

CCRC

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askatchewan Government Insurance (SGI), has recently signed on as a partner in our Collision Reporting Centre program.

We are pleased to welcome SGI, now enjoying the benefits that the CRC has to offer their policyholders and claims programs, including immediate access to collision reports, statements, documents and vehicle photographs to help control costs of towing, storage and rental as well as identify and reduce fraud.

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Lifetime Dedication to Road Safety

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he Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP) is a national organization dedicated to enhancing road safety at home and abroad. The organization provides access to multi-disciplinary information, research and networking opportunities. The CARSP Lifetime Achievement Award for Road Safety is presented annually to individuals who have made a positive impact on road safety in Canada.

Accident Support Services International Ltd. shares CARSP’s dedication to road safety and is pleased to be the sponsor of the CARSP Lifetime Achievement Award for Road Safety, presented by President Steve Sanderson at the 2017 Conference in Toronto.

This year’s award recipients are: Dr. David Wiesenthal – Retiring from York University in 2016 following a 46 year career as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Special Lecturer, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Dr. Wiesenthal also served on the Board of Directors of CARSP from 2009 to 2015. His research addressed many social issues relevant to applied psychology, including blood donation, vandalism, scientific racism and violence in sport, but his most prolific research was in the area of road safety in the areas of driver stress and aggression, driver distraction and street racing.

His published work includes in excess of 60 journal articles and 18 book chapters, more than 160 workshops and conference presentations, contributing greatly to the next generation of road safety advocates.

Dr. Alison Smiley – Dr. Smiley is the President of Human Factors North, based in Toronto On. Her many accomplishments include serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department for the past 24

North York CRC Police and Staff receive Big Heart Award Police and ASSI staff members have “big hearts!” The North York CRC adopted a family last December and took a collection to purchase Christmas dinner and gift cards to help that family enjoy the holiday season. Eva’s Place, the organization facilitating the gifting, recognizes outstanding contributions and volunteer efforts for their community and will present Toronto Police Service Sergeant Stephen Burns and North York Accident Support Services Manager Darren Fitzgibbon with the Big Heart Award at a presentation later this year. Congratulations to all our staff and our Police partners at the North York CRC. Keep up the good work!

years, organizing and conducting workshops in Canada and the United States on road safety/human factors, publication of over 50 academic articles, writing several book chapters and producing more than 100 reports and conference presentations. She is widely sought after as an expert witness in traffic accidents.

She is the recipient of many awards in the field of road safety and human factors, including the A.R. Lauer Safety Award presented by the US Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, and now the CARSP Lifetime Achievement Award.

Anne Leonard – Anne recently retired as the Executive Director of arrive alive DRIVE SOBER in Ontario after a 20 year career, beginning as a volunteer with the Ontario Community Council on Impaired Drivers and founding member of arrive alive DRIVE SOBER. She is tireless in her passion for impaired driver awareness in Ontario and across Canada, working with many organizations including Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving, Action Sudbury, Student Life, Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP), Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) and the Ontario Provincial Police. Her organization has played a key role in changing attitudes and perceptions towards impaired drivers. She is the recipient of awards including the Toronto Police Service Regional Commander’s Award, the 2016 Public Safety Award of Excellence and two Road Safety Achievement Awards presented by the Ministry of Transportation Ontario. Anne continues as a volunteer with arrive alive DRIVE SOBER. Accident Support Services International Ltd. congratulates each of these Lifetime Achievement award recipients for their accomplishment and many years of service to CARSP and the community at large in their efforts to improve road safety for all of us.

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Happy 10th Anniversary Timmins! London CRC Premieres

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immins Accident Support Services Ltd. celebrated 10 years of collision reporting services to the Timmins Police Service and the citizens of Timmins. Police, CRC staff and guests gathered at the Collision Reporting Centre located at 185 Spruce Street South for presentations and refreshments to mark a decade of service.

Chief John Gauthier said, “We are happy to have partnered with Accident support Services for the past 10 years. It has been a great relationship, not only for us as a Police Service but for the public as well. We are thankful for the recent support from Accident Support Service to help our Service obtain a speed reading unit. It has helped reduce overall speed and we have seen a reduction our numbers.”

Since opening in 2007, the Timmins CRC has taken 9,962 collision reports; assisting 17,520 parties to complete their reports, contact their loved ones and insurance companies and helping the Timmins Police to reallocate more of their officers to higher calls for service.

L – R: Brenda Ranta, Nancy Ouellette, CRC Manager Lise Savard, Chief John Gauthier, Inspector Henry DaCosta, Inspector Richard Blanchette

New Reporting Process

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n an effort to improve upon our already remarkable customer service, London Accident Support Services Ltd. has reorganized their Collision Reporting Centre. Their new process has led to a marked reduction in customer queuing and wait times, a single interview tract and more direct contact with the CRC Counselor.

Our London Counselors still photograph each damaged vehicle, collect driver and passenger information, provide branded insurer handouts to reporting drivers and offer the use of our telephones for convenient contact with the driver’s insurer or family.

We are confident that London’s enhanced reporting process will generate many more positive customer comments on the exit surveys completed by the public.

Accolades for Accomplishment Honouring Excellence and Achievement Continued from Front Cover

developed initiatives that serve to improve the self-esteem and self-worth young people. These programs include an after school/ lunchtime basketball league to build relationships between police officers and students; the Orillia OPP Fishing Club, involving atrisk youth and fishing conservation education; a Graffiti Art Contest positively supporting youth involved in vandalism, building crime prevention bridges with the community; a Book Exchange to increase literacy and the reconstruction of a fatal car collision at a high school to educate on the consequences of drug/alcohol/ distracted driving and the impact on the community.

Constable MacDonald has demonstrated his commitment to building relationships with students, their parents and community through countless activities and initiatives.

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OACP – Youth Service Volunteer Award

This award recognizes a serving sworn officer or civilian member of an Ontario Police Service contributing in an exemplary manner to the overall wellbeing of youth through volunteerism.

Toronto Police Service Superintendent Scott Baptist has said, “Extraordinary service that helps young people deserves to be honoured.” The recipient of the 2017 award is Sergeant James Carman of the York Regional Police Service. 37 year police veteran Sergeant Carman has mentored youth in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets since 2002. Under

his mentorship, the Cadets has on-going opportunities to receive guidance and tuition in a wide range programs. They develop leadership skills and have the opportunity to become productive and valued members of the community, working alongside police volunteers at community events promoting both organizations.

In 2016, Sergeant Carman was instrumental in bringing 32 Military Police Army Cadets to liaise and work with the York Regional Police and facilitate the growth of the Corps to unserved areas of the GTA. His volunteer work with the organization has led to securing YPS sponsorship to grow four additional Corps of Cadets, engaging 500 youth in York Region and the GTA. 2018 Awards For information on CACP, OACP and CARSPawardnominations,applications and submission requirements for 2018, please visit these organizations at www.cacp.ca, www.oacp.on.ca and www.carsp.ca.

111 Toryork Drive, Toronto ON M9L 1X9 Ph: (416) 745-3301 Fax: (416) 745-5555 Toll Free: 1-877-895-9111 For more information, go to www.accsupport.com Recommendations, Suggestions, Comments, contact: Editor: Jane Ross admin@accsupport.com

Calgary Police Service

NEWS

2018 Cyber Summit DISPATCHES

Info & Registration cybersummityyc.ca Investigator’s Toolbox Understanding Current Trends in Cybercrime, the Dark Web, Investigative Techniques, Digital Currencies, and Social Media

March 5-7, 2018

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News Week?

Aylmer Police Chief Andrew Reymer is retiring after 30 years on the small south-western Ontario force. His last day is Dec. 31, 2017. He began his career in Aylmer in 1987, after graduating from Fanshawe College in London, Ont. He climbed to the rank of sergeant, followed by deputy chief in 2000 and began his role as chief in 2011.

Bryan MacCulloch is the new Chief of Police of the Niagara Regional Police Service and Brett Flynn takes over as Deputy Chief. MacCulloch has over 32 years of policing under his belt and served most 2017-10-10 9:43 AM recently as the deputy chief of operational services, where he provided oversight to more than 650 frontline officers and detectives. Flynn is a 27-year veteran of policing and currently sits on the board of directors of Victim Services Niagara.

