City police force explores less-lethal options for officers

Front-line Calgary police officers will have more options for lesslethal force come the new year.

Detailed during Tuesday’s meeting of the Calgary police commission, plans are in the works to outfit district patrol units with 82 less-than-lethal munition launcher rifles, a flexible use-offorce option that will allow officers to de-escalate dangerous situations without resorting to deadly force.

Postmedia has learned the launchers being purchased by Calgary police are ARWEN-37s, the same multi-shot riot guns the CPS tactical unit has used for the past 10 years.

The program’s two-year rollout calls for the training of eight instructor officers, who will then train a total of 160 patrol officers in the device’s use by the end of 2019.

For next year, police plan to have 40 officers trained in their use by the beginning of the Stampede, and another 40 by the end of the year.

The program is estimated to cost around $360,000, which by the end of the two years will see 10 of the launchers issued in each of Calgary’s eight patrol districts.

According to Tuesday’s presentation, rationale for the rollout is based on a use-of-force capability gap identified for the city’s frontline officers.

Currently, force options for patrol officers include conducted electrical weapons (CEW) such as the service’s standard-issue Tasers, chemical irritant pepper spray and firearms.

A variety of ARWEN cartridges are available for use by law enforcement officers, including rubber impact projectiles, coloured smoke, rubber balls and pepper spray.

While pleased at the greater force options for front-line officers, Calgary Police Association president Les Kaminski has doubts current deployment plans will have the desired effect.

“Bottom line, there’s only going to be a certain number of officers issued both weapons and training,” he said.

“It’s not going to solve all of the issues; the law of averages states it’s not always going to be available at the right place at the right times.

“I was really hoping to see more members equipped.”

While Kaminski understands a wide-scale ARWEN deployment is cost prohibitive, other options explored by Calgary police would have been easier — and cheaper — to implement, he said.

He points to an initiative carried out by Lethbridge police, which made use of decommissioned police shotguns painted bright orange and outfitted with non-lethal ‘sock rounds.’

These, Kaminski explained, are shotgun shells containing Kevlar beanbags that, when fired, are capable of delivering an incapacitating — but not necessarily deadly — blow.

As shotgun proficiency is standard training for all Calgary police officers, he said that option — one also implemented by Toronto police two years ago — would take the least amount of time and money to put into place.

Himself a former CPS tactical member, Kaminski attests to the effectiveness of these less-lethal rounds. He says they’re an effective alternative to deadly force in many circumstances.

“When you get hit with these, you stop,” he said.

“It’s fantastic we finally have some options, but (the program’s) scope is limited.”