B3. THE WOLFVILLE POLICE ISSUE

B3.:

Police Practices Affecting the Wolfville Community

On June 02, 2008 I sent a fax to the Commission for Public Complaints Against The RCMP attention: Chair, Mr. Paul Kennedy.

After no response, I wrote a letter on the same subject to Amnesty International Canada in Ottawa with a copy of my fax as above to Mr. Kennedy on August 26, 2008.

On September 16, 2008 I sent the two above letters under the subject Human Rights Issue as copies to the Town’s solicitor after I had informed him the previous night during the Council meeting. His answer, a day later, reads as follows: “In your two letters attached below, you raise a specific issue of police practice with firearms. My background in Human Rights has not involved any experience with the use of firearms or related policies. I therefore make no comment on how you might deal with this topic.”

Obviously, the Town’s solicitor did not understand that my issue had nothing to do with “any experience with the use of firearms” but with safety and security and even health (life/death) issues in our community.

Due to careful consideration, I have decided to inform the public and especially the Residents of Wolfville about some legitimate concerns.

What is this all about?

Prior to my fax to Mr. Paul Kennedy I had accepted a public invitation and attended an open-door event at the Wolfville RCMP detachment. I was received by a very polite and nicely talking young constable that day and after some introductory remarks we had a talk about weaponry and thereafter a discussion about the use and/or the misuse of the Taser. I got the obviously standardized answer that the use of the Taser had saved lives, but we all know that its use by the police have cost some lives as well.

In addition I was shown the common 9mm pistol of the force, which can take 15 rounds, and - most shockingly – a clip filled with 15 hollow-point bullets. The bullet at the top of the clip showed several slits carved in to make it “mushroom” even more on impact.

Hollow-point bullets are designed to spread once they enter a target to inflict more damage. They expand greatly and are designed to loose about 10% of its mass in the process and split up to hit different parts of the target. HP handgun ammo creates small entry point wounds but, on exiting, it leaves at least a fist-sized flesh wound if it will go through straight at all not hitting a bone and being broken up into pieces.

Having served in the Army in my younger years, I know that hollow-point bullets are prohibited for very good reasons by international law in any kind of warfare. Modern hollow-point bullets go back to the expanding “dum dum” ammunition created by the British in an arsenal of the same name near Calcutta, India, at the end of the 19th century. They were outlawed internationally under the “Hague Declaration” in 1899.

This means that our Canadian soldiers fighting in Afghanistan would break international law if they used such kind of ammunition.

Why are our police in Wolfville allowed to use hollow-point bullets in their handguns?

The young constable was unable to tell me the legal backing for the use of HP handgun ammo under federal and/or provincial legislation.

Is there no legal prohibition on police use of such ammunition?

Is it at the sole discretion of Police Chief Officers to decide on whatever ammunition they consider appropriate to meet their "operational needs"?

And if these questions can be answered with “yes”, you as a Resident of Wolfville should be concerned as well and help stop our police using hollow-point bullets.

The 15 rounds of 9mm bullets in a clip provide a tremendous fire and killing and maiming power, even if the clip is filled with regular bullets only and not with hollow-point ones.

A “violent” offender, attacker (e.g. drunks, druggies, mentally challenged people - maybe unable to judge and/or control their actions towards a police officer - and even a violent criminal) would normally be stopped on the spot after being hit by at least one of 15 clipped regular 9mm bullets instead of hollow-point ones, but thereafter he or she would have a much better chance to survive and stand trial in court.

When I tried to make this point to the young constable in front of me, we became interrupted by an elderly officer in gala uniform overhearing our conversation and he said: “When I draw my pistol I do it with the intention to kill.”

This statement further shocked me. So far I had been under the obviously wrong impression that the motto of our police force reads “Serve and Protect” or vice versa, which does not include the “intended” killing part.

Is it really acceptable to our rural community that police officers - a young constable after just having graduated from the Academy or even a very experienced senior on the force - would be allowed, entitled and empowered to shoot hollow-point bullets instead of regular ones, hereby increasing the killing risks tremendously, even if there would be immediate and sufficient medical help available?

I do understand that police officers have to be able to use their handguns in specific situations and carry pepper spray, the baton and the Taser as well. To subdue any kind of attacker they have to make very subjective decisions on what weapon to use as a response. In addition they can call for back-up and even the deployment of the SWAT team. To me the use of hollow-point bullets instead of regular ones equals the use of excessive and unnecessary killing and/or maiming force.

It amazes me to learn that we, the public, seem to know nothing about the fact that the police are using hollow-point ammunition in their handguns.

After the reception at the open-door event I had a word with an Executive Assistant to a Nova Scotia MLA, who set up a meeting with the public relations officer at the Wolfville RCMP detachment. This 30-year veteran then told me stories about dangerous situations he had been in and that a colleague had been killed in a shoot-out with a criminal. But all those could not convince me that the fire and killing power of 15 regular rounds in a clip would have to be drastically increased by the use of hollow-point bullets with carved-in slits to mushroom even better to hopefully prevent and stop a “very personally judged” threat to the life of a police officer when using the handgun.

My concerns are not meant just to favour really violent criminals and/or diminish the fire power of the police in possible heated confrontations.