Staff Sgt. Sandra Maxwell of the Saskatoon Police Service is retiring after 40 years.

She was one of the first women hired by the service and was also the first female drug investigator, first female promoted to the rank of staff sergeant, first female watch commander and the first woman trained as a crisis negotiator.

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Det.-Const. Ryan Johnson has been promoted to sergeant at Greater Sudbury Police.

Sgt. Walt Rossa of the Metro Vancouver Transit Police recently retired after 44 years in policing.

Gerry Miller, Peel Regional Police’s alarm program supervisor, has retired after making significant contributions to the development of alarm response programs. She instituted a false alarm policy at Peel and arranged for Canadian Security Association members to meet with Ontario police alarm co-ordinators to discuss programs and model bylaws.

Insp. Veronica Eaton has taken the helm at Orillia’s OPP detachment as outgoing Insp. Pat Morris is the new deputy director of the OPP’s provincial operations intelligence bureau. Eaton started working as an OPP officer in 1995 and became executive officer for Deputy Commissioner Brad Blair in 2014.

Det. Chris Ludlow (photo) and Staff Sgt. Kevin Yamada, Durham Regional Police Service, were honoured by the Toronto chapter of ASIS International as Police Officers of the Year.

Ludlow is in charge of property crimes in the west division and Yamada was recently promoted from detective to staff sergeant.

PROMOTIONS, RETIREMENTS, RECOGNITION • If you have a senior officer in your agency recently promoted or retiring or an individual you wish to have recognized (major award or recently deceased) you can let Blue Line magazine know by email to: dispatches@blueline.ca.

www.BlueLine.ca

Q&A Twenty years ago the Innisfil Police Service and Bradford West Gwillimbury Police amalgamated as the South Simcoe Police Service.

Chief Andrew Fletcher — who started his law enforcement career at Halton Regional Police — shares his thoughts on community mobilization and handling lean budgets.

Q: What does 20 years of South Simcoe Police history mean to you?

You can’t move forward without knowing the past — and making sure you’re not going to step on the same landmines people have stepped on before you. That’s why our 20th anniversary dinner [held in October] was so important. I was able to meet a lot of people I’d heard about, people who have made a contribution to where we are today.

It’s true that the greatest asset of any organization is its people. This has been an opportunity to embrace the past but with a forward-focus lens at the same time, asking, “So where do we want to go from here?”

PHOTO: R. FRANCOEUR

Q: Chief Rick Beazley, who retired earlier this year, was praised for keeping budgets in line. How do you plan to do the same?

It’s going to be difficult. Rick came here at a time when there was talk of costing and the OPP taking over.

They really had to be budget-conscious and make this a fiscally accountable organization. They’ve cut so much meat off the bone, there’s nothing left. We’re now going to have to put some of the meat back on to be able to address what we’re starting to see in the community — violent crime, some gang activity, some drug activity.

Our police services board has been very supportive when it comes to looking at what we need to add back on to address some of those trends and to be creative in doing that — not just throwing people to the frontlines. Let’s look at teams that can address the core concerns @Blue_LineMag

in wellbeing, it adds the need to collaborate with partners that are responsible for well-being — social services, education and health care.

Our school resources officers, for example, are there to build relationships. That’s all about this model. Here in South Simcoe we’re created a community mobilization unit and how we bring that to life over the next year is going to be really exciting.

of the community and some of the social disorder issues going on.

Let’s see a civilization of some of the roles — adding admin support positions so our officers can spend more time in the street.

Q: You’ve been called an expert in community mobilization. Tell us more.

We’ve had the mobilization model here in policing since 2007. It’s not something new but we’re all still catching onto it. Everyone has his or her own view of what community policing is. In Ontario, it’s a model of mobilization engagement for community policing. The structure is built around engaging with your community at different times and recognizing how to mobilize them to action, how to deal with at-risk behaviours.

What is really encouraging about the new model is it talks about safety and wellbeing. If it’s just about safety, it’s all about the police. The police have a mandated responsibility to ensure the community is kept safe. When you bring

SNAPSHOT OF SOUTH SIMCOE POLICE SERVICE

22

Sworn members employed by Bradford West Gwillimbury Police pre-amalgamation

31

Sworn officers employed by Innisfil Police pre-amalgamation

79

Officers in uniform for South Simcoe Police in 2016

Catch Chief Fletcher’s Blue Line interview on video at youtu.be/ RP4a2G7MgI0.

Q: You are a graduate of the FBI National Academy. What was your biggest takeaway from that experience?

I met people from all parts of the world and those contacts have been phenomenal. One of my best friends from the Academy is from Australia, where policing is very different, and so it’s an opportunity to see what they’ve tried and what could work here or what didn’t work for them and why. You learn everything is built on relationships.

Q: What is needed in police leadership right now?

We are going to have to stand up for our profession, consider inviting people in to look at our budgets and show them we are a transparent organization. Policing is getting knocked down pretty badly right now. We need to be accountable and communicate we’re proud of our people.

It’s going to be a tough time to be police leader in next 5-10 years. I’ve had people say to me, “You really want to be a police leader in these times?” Yeah, I do. Push us, challenge us; if we’re not up to the task, then we shouldn’t be chiefs.

December 2017 | BLUE LINE

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DEEP BLUE

BY DOROTHY COTTON

Fear mongering and behaviour change (or lack of)

O

ne of the things police and psychologists have in common is we are both often trying to get people to stop doing things that they shouldn’t be doing; we try to get people to change their behaviour.

We are of course not the only ones trying to do this — the courts, public health authorities, the school system, politicians and parents are also in the behaviour change business.

Sometimes we are good at it and sometimes... not so much. Behaviour change is a pretty complicated business. Results can depend on the nature of the behaviour in question, the effect it has on us and others, the options that a person has or is capable of, how it is (or is not) reinforced, the meaning or value the behaviour has to us, our moral and ethical frameworks, and so forth.

One strategy that has been used to try to change behaviour at a societal level (as opposed to the individual level) is the “let’s scare the bejesus out of them” model. Examples include putting icky pictures on cigarette packages, the “scared straight” attempts to get young people to rethink a life of crime, messages from 10

BLUE LINE | December 2017

dentists that your teeth will fall out if you don’t floss, etc.

Interestingly, there is a great deal of controversy and disagreement about whether this method actually works. Some say a little fear is good but a lot of it just makes people ignore the whole thing.

Others say it might change intentions or attitudes but not behaviours. We hear it works for behaviours that are just a one-off (like getting a vaccine) but not for ongoing ones (like exercising), or that it makes things worse, or depends on how you phrase things and whether or not you raise the spectre of “you will die if you don’t do this.”

I recently read an article by Dr. Melanie Tannenbaum from the University of Illinois and several other colleagues1, which examined whether instilling fear did indeed lead to changes in attitude, intention or behaviour.

Somewhat to my surprise, Tannenbaum’s conclusion was: generally fear does work for making people change but, as is always the case, it is more complicated than that. Specifically:

I was left wondering about the old “scared straight” programs, where they hauled at-risk youth into prisons and tried to shock them into cleaning up their on-theway-to-alife-of-crime behaviours.

• It is true that fear works better for encouraging one-time behaviours rather than ongoing behaviours; however, fear was effective in both instances — just more effective for the one-time behaviours.

• High levels of fear do not seem to put people off.

• In addition to creating a high level of fear, you have to include some kind of self-efficacy statement. In other words, people have to believe that they actually can do whatever it is you are trying to get them to do.

• You don’t need to tell people they are going to die; it really does not have any more effect that other fear-inducing statements.

• People have to be told that the outcome they are trying to avoid is serious and that they personally are susceptible to what it is.

• Fear works better on women.

• While it was thought fear would have a greater effect on people from collectivistic cultures and societies, as opposed to highly individualistic ones, this was not true.

When you look at these conclusions, there are three parts to the equation: the message itself and how you phrase it; the behaviour you want to change; and the audience.

