`Dynamic entries' under review: Sloly
Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said the force will continue to review how decisions are made to execute a “dynamic entry” in tactical raids.
The comments come on the heels of the falling death of 23-year-old Anthony Aust who jumped from his bedroom window on Oct. 7 after police burst into his 12th-floor apartment, using that entry as part of a drug unit search warrant. Sloly's comments also come as part of a wide-ranging interview in advance of the chief's one-year anniversary as top cop.
“We'll continue to revisit the techniques involved in executing search warrants, particularly highrisk search warrants where there is a risk to public safety or officer safety,” Sloly said.
Sloly said that in his time as Ottawa police chief he has watched the tactical unit and duty inspectors, senior officers who serve as “incident commanders,” go through the “risk assessment” in deciding when to use the entry. It's his impression that the practice has reduced complaints against police officers, injuries to community members, to service members and has “resulted in better evidence and better supports to Crown prosecutions.”
But the chief said such an entry remains “dynamic” and occurs in “high-risk situations,” which means it does require ongoing review.
“Because of those two factors alone, I think it's incumbent on every police service — it certainly will be for my police service during my tenure here — that we continue to review the most high-risk aspects of our service delivery. And that will be one that will have continuous review — not just because of the ruling that came down in the early spring and not just because of any particular incident but because it's really important for us to do regardless.”
The Special Investigations Unit continues to probe Aust's falling death and has designated three subject officers in the probe. The watchdog investigates any incidents of death, serious injury or sexual assault involving police and civilians in Ontario. Sloly did not speak to the specifics of the Aust case. Police forces are prohibited from discussing cases being investigated by the SIU.
As reported by the Citizen, a team of tactical officers breached the door of the Aust family apartment at 2020 Jasmine Cres. on the morning of Oct. 7. Video from a security camera in the apartment shows that once the door was open, masked tactical officers announced their presence — “Police! Don't move!” — and tossed a flash grenade into the entryway. That video then shows at least eight officers, armed with rifles, entering the home.
Aust was asleep in his bedroom on a bunk bed at the time, according to his brother. He then jumped from the 12th-floor bedroom window with nothing to catch him. His family believes the stress of the police entry led him to jump.
The entry, in which police break down a door, sometimes using a battering ram, and use flash grenades as distraction devices, remains legal for police to use in Ontario.
In February, an Ottawa judge chastised what she called the service's overuse of the entry, saying it amounted to a “casual disregard” of people's constitutional rights. That ruling, however, didn't prohibit police from continuing to use the entry.
Following that ruling and the Citizen's reporting on the ruling, the police board asked the service how common of a practice the entry was, what the decision-making process is to determine whether one is required and if the service would continue using the entry given the judge's comments.
Sloly said the service began a review then and will continue to do so either on an annual or “incident by incident basis.”