In the meantime I have learned that police officers are trained at the firing range (where they use regular 9mm bullets) to aim their handguns at upper parts of the attackers’ bodies (where they can score a “10”) and do not go for arms or legs. This makes the use of hollow-point bullets even more problematic and could result more likely in a kind of “death penalty” outside of our court system. And what about stray bullets in regards to innocent by-standers?

Dear Residents of Wolfville, I would appreciate your feed-back. Please let me know what you think about the use of HP ammo by our police force. You should have a say while paying more than one million dollars for the policing of Wolfville out of your tax dollars. In addition, I was told by quite some people that the drastic increase in yearly policing costs - since our local Wolfville Police became an integrated part of the RCMP - does not really match a measurable increase in police services in Wolfville. But this is a different issue and I shall try to find out why Kentville kept its Kentville Police.

Your feed-back should be addressed to leb.3999@yahoo.ca.

Thank you in advance.

Lutz E. Becker / January 02, 2009


Comments:


Comment from someone who does not want to be named

Mr. Becker,

Let me say at the outset that I am not a resident of Wolfville (I live in Greenwich), but I have the feeling that your concerns about ammunition loads extend far beyond the town's borders.
I was shocked to read your handout, available at the Wolfville post office, about the use of hollow-point bullets by the Wolfville police. Any municipal council worthy of its name should immediately disallow such a practice. Having said that, I acknowledge immediately that police forces in Canada (in contrast to those in the United States) do pretty much as they please, and the taxpayers and their representatives who pay for the police service are impotent to bring about change.
As it happens, I have seen the effect of hollow-point bullets on living flesh. A hunter of my acquaintance once shot a deer through the heart using a Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5 mm sniper rifle whose ammo he had modified. The deer was basically cut in two. To use such a load on humans is nuts.
Your comments about a 15-shot magazine seem to me to be irrelevant.
I believe the RCMP is under the supervision of the Solicitor General of Canada (or the Attorney General) - I haven't looked it up. That is the office where, I think, you should begin your enquiries. The town's solicitor is, as you have already discovered, a comlete dead end.
Please, do not attribute to me anything I have said here.

Comments from Mr. Brian Sanderson, Wolfville

Dear Lutz,

Good to see someone is keeping an eye on things.
I find hollow-nose bullets distasteful. I'm not a big fan of the shoot for the chest/torso policy, either.
These police practices are totally out of place in Wolfville... Perhaps they are necessary out in the wild west or in Toronto --- but even then, I think they are just as likely to cause the villains to take things to the next level.

Cheers,

Brian

Comments from someone who played a cop on T.V.

Hollow Point BulletsThursday, February 12, 2009 12:52 AM
From: "Denzel Washington" dwashington1960@hotmail.com

I am appalled by your website and you comments. Do you realize that these men and women put their lives on the line everyday. I would like to see you spend a day in their shoes, having to deal with unpredictable drunks night in and night out. Most of the criminals carry a wide assortment of weapons from knives to fully automatic machine guns and they for sure don’t care what bullets the police have. These criminals carry high power assault rifles with armor piercing rounds, so the police having hollow point bullets is actually a disadvantage.
Yes these hollow points are meant to do a lot of damage, but they are also meant not to penetrate the body. The reason for this is so that the bullets don’t exit the subject and hit an innocent victim. I am sure the public would appreciate the fact the there is less likely the chance that a bullet will exit a criminal and hit an innocent person.
People like you make me glad to know that the police carry weapons.
They are there to help us in need and should be left alone to do their job. You are a person that complains about the police and anyone just to hear yourself talk. You will be the first one calling when your residence is broken into and be making a complaint because they weren’t fast enough getting to your house. And you will be the same person next week complaining that a police car was speeding down the street going to someone else complaint.
You mentioned you were in the military did you peal potatoes or were you the guy that swept the floor? Did you actually see any war time?
If not, you can’t even mention that you were in the military or talk about guns.
Simple solution, don’t point a firearm at a cop or any other weapon.
Listen to their instructions and you’ll have no issues. This is from personal experiences, when you do what they ask they won’t point their scary guns with hollow point bullets at you.
Denzel Washington (Not a Cop, but Played one on T.V.)


bxs said...

The assumption is that police are always the "good guys" and their adversary is always a "bad guy". Thus police have been given maximum killing power. Also, one can use hollow-point bullets for hunting --- so I guess the police don't like to be at a potential disadvantage since the people shooting at them may have hollow-nose bullets.On the battle field, it's not clear which soldier is the "good guy". The soldiers are just unfortunate proxies to settle a failed political dispute --- so we have rules that try to limit the damage to both sides (really these rules are a total failure in view of modern weapons).Personally, I don't trust anyone with a gun --- and neither should you. Perhaps us law-abiding citizens should be issued bullet-proof vests, Council should look into a bulk order?


Isaac said...

The issue is not as simple as you make it out to be. First, the hollow point shifts the center of gravity of the bullet to the rear, improving stability in flight. Second, hollow points do not ricochet as much, minimizing risk to innocent bystanders.I don't see what is so wrong with wanting the maximum incapacitation. Provided that the shooting is justified in the first place (e. g., there is risk of imminent death to the officer or a bystander), one wants to eliminate the target as quickly as possible so that the target can't retaliate.