When I think of all the various public health campaigns I have seen, I can see these three elements in many of them. I was thinking about the TV ads for the shingles vaccine. They tell me I personally might get whatever horrible disease it is and they give some statistics about that. They target a specific audience (older people). They also tell me it is easy to get the vaccine (so I believe I can do it).

I’d be interested to know how well these ads work, as they seem to have all the desirable components.

I know I got the shingles vaccine!

After reading Tannenbaum’s work, I was left wondering about the old “scared straight” programs, where they hauled at-risk youth into prisons and tried to shock them into cleaning up their on-the-way-to-alife-of-crime behaviours. I re-read www.BlueLine.ca

College of Continuing Education the research on these programs and it seems pretty clear that not only are they not effective, but there is also a high risk of them making things worse. I have to say that on the surface, that seems to contradict everything in the Tannenbaum article. If I had to guess, I would hypothesize maybe they’re not working because:

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Program Participant

Prior post-secondary experience is • The target audience is primarily male. not mandatory. A certificate program • The clientele don’t really believe they does not have the same admittance ONLINE COURSES* requirements as a degree program are at risk (the research suggests that Winter Term begins Jan. 29, 2018 and does not require as many part of the problem is the long delay *All courses are online except Managing courses, so it is a good path for those between the bad behaviour and the looking to step into academics. We Police Performance: Coaching Skills are proud to see former students in for Police Supervisors which begins consequences — but that also applies senior leadership positions all over with a 3-day workshop. to things like stopping smoking).

Canada.

• The clientele either do not have the skill set to stop their bad behaviour or don’t believe they are able to stop — in other Prepare for career advancement today! words, the self-efficacy piece is missing.

• There is something fundamentally Dalhousie University Detailed information and online registration can be found on our different about this kind of behaviour website at www.dal.ca/cce. If you would like further information College of Continuing Education please contact the Program Manager, Sherry Carmont, by email and the type of fear induced in these 1459 LeMarchant Street, Suite 2201 at CPL@Dal.Ca, by phone at 902.494.6930 or toll-free at programs, as opposed to more health PO Box 15000 1.800.565.8867.

Halifax NS B3H 4R2 related stuff.

• The nature of the people involved; those with antisocial tendencies might just not respond to fear the same way.

• It is possibly something else altogether.

BlueLine_Dec_Dalhousie.indd 1 2017-10-31 3:15 PM

It seems to me I often leave these columns with the same conclusion: more research is needed, sometimes things are not as you’d guess, people are all different. Meanwhile, if we are trying to get people to look where they are going while walking and texting, or not drive while high on soon-to-be-legal drugs, or put better barriers on their patio doors, fear just might work.

On the other hand, I guess what worries me is: while we might end up with fewer home break-ins through patio doors, we might also end up with a generally more fearful community. It appears to be a bit of a balancing act.

Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories.

Tannenbaum, Melanie B.; Hepler, Justin; Zimmerman, Rick S.; Saul, Lindsey; Jacobs, Samantha; Wilson, Kristina; & Albarracín, Dolores.

Psychological Bulletin, Vol 141(6), Nov 2015, 1178-1204.

1.

Dr. Dorothy Cotton is Blue Line’s psychology columnist. She can be contacted at: deepblue@blueline.ca.

@Blue_LineMag

HEALTH & WELLNESS

BY ISABELLE SAUVE

Keep calm and carry on breathing

M

ental training is as critical as physical training for law enforcement officer preparedness and hardihood. Not only does frontline law enforcement come with the obvious physical risks, it has also been referred to as the most dangerous job emotionally and psychologically.

Similar to the human body, the mind can also be strengthened and sharpened with training. Indeed, a calm mind is at the heart of mental toughness and resilience. That being said, the practice of calming the mind can be a very difficult and daunting exercise as our minds are continuously processing thoughts or “self-talk.”

In addition, we are constantly bombarded by noise and flooded with external stimuli. With our brains on autopilot, we rarely spend time clearing the chatter and focusing on the basics, cerebrally speaking. Despite being a necessity of life, breathing is something we pay little attention to.

Relaxing the mind through a conscious breathing practice promotes a calmer, clearer and more objective interpretation of our surroundings. As a result, practitioners are more likely to opt for a calculated and controlled response to situations rather than mindlessly reacting or overreacting to events.

Breathing exercises provide a safe outlet for repressed feelings such as anger, sadness and grief.

I know what you might be thinking — breathing exercises?! Isn’t that better suited for tree huggers, yogis or hippies? These exercises are actually being increasingly practiced worldwide. Even those at the top of their respective industries are jumping on the bandwagon.

Masters of the martial arts have long understood the importance of mental training and the connection between breathing and mental fortitude. Martial arts practitioners 12

BLUE LINE | December 2017

have even illustrated how mental training and breathing exercises allow them to unleash “super human” powers by breaking stacks of bricks and other remarkable performances.

Mental training is also fundamental to a holistic approach to wellness. These types of techniques have been used since the early 1970s to improve the athletic performance of professional athletes and as we know, many of the concepts utilized in sports conditioning and competition are directly transferrable to law enforcement.

Mentally tough officers will undoubtedly tend to cope with adversity and stressors in productive, healthy and adaptive ways. These positive habits are likely to have a reciprocal effect, further strengthening mental toughness.

Breathing exercises can assist law enforcement officers enhance their personal and professional relationships, gaining more satisfaction from their interactions with others. Overall effectiveness and efficiency on the job can also be improved. Specific skills (firearms proficiency, use of force application, vehicle operation, etc.) and those utilized in complex situations (immediate rapid deployment, warrant service, stealth clearing, etc.) can be sharpened. Tactical law enforcement experts indicate a calm mind is a precursor to a sound tactical performance.

While experiences vary, most newcomers to breathing practices claim a tremendous shift in their state of being. Conscious breathing signals the brain to alter the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

This shift lowers heart rate and controls the release of stress hormones like cortisol. Impressively, a mere five minutes of practice lowers cortisol levels by approximately 20 per cent on average.

There are numerous types of breathing techniques, which are easy to learn, readily implementable and can be practiced nearly anywhere.

Here is a simple one:

Mentally tough officers will undoubtedly tend to cope with adversity and stressors in productive, healthy and adaptive ways.

1. Find a relaxed, comfortable position, preferably seated rather than laying down.

2. Close your eyes. Allow yourself to feel some “heaviness” set in as you relax your muscles. Remember to especially relax your jaw and other facial muscles.

3. Feel the natural flow of your inhalations and exhalations. Turn your entire focus and attention to your breath.

4. Persist for 5 to 10 minutes. Wandering thoughts and distractions are normal. Gently redirect your attention right back to breathing.

5. Once the time is up, do a quick self-evaluation. Notice how you feel. Allow yourself to relax even more, if possible, for a minute or two before you finally open your eyes.

I encourage every law enforcement officer to spend a little more attention on his or her lungs. Give a breathing exercise a wholehearted attempt for just one week at first and see how it goes.

Isabelle Sauve is a 10-year OPP veteran currently with the Emergency Response Team (ERT) at the Almaguin Highlands Detachment in Burks Falls, about 300 km north of Toronto. She can be contacted at: isabelle.sauve@hotmail.com.

www.BlueLine.ca

HOLDING THE LINE

BY MICHELLE VINCENT

Adaptability involves reframing our thinking

P

rogress — that unstoppable, juana will provide people with a form of this anxiety and depression. It’s like ensuring onward movement. It doesn’t drug that is free from the lacing of chemicals the tubes are clear of blockages. come without a few bumps in and other toxic drugs. It may provide tax Reframing our thinking may support the road. Progress guarantees money for the government, similar to that organizations in their training as well as change and that can be challenging in the of liquor. It may alter how marijuana has the buy-in for any changes the organizaworkplace, especially in an indusbeen experienced as a gateway tion is creating, along with the implementry with a long history like law Our views drug. Our courts will be clear of tation of the related procedures. It can and enforcement. the backlog of matters to be heard make for clearer thinking on the job, espeCoupled with all of the daily experiences in relation to simple possession. cially when dealing with extreme changes stressors we experience in our with It is important to provide train- in precarious circumstances. Adaptability personal lives, the pressure of marijuana ing in progressive, leading edge through reframing is key. having to learn a new procedure, will need to processing and thinking. Learnequipment or process stemming shift. In fact, ing the skill of reframing can Michelle Vincent is a 16-year York from a “progressive change” can our whole provide us with healthy mental Regional police officer with a Masters mentality cause major anxiety. processing and adapting to new Degree in Arts in Counselling Psychology and a background in equine assisted From in-car cameras to the will have to ways on the job. Effective protherapy, workplace reintegration and mandatory charges related to in- change. cessing may reduce the fear great teaching. She has a practice supervised by a timate domestic violence, to the changes, like the impending ma- psychologist and is working towards her PhD in exploration of wearing a body camera, rijuana legalization, may create, which in Forensic Psychology. She can be contacted at: police officers have already gone through turn may reduce mental health issues like michelle@smith.net. significant progressive changes. The upcoming legalization of marijuana will be another one.

This new legislation means our views and experiences with marijuana will need to shift. In fact, our whole mentality will have to change. We have been trained and educated on the perils of this drug: the health issues from smoking it, the lengthy list of chemicals we know it is sprayed with, and the fact that it is often laced with more addictive drugs to encourage repeat customers. “You never know what you are smoking,” we have said.

We have attended calls at grow-ops in At Humber, we teach the professional and practical skills you need houses where toddlers are running around to move up and make a difference in your community and in your and there’s nothing more than a few hot career. Further your education one course at a time or work towards dogs in the fridge. We’ve all seen massive a certificate, diploma or degree. Advanced standing is available to marijuana operations in basements with those in the Justice Services industry. Programs of interest: infestations of mould that will never be eradicated. And that’s just some of the • Criminal Justice Degree • Criminal Intelligence many haunting things we’ve seen connectAnalysis Certificate ed to this issue.

• Private Investigation Certificate I am not suggesting that legalizing ma• Cyber Crime • Police Foundations rijuana is right or wrong here but it is a Specialist Certificate Online Diploma current example of why we must have the • Guelph-Humber Justice & ability to earnestly reframe our thinking • Police Foundations in order to be clear and effective in the Public Safety Degree Completion Leadership Diploma execution of our duties as police officers.

Reframing our thinking trains us to find and from a creative place in our minds so communityservices.humber.ca we can see the positive aspects of this /justiceprofessionals legislative change. For example, one might think about how the legalization of mariDecember 2017 | BLUE LINE

@Blue_LineMag BlueLine_Dec_Humber.indd 1

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2017-11-10 3:39 PM

COVER STORY

Duty firearms 2018 New trends in police and law enforcement guns and ammo

By Dave Brown

38% of the police market in Canada held by Glock in 2007

75% of the police market in Canada held by Glock in 2017

80% of all police and law enforcement agencies in Canada are using the 9mm Luger

T

here is no magic bullet.

There never was. The dream of the mystical firearm — with the “one-shot stop” capability that could instantly incapacitate a highly motivated individual bent on killing other human beings — was just that... a dream.

The firearms that will be issued by law enforcement agencies in Canada today and into the future are not that much different than what were issued a decade ago.

There have been certain evolutionary changes in the design of almost all police firearms since Blue Line’s last comprehensive cross-Canada Gun Survey in 2007, but there is little that is truly revolutionary. After all, a law enforcement firearm has only one function — to place an accurate shot deep enough into a vital area in order to stop a deadly threat as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible. The longer a fight lasts,

Police Agency Firearms 2003 (as reported to Blue Line) 1% 1% 1%

the greater the danger to the public, the officers involved and ultimately to the assailants themselves.

Most agencies in Canada are now issuing patrol carbines and some have switched one make of pistol for another, but the truly futuristic weapons we see on television always have one fatal flaw yet to be overcome — they are not able to be employed in a fraction of a second during a life-threatening situation by an averagely trained officer in order to instantly stop a deadly threat. This is why the top makes of pistols strapped to the hips of officers today, and the top makes of rifles and shotguns mounted to the front seats of patrol cars in Canada, are not that much different from the ones issued back in 2007.

If anything, ammunition choices have improved, training has become more dynamic and there is an increased understanding of the science of stress and incapacitation.

Police Agency Firearms 2007 (as reported to Blue Line) 1% 1% 1%

15%

There is also better recognition today that the only two factors that stop deadly threats are shot placement and shot penetration.

Here is an outline of what police and law enforcement officers will be carrying in 2018 and in the near future.

HANDGUNS Glock

In 2007, Glock held 38 per cent of the police market in Canada. Ten years later, they are now used by 75 per cent of the agencies. (In the U.S. it is just slightly under 65 per cent.)

Canada’s second largest police agency, the Ontario Provincial Police, transitioned from the SIG P226 in .40 calibre to the Glock 17M in 9mm.

They will be joined by another 11 agencies in Canada who have issued or will be issuing the new Glock 17M. The 17M is the fifth generation of Glock’s mainstay pistol and what

Police Agency Firearms 2018 (estimates) 3% 1% 1%

15% 34%

24%

22%

38% 19%

75% 24%

Glock 14

Sig Sauer

25%

Beretta

BLUE LINE | December 2017

Smith & Wesson

H&K

Walther

Ruger www.BlueLine.ca

SIG P320.

PHOTO: SIG SAUER

Glock Gen5. PHOTO: GLOCK INC.

some would arguably call the first good-looking Glock handgun. Originally designed for the FBI contract, the 17M used most of the features of Glock’s Gen5 model, released in August 2017: • No finger grooves on the frame, • Stippled grips and interchangeable backstraps, • Conventional rifling instead of polygonal rifling, • Flared magazine well, • Magazine cutout in the front face of the grip, • New magazine floorplate design, • Ambidextrous slide release, • Smooth trigger face, • Beveled forward edge of the slide, • Double recoil spring system, • New hardening process for slide and barrel (referred to as a DLC or diamond-like carbon finish).

In the U.S., in addition to numerous municipal and state police, the 17M has been chosen by the federal agencies such as the FBI, DEA, DOE, USPS, US Marshall Service and the Park Police.

Glock was also one of two finalists in the U.S. military XM17 Modular Handgun System trials to select a new joint service pistols for the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marines. The winner of the com-

Glock 19 MHS. PHOTO: GLOCK INC.

@Blue_LineMag

petition would become the M17 full-size and M18 compact pistols, designed to replace the existing Beretta M9 and SIG M11.

Tender requirements for the new pistol necessitated greater accuracy, accessory rails for various sighting and lighting devices, a modular design to accommodate various hand sizes and full ambidextrous controls.

Glock entered the competition with the Model 19 MHS compact pistol in 9mm Luger chambering, and Model 23 MHS compact pistol in .40 S&W. The Glock MHS pistols have the full size frames from the Model 17/22 and shorter slides from the 19/23. Glock added an ambidextrous manual safety and slide stop, and a lanyard ring on the rear of the grip.

Glock ultimately lost the XM17 competition to the SIG P320 pistol (see the “Factory Recall” sidebar at the end of this article) and is not planning on selling the MHS pistols on the law enforcement or civilian market, citing the manual safety was a one-off design requirement and would not become part of a production pistol.

Sig Sauer

The most popular Sig Sauer police handgun in Canada is the P226. The steel barrel and slide were combined with an aluminum alloy frame for a lightweight and durable handgun. More expensive than many of its competitors, it has now been replaced by many agencies in the U.S. with the brandnew polymer-frame P320 model.

Designed for the U.S. military Modular Handgun System pistol competition, the P320 has the same high bore line of the popular P226 but with a much more ergonomic frame and grip angle. It uses a stainless steel skeleton in a polymer skin, allowing the pistol to be adapted to a variety of frame sizes and calibres.

The P320 won the U.S. military XM17

pistol competition to become the new M17 joint service sidearm. Blue Line tests of the P320 demonstrated the excellent feel of the grip and very smooth trigger pull, but the high bore line resulted in more muzzle flip than a Glock. The forward centre of gravity also caused it to feel initially awkward in the hand, especially with a light attached to the forward frame rail.

Time will tell if the P320 — not without controversy — lives up to its expectations in military and law enforcement service.

Most agencies in Canada are now issuing patrol carbines and some have switched one make of pistol for another, but the truly futuristic weapons we see on television always have one fatal flaw yet to be overcome Smith & Wesson

The S&W polymer-frame M&P pistol has been making serious inroads into the U.S. police market. It is now (or shortly will be) standard issue for recruits in many state and municipal police agencies, including Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, Las Vegas Metro Police, Detroit Police Department and California Highway Patrol. Many other agencies have listed the M&P on their approved carry list.

In conversation with Smith & Wesson three years ago, Blue Line was told that the M&P was issued or listed by over 500 law enforcement agencies in North America.

By 2018, that number may be almost triple.

December 2017 | BLUE LINE

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COVER STORY

appeared at House of Commons hearings in Ottawa to support giving law enforcement officers the tools they need to do their jobs. It will take time, as CBSA evolves, to happen.

Other makes in Canada include the Heckler & Koch P2000 issued by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) and the H&K P30 issued by Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, replacing their previous H&K USP pistols.

AMMUNITION The M&P 9 M2.0 LE pistol.

Return to the 9mm Luger

PHOTO: SMITH & WESSON

Almost every agency in the U.S. who issued the previous full-size S&W handguns (4006, 5946, 4506, etc) have now transitioned to the M&P. Calibre choices in the U.S. are spread pretty evenly between 9mm, .40 and .45.

In Canada, the M&P is now standard issue for several agencies such as Peel Regional Police and Windsor Police Service.

Blue Line’s head-to-head tests of the M&P against other top contenders bear out the increasing reputation of the M&P line. I found the M&P to be 100 per cent reliable and ergonomics better than anything else on the market. An older-generation Glock 21 feels like holding a two-by-four in comparison to a M&P 45, and the SIG P226 feels like the wrong end of a baseball bat compared to the grip size of the M&P 9.

Early M&P triggers were horrendous, spawning the creation of high-quality aftermarket suppliers just to fix the trigger pull, but the latest second generation models have vastly improved triggers.

The introduction of a new generation of polymer-frame pistols does not make older, well-designed, all-steel handguns any less accurate or reliable. Canada’s largest police force, the RCMP, will continue to issue the S&W 5946 and 3913 models. There is no indication that a new model is imminent and RCMP members have assured Blue Line that supplies of both pistols and spare parts will

not be a problem. ERT and K9 officers will continue to carry modified versions of the 5946 that remove the magazine disconnect.

Blue Line tests of the 5946 pistol showed that the solid feel, excellent sights and smooth trigger pull translated into an accurate, if heavy, handgun

Other makes

As predicted by Blue Line in 2007, Beretta has almost completely disappeared from the Canadian police market. Vancouver Police Department switched from Beretta to Sig and four other police agencies transitioned from Beretta to Glock, most of them citing quality control and customer service issues.

The sole agency of any size in Canada that issues the Beretta is Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), with the new polymer-frame Beretta PX4 Storm pistol. In service reports show the pistol is reliable, but with spotty quality control, problems with magazine feed lips and prematurely wearing sights. CBSA management has been forced to issue new or rebuilt pistols to officers every three years and has extended the service life of the pistol by the simple expediency of not allowing many of its officers to carry handguns on duty.

Blue Line was a vocal supporter of the arming initiative for CBSA; former publisher Morley Lymburner and myself both

Most agencies found that holsters bought for cheap (and practically at your local convenience store) are not necessarily the ones that stand up to the rigours of dynamic training plus daily shift work.

16

BLUE LINE | December 2017

Calibre debates will go on for years, but scientific tests performed by agencies such as the FBI, coupled with results from actual shooting incidents, show that the only two factors that stop assailants are shot placement and shot penetration. This is why there is an increasing recognition that the 9mm Luger, with modern bullet designs, can get the job done just as effectively as the slightly more powerful .40 S&W. In 2007, police agencies were split almost equally between the two cartridges.

In 2017, the numbers are significantly different; the 9mm Luger (also called the 9x19 Parabellum) is now being used by 80 per cent of all police and law enforcement agencies in Canada.

Advances in modern police ammunition means that the 9mm Luger cartridge, with the right bullet configuration, performs equally as well as the .40 S&W cartridge in both real-world shootings and scientific tests.

The 9mm Luger cartridge also has several advantages over the .40 S&W: 1. Less recoil means the 9mm is easier to train on, more conducive to practice and can result in faster follow-up shots on target when required. Proponents of the .40 will scoff, but the fact is that the .40 is not as much fun to shoot, nor as comfortable. When officers enjoy training, they will be more inclined to practice regularly.

2. The 9mm Luger has equal or greater accuracy than the .40 S&W. Agencies who transitioned from .40 to 9mm experienced no drop in accuracy and most report higher scores in training and qualifications. Historically, there is no documented situation where an assailant was stopped by a near miss from anything up to and including a .44 Magnum. www.BlueLine.ca

3. The 9mm Luger is easier on handguns.

The cartridge is available in a variety of loads, all the way up to the more powerful +P+ load. In the .40 S&W world, there is no such thing as a +P load, simply because the .40 S&W is always a maximum pressure cartridge. This means the .40 battered the crap out of handguns, and service lives were shortened, and maintenance intervals and parts replacement costs were higher.

4. The 9mm Luger results in higher capacity, as much as two to three rounds for the same size frame. While this number may not be significant when you are talking 16 versus 18, one must acknowledge that if the best gunfight in the world is the one that never happens in the first place... the second best gunfight is to have lots of rounds when you need them the most.

5. Ammunition costs are lower for the 9mm. While price should not be the sole deciding factor in law enforcement handgun and ammunition selection, an agency needs to factor in the costs of not just duty ammunition but also large supplies of training and practice rounds.

The cartridge designed after the 1986 FBI murders in Miami-Dade County, Fla., was the right cartridge for the time but with modern bullet designs, the cost of the .40 in higher recoil, greater muzzle flash and more wear on handguns just does not pay off in better downrange or terminal performance.

HOLSTERS Safariland

The overwhelming choice for duty holsters in Canada is Safariland. They have a well-earned reputation for quality, reliability, durability and ease of training.

The few agencies that issued the Blackhawk SERPA holster have now mostly gone back to Safariland, a choice that we applaud.

In previous Blue Line head-to-head holster tests, we found the only advantages of the Blackhawk holster to be that they were cheap and could be purchased anywhere. But most agencies found that holsters bought for cheap (and practically at your local convenience store) are not necessarily the ones that stand up to the rigours of dynamic training plus daily shift @Blue_LineMag

A police shotgun. PHOTO: DAVE BROWN

work. We have seen parts literally fall off SERPA holsters during training sessions.

Our tests also showed that the release button placed almost directly over top of the trigger guard required a conscious effort to keep the finger out of the trigger guard on the draw stroke. Combine a very fast draw with the loss of feeling in the finger from a high-stress situation, and the result could be a higher likelihood of a negligent discharge.

RIFLES AND SHOTGUNS Patrol carbines

The single biggest advancement in police weapons in Canada has been the introduction of the patrol carbine. Now found in nearly every cruiser in Canada, the carbine gives centre-of-mass accuracy out to as far away as 200 metres. When equipped with the modern electronic sight, the carbine is both incredibly fast and extremely accurate at distances much farther than handguns or even shotguns could hope to accurately achieve a disabling shot.

The most popular patrol carbine in Canada is the law enforcement version of the Colt Canada C8. Reviewed by Blue Line in February 2014, it is the semi-automatic version of the Canadian Forces carbine and is built to the very tough NATO D14 standards of manufacture and testing.

Winnipeg Police Service has started issuing the Daniel Defense carbine, made with a cold-hammer-forged barrel similar to the Colt Canada carbine.

While critics of police see the carbine as evidence of a “militarization” of the police, knowledgeable experts cite the increased accuracy of the carbine, reduced over-penetration capability of the modern .223 Remington cartridge and the ability to quickly neutralize deadly threats past 100 metres.

Police carbines are not military-style “assault rifles” because they have no full-automatic capability, but they are built

to the same high standard as military firearms and by the same manufacturers to ensure instant reliability no matter the temperature or climate conditions.

Shotguns

While many agencies have replaced the shotgun with the patrol carbine, some are equipping street officers with both. This gives further use of force options. The versatile shotgun fills in the critical distance from seven to 25 metres and provides the ability to quickly and instantly neutralize a deadly threat at distances beyond the combat range of a handgun.

The most common police shotgun in Canada is the Remington 870 Police.

Available in a variety of sight and barrel-length configurations, it is durable, reliable and very fast to fire multiple rounds when necessary.

A few agencies issue the Mossberg 590A1 shotgun. The 590A1 is the U.S. military version of the 500-series of Mossberg shotguns, and comes with a thick-walled barrel, metal trigger guard and steel frame-mounted safety.

Some police agencies are equipping their patrol vehicles with a double-gun rack that can accept both carbines and shotguns. Others are using single racks with replaceable inserts to carry both as required.

Police services that do not equip every vehicle with a carbine and use a single rack are finding problems when quickly switching from the short collapsible stock of the carbine to the full stock of the shotgun in the same mount.

In a Blue Line head-to-head test of the best in aftermarket stocks and accessories for the 870 Police, the best overall solution was the Mesa Tactical Urbino stock. It uses a fixed, shorter length-of-pull stock and a rubberized pistol grip that results in an overall length not much longer than an AR-style collapsible stock conversion. The Urbino stock can be used by officers large or small with equal ease and, unlike a December 2017 | BLUE LINE

17

COVER STORY

The cartridge designed after the 1986 FBI murders in Miami-Dade County, Fla., was the right cartridge for the time but with modern bullet designs, the cost of the .40 in higher recoil, greater muzzle flash and more wear on handguns just does not pay off in better downrange or terminal performance. collapsible stock conversion, does not bop longer-armed officers on the nose with every shot, nor does it catch facial hair in the joint between the stock tube and the sliding plastic stock. (Not fun.

Trust me.)

Nearly as fast as a straight stock, the Urbino also renders full-house buckshot or slug rounds to almost a pleasure.

Future trends

It is hard to predict what will happen 10 years from now. I would speculate makes and models may be upgraded, but percentages will stay relatively stable in Canada. Until those futuristic weapons are designed that will quickly work in the middle of a real-life dynamic situation, the best gun in the world is the one you have in your hand when you need it the most. I am guessing it will probably be not that much different from the one on your hip right now.

Dave Brown is Blue Line’s firearms and police vehicle contributor. He is a tactical firearms trainer and consultant based in Winnipeg, Man. He can be reached at davebrown@blueline.ca.

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BLUE LINE | December 2017

FACTORY RECALL Safety warning: Sig Sauer P320 pistol

S

ig Sauer has suspended production of the Sig P320 pistol and its North American distributor has issued what they call a “voluntary upgrade” program.

When dropped at an angle that allows the pistol to strike a hard surface such as concrete on the rear of the slide at a 30-degree angle to the bore axis, the pistol may discharge. While reported incidents are rare, several online websites have been able to easily recreate the situation that would cause the pistol to discharge if dropped.

One Connecticut police officer was shot in the leg when his P320 accidentally hit the ground and subsequently fired, and U.S. agencies such as Dallas Police have now officially issued a recall of all P320 pistols. Other agencies such as North Dakota Highway Patrol and Santa Barbara Police have removed the P320 from their approved pistol list.

I recommend all owners and agencies immediately suspend the use of all P320 pistols until they can be sent back to the factory.

The voluntary upgrade program affects all law enforcement and civilian-owned Sig P320 pistols, but does not affect the first batch of M17 pistols delivered to the U.S. military after Sig Sauer recently won the competition for the U.S. military Modular Handgun System (MHS) over Glock in early 2017.

In spite of the fact that Sig was able to reproduce the situation that causes the pistols to fire on their own when dropped and has started manufacturing an “enhanced trigger” system, they refuse to call this a “recall.” Sig maintains the P320 met all the safety standards in place at the time of manufacture and the CEO has stated that “no pistol is totally drop-safe.” Sig recommends users always carry the pistol with an empty chamber. (Obviously, they have not seen the videos of Glocks dropped from helicopters.)

I had an opportunity to handle a P320 pistol and to study the drop test videos which support the fact that the pistol will likely fire on its own if dropped from about one metre onto concrete, landing directly onto the back of its slide. The videos clearly showed how the trigger moves to the rear when dropped.

The P320, unlike the Glock or S&W M&P, has no trigger safety. Slow-motion video from Sig’s own tests show how the upgraded parts lighten the overall weight of the trigger components and prevent the trigger from moving enough to the rear to discharge, but they still

IMAGE COURTESY DAVE BROWN

show the trigger moving.

During the U.S. Military XM17 pistol trials, Sig touted one of the advantages of the P320 over the Glock was that the user didn’t need to pull the trigger to field-strip the pistol. Ultimately, however, the final M17 pistol selection simply came down to the lowest bidder. The P320’s skeleton frame with a polymer skin is cheaper to manufacture than the Glock entry with full polymer frame and imbedded hardened steel slide rails. Glock’s bid came in at slightly more than $100 million higher, on a possible total program cost of $580 million.

Glock has been quietly working on a new design that employs a rotating bolt barrel-lockup system for a European client that does not require pulling the trigger to disassemble the pistol, but with Glock holding almost 65 per cent of the police market in the U.S. (and possibly even higher than that in Canada) one wonders if this was ever a serious problem in law enforcement. Trying to solve training issues with technical solutions often have unexpected consequences, and field-stripping a loaded pistol for cleaning always made about as much sense as trying to change the oil on your police car while driving down the street.

There are approximately 500,000 SIG P320 pistols out there, not including the approximately 200,000 pistols that will be issued to the various branches of the U.S. military over the next few years. Sending each one back to the factory for a “voluntary upgrade” to prevent them firing on their own is a huge undertaking for Sig. Other makes of pistols have been upgraded or recalled over the years, but nothing of this calibre, so to speak.

Quite frankly, I think in an effort to be “nota-Glock,” Sig has figuratively — and perhaps almost literally — shot themselves in the foot with this one. www.BlueLine.ca

GUNS

Moving to the ‘next generation’ handgun

By OPP Fleet Supply & Weapons Services Bureau

T

he Ontario Provincial Police is about to become the first major police agency in North America to equip all of its uniformed officers with the next generation handgun — the Glock Model 17M. The new pistol is lighter and includes a weapon-mounted light as well as an affixed contoured pressure switch requiring a custom holster. New nine millimetre rounds of ammunition are part of the transition and are preferred by the OPP due to much lower recoil. This improves the user’s ability to steady the handgun and prepare for a follow-up shot, reduces shooter fatigue, and increases accuracy and the officer’s confidence.

The current OPP handgun inventory is about 7,000 units and the majority have been in service for more than 15 years — well past the usual service life for most police pistols. The OPP’s Clothing and Equipment Committee made recommendations to replace the OPP’s current handgun in order for officers to have access to new technology and better weaponry, and to ensure that all duty handguns are in a constant state of readiness — an organizational requirement.

OPP subject matter experts developed the specifications for the next generation handgun and its accessories. An evaluation team comprised of uniform and specialty unit members conducted tests, assisted by an external police agency of similar size and geography to the OPP. This was completed to ensure the selected handgun would support all officers and meet the minimum requirements set out in Ontario’s Police Services Act Regulation 926.

The Commissioner’s committee then approved the purchase.

“Replacing OPP’s aging handguns will enhance both officer safety and public safety, solidifying our commitment to the

An OPP member demonstrates the replacement handgun’s mounted light feature.

PHOTO: ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE PHOTO LAB

‘reinvestment’ pillar of our strategic plan and our policing partnerships,” said Commissioner J.V.N. (Vince) Hawkes. “The new handguns reduce our operating costs by reducing inventoried spare parts and the cost of maintaining older handguns.”

Officers will transition to the next generation handgun via the Provincial Police

Academy’s In-Service Training Units as uniformed members attend their regularly scheduled, mandatory annual training, beginning in January 2018. New OPP recruit officers will also be issued the Glocks beginning next year.

The OPP intends to replace its handguns every 10 years.

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CRISIS NEGOTIATION

A common theme Navigating the crisis in the negotiation

By Tom Hart

P

olice crisis negotiators will rarely deal with the type of hostage taker whose demands are clear and substantive. This instrumental hostage taker will be organized, goal-driven and will not be concerned by the presence of police or their tactics.

A crisis negotiator is more likely to deal with an expressive-type criminal, or a person with limited coping skills, a personality disorder, and/or a mental illness.

This type of person is in a state of crisis.

The common theme here is crisis.

If a person suffers from a mental illness (such as schizophrenia or depression) and enters into a crisis situation, that is the crisis the police negotiator must manage — not necessarily the mental illness. The person had the mental illness or personality disorder prior to the crisis and will continue to have the illness post crisis.

The police negotiator must have quality training, skills and knowledge to effectively manage such a person through the crisis.

The overall objective is to resolve highrisk critical incidents peacefully using the concept of “contain and negotiate.” The negotiator’s job is to arrange a settlement by communicating, conferring and discussing with the person in crisis. The negotiator must recognize it is an emotionally driven event, which means they must acknowledge the emotions and work with them. This is much easier said than done, of course.

A police negotiation is one of the most 20

BLUE LINE | December 2017

demanding and stressful events that a police officer will ever face. With the use of active listening skills, persuasion techniques, problem solving and bargaining skills, the chance of a successful and peaceful outcome will significantly increase.

A case in point: A 42 year-old male was armed with a handgun and had forced his way into his ex-girlfriend’s residence where he forcibly confined her for several hours before she was able to escape and call 911. Uniform members quickly responded, followed by the tactical team and the incident commander.

Placing a call to the suspect is a priority for the incident command team as having the suspect on the phone greatly assists in knowing the suspect’s location and state of mind. Both these pieces of information are critical in developing the subject assessment and subsequent negotiation strategy.

The primary negotiator made several unanswered introduction calls to the suspect’s cell, which were then followed by several text messages. The introduction call is important and has rules. The negotiator must give his/her name, identify as a police officer and offer to help. The primary negotiator must be calm, reassuring and empathic.

At this time, the suspect had challenged the police by going to the windows and pointing his handgun towards areas where he thought the police were. The negotiator received a text from the suspect demanding the police leave the area immediately or he would come out and confront them.

Texting is a one-way form of communication with no emotional cues and can be easily misinterpreted. However, it does give the negotiation team time to formulate an appropriate text response, and to encourage the suspect to speak directly with the negotiator.

Following several texts messages, the negotiator managed to convince the suspect that in order to meet his demands, they must speak directly. The suspect agreed to this, which is a good indicator of a successful negotiation.

The primary negotiator introduced himself and his partner and offered to help the suspect. It’s important to introduce your partner and to let the suspect know that he or she is listening and wants to help. In the event that the primary negotiator is not able to build that rapport, transitioning to his or her partner (otherwise known as the secondary negotiator) will be less complicated.

The first step is active listening and assessing the subject. The subject assessment determined that they were dealing with the expressive-type criminal. He was unorganized, acting on the emotions of fear and anger. Keeping the suspect on the phone,

Behavioural Change Stairway Behavioural change Influence

Incident type assessment

Active listening

Rapport building

TIME www.BlueLine.ca

showing empathy and allowing him to vent his frustrations was key to de-escalating the situation. It also allowed the negotiating team to formulate a negation strategy. As long as the suspect is talking with the negotiator, he is not confronting the tactical officers and compromising his safety and their safety. Active listening is vital in developing negotiating strategies, considerations, hooks, triggers and critical in developing a rapport.

Obtaining as much information as possible (in relation to the suspect) is also fundamental in developing the negotiation and building a rapport. Background information — such as a pet, hobby, personal interests, job, family member details — may seem insignificant but it is imperative in developing the hooks and triggers. The typical question-and-answer, just-the-facts type of approach will not work in crisis negotiations.

The negotiating team will consider potential third parties to assist in developing the strategy. The third party could be reliable and trusted friends or family members, a family doctor, a lawyer or a member

The typical question-andanswer, just-the-facts type of approach will not work in crisis negotiations. of the clergy. Another asset for the negotiating team is to have a psychiatrist or psychologist at the scene. If the doctor cannot attend the scene, you can at least consult over the phone. A psychiatrist provided valuable support in the case study we’re looking at in this article.

The negotiations went on for five hours, the suspect de-escalated and a rapport was developed — a critical point in the strategy. Without trust and rapport, you cannot go to the next level of influencing the suspect’s behaviour, leading to behavioural change.

The negotiating team noticed a change in the subject assessment. He gave the primary negotiator verbal clues indicating that he was suicidal. The primary negotiator asked him if he was going to kill himself. Confronting the intent to commit

suicide and the emotions behind it are important. The more details and planning that have gone into committing the act of suicide indicate a greater risk.

The negotiator used this shift in the situation effectively by communicating to the suspect that his situation was accepted.

The suspect was then convinced to be taken into custody by the negotiator presenting a positive recovery plan to get him help. Saving face was achieved by reassuring the suspect that seeking professional help and confronting his illness showed character and strength.

The suspect accepted the negotiator’s advice and was given detailed instruction on where to come out and what to expect and a peaceful outcome was reached.

Tom Hart is a former Durham Regional Police Service detective, where he spent 20 years as a crisis negotiator and eight years as a member of the tactical support unit.

He is the president of Canadian Critical Incident Inc., which provides police with training in crisis negotiations and major incident command. Reach him at tom@ canadiancriticalincident.com.

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CASE LAW

BY MIKE NOVAKOWSKI

Causal connection between BAC and death not required

T

here is no need to establish a causal connection between a driver’s blood alcohol content (BAC) and the death of a third party resulting from an accident on charge under s. 255(3.1) of the Criminal Code.

In R. v. Gaulin, 2017 QCCA 705, the 20 year-old accused (Gaulin) attended a party where she consumed vodka shooters. She then left the party with a friend to get some cigarettes and gum from a convenience store. On the way back, Gaulin drove the car even though she had never driven before. She struck a curb, rolled the vehicle and her friend, who was now the passenger, died. A police investigation revealed that Gaulin was impaired by alcohol and had a BAC level greater than 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood (0.08).

She was charged with impaired driving

causing death, driving with a BAC over the legal limit causing an accident resulting in death and hit and run.

At her trial in the Court of Quebec, Gaulin admitted to having a BAC over the legal limit but denied she was impaired.

She also submitted that the Crown had not proven the causal link between the impaired driving or driving over 80 mg per cent with the passenger’s death.

The judge accepted expert evidence that Gaulin’s BAC level was between 158 and 188 mg per cent and found these levels “reveal without a doubt a state of inebriation or drunkenness.” He concluded that Gaulin was impaired at the time of the accident, but ruled that the causal connection between the impairment or her BAC level and the passenger’s death was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Rather,

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the judge found through Gaulin’s testimony that her lack of driving experience, not her consumption of alcohol, caused the accident. Gaulin was acquitted of all charges but was convicted of the lesser and included offence of driving with a BAC over the legal limit.

The Crown appealed Gaulin’s acquittals to Quebec’s top court. In the Crown’s view, it was not necessary to establish a causal link between an accused’s BAC and the accident resulting in the death of the victim. Rather, it contended that mere proof of a “temporal” link between these two elements was sufficient. Gaulin, on the other hand, argued that a causal connection between driving with a BAC over the legal limit and the accident resulting in death must be proven.

Justice Belanger, speaking for the Court of Appeal, reviewed the wording of s.

255(3.1) of the Criminal Code and the case law that has developed. “The offence set out in s. 255(3.1) … covers cases where a driver who has the care or control of a vehicle, while having a blood alcohol level exceeding the legal limit, causes an accident resulting in the death of another person,” he said. This wording, he found, differed from that in s. 255(3) (impaired driving causing death) which requires the need to demonstrate a causal connection between the impaired driving and the death. Belanger went on to conclude the Crown need not prove a causal link between an accused’s BAC and the accident.

However, a mere temporal link between driving with a prohibited blood alcohol level and the accident was insufficient.

In other words, the Crown must prove a connection between (1) the accused and the cause of the accident and (2) the accident and the death of a person. This interpretation would also prevent a conviction merely because a person had a BAC over the legal limit and was involved in an accident that could not be contributed to them in any way. In this case, the trial judge erred in requiring proof of a causal connection.

The Court of Appeal also determined that the trial judge erred in his analysis of the causal connection required for an impaired driving causing death charge. A new trial was ordered on both charges.

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BLUE LINE | December 2017

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Mike Novakowski is Blue Line’s case law columnist. He can be contacted at caselaw@blueline.ca.

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TECHNOLOGY

OFF THE SHELF

BY RENÉE FRANCOEUR

Clean up storage with automatic metadata sync

Panasonic’s Evidence Management Solution has an “automatic metadata sync” to keep police agencies’ database storage clean.

B

PHOTO COURTESY PANASONIC

lue Line attended Panasonic Toughbook’s Mobility Forum 2017 earlier this year where Matthew Eades, business development and public safety manager at Panasonic Canada, delved into storage orchestration.

He kicked things off with a thought-provoking question: “Wouldn’t it be great for police departments to have one search function of their own for all their applications?”

He launched into a demonstration of the Panasonic Evidence Management Solution, featuring an “automatic metadata sync” to keep police agencies’ database storage clean and organized.

Analytics are the key to saving time, space and money with data storage, says Matthew Eades, business development and public safety manager at Panasonic Canada.

PHOTO: R. FRANCOEUR

24

BLUE LINE | December 2017

This solution makes it easier for officers to access their own videos, scanned notes, etc., Eades said. It is essentially an online-hosted review platform with “instant access” across the data investigation spectrum. It’s accessible on any device, including tablets, handhelds and two-in-ones.

“Everything is logged,” he explained.

“You can view evidence from officer to district to department... The chief can log in by mobile device and see what’s happened that day and who did what...”

Evidence review and collaboration can be streamlined by sharing saved searches and searches are also multi-modal, including conceptual search, faceted search as well as traditional keyword search.

Classification tags — “DUI,” for example — help with retention policy rules, as they can be built in to stay stored for a specified amount of time, Eades continued.

The system is built to process upwards of a billion evidence files and can manage hundreds of simultaneous users, according to Panasonic. It adds: the overall point is to help investigators stay focused on the evidence, not the reporting.

“Nothing kills a project like storage.”

- Matthew Eades, Panasonic Canada

“It can also help police organizations to develop best practices by identifying unclassified videos,” Eades said. In the example he showed the forum crowd, about 236,000 videos were not classified. “You could find these quickly and immediately amend classification policies, if required...

These videos are just taking up storage and we don’t know what they even are.”

While storing data on the Cloud can be cheap, it’s a “black hole” type of option, according to Eades, as it can also become quickly expensive if you’re storing everything that way.

“With analytics, we show you where you can move your data around for cost savings.”

He went on to note police agencies could save on storage by using the H.265 video compression standard (also known as High Efficiency Video Coding or HEVC) when it comes to video capture, especially for body worn cameras, as there is less data to deal with. This is in comparison to H.264 (Advanced Video Coding).

“Nothing kills a project like storage,” Eades concluded.

For more from the forum, visit goo.gl/25vWQe.

To Guard My People: The King’s Police and Fire Services Medal in Canada

By Jack Templeman; 2017, 138 pages ISBN: 978-0-9951888-0-8

The last significant contribution to a general understanding of the King’s Police and Fire Services Medal (KPFSM) was a 1995 book by Australian author Peter Farmery.

But where Farmery’s research looked at the wider scope of all recipients in the Commonwealth, retired Winnipeg Police Service S/ Sgt. Jack Templeman’s new contribution to this field, To Guard My People – The King’s Police and Fire Service Medal in Canada, focuses solely on Canadian and (prior to 1949) Dominion of Newfoundland honourees.

This is a welcome addition to knowledge about the medal, which was issued between 1909 and 1954, and the circumstances that gave rise to the KPFSM being struck in the first place. It’s also perfect for Canada’s 150th anniversary.

The medal, issued as the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) and the Queen’s Fire Service Medal (QFSM) since 1955, was the first official honour specifically awarded by the sovereign to police and firefighters in Canada and the rest of the Commonwealth. It was strongly felt at the time — in Canada and elsewhere — that police and fire services needed something to hasten their acceptance by citizens as a true profession, worthy of the public trust.

Clearly a work of great passion for the author, and the result of decades of research, Templeman’s book strikes a pleasing balance between a scholarly reference manual and a light book of historical short stories. It contains many fascinating acts of gallantry from across Canada. There is even a touch of scandal (as there often is in Canadian history) with the actions of some award recipients being of a rather dubious nature.

To Guard My People holds the reader’s interest well and contains a large number of rare photographs to supplement each story.

It is filled with entertaining Canadian heroes and villains. Any police officer or firefighter — or any person interested in the history of first responders in Canada — will enjoy it.

- INSP. GIBSON GLAVIN (RCMP, RETIRED)

www.BlueLine.ca

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BACK OF THE BOOK KERRY AVERY

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The impact of a line of duty death on the spouses

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ow do you watch someone other people who felt the way I did. else live your worst nightThe weeks following Woodall’s death mare? How do you manage were very isolating. Friends and family that emotionally? reached out to ask how my husband was 2015 was a difficult year for law enforce- doing, but no one asked me how I was ment in Alberta. In January, Const. David doing. The police stations had a stream of Wynn of the RCMP was killed in the line visitors bringing food and thanking them of duty in St. Albert, just north of Edmon- for their service. The support from the ton. I had been a police wife for eight years public was nothing short of amazing and and this was the first time I really faced appreciated. I felt invisible and guilty for the dangers of my husband’s thinking about myself — my work. That was my first regiment- No one husband came home at the end al funeral. On that unseasonably asked me of his shift after all — but I was warm January day, I would have how I was also watching someone else live never imagined I would be at- doing... I my worst nightmare. tending my second only six felt guilty Before June 8, 2015, the EPS for thinking hadn’t had a line of duty death months later.

On June 8, 2015, Edmonton about since Const. Ezio Faraone on Police Service Const. Dan Woo- myself June 25, 1990. Whenever I was dall was killed in the line of duty. — my worried or stressed about the My husband had just got home husband dangers of my husband’s job, I from his shift. We were sitting on came home would remind myself all of the the couch, watching Game of at the end officers had come home from Thrones, when a message came in of his shift their shifts for 25 years. Woodall’s to my phone, asking if he was OK. after all death ripped that statistical “Yes, he’s sitting right here. — but I was foundation I had used to miniWhy?” I replied. Within a few also watchmize my stress right out from minutes the messages were com- ing someunder me. Although my husband ing in droves to our phones and one else live and I talked about the shooting, social media. Then my husband my worst I was cautious about how I did so received the official notification nightmare. because I did not want to add to from the service. Social media his stress. and instant messaging have created an I would have never predicted how a line instantaneous communication chain, of duty death would impact me — it was which we were not prepared for. something we had never talked about beThe next day I stood at the door and said fore. A police officer often relies on his or goodbye to my husband as he left for his her family for support and it’s a role I shift, like I had hundreds of times. I wholeheartedly accept. That being said, thought about Woodall’s wife, Claire, and more can be done to improve the support their two young boys never experiencing for those who support the front line. this ritual again. The emotions and fear This experience put a spotlight on the were consuming me and I was left at the unique needs of the first responder spouse door, alone, in shock and unsure about and I would like to start a conversation on how to deal with this. what can be done to allow us to put our Thankfully our police service supports oxygen masks on first. a spouses association. This group, led by Tammie Hermosura, was an absolute Kerry Avery is the owner of Odin Training lifesaver that week. Tammie dealt with the Solutions Inc., specializing in the design and development of law enforcement media requests, organized volunteers and training. She has presented at interworked with the EPS to arrange a meeting national law enforcement conferences, for the spouses. A lot of tears were shed in including ILEETA, IADLEST and IACP. Kerry is also the that small, packed meeting room. I felt a editor for the ILEETA Journal. She can be reached at sense of finally being in the presence of Kerry.avery@shaw.ca.

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