Lowering the heat

Sammy Yatim was shot dead by police while wielding a knife on an empty streetcar in 2013, when he was a troubled young man of just 18.

Andrew Loku, 45, was shot dead by police in July while wielding a hammer inside his apartment complex, a building with units leased by the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Their deaths are but two examples where the use of lethal force to resolve a mental health crisis was both unnecessary and heartbreaking.

Would it have helped in those situations if police had had the latest high-tech, non-lethal weapon at their disposal instead of resorting to using their guns? Yes.

So it’s welcome news that Toronto’s Emergency Task Force unit is one of 16 law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada to have purchased blunt impact projectiles, or “BIPs,” from Oakville’s Security Devices International.

The bulky 40-mm bullets have a plastic body with a head that contains a mix of gel and silicone. When the bullet strikes a body it expands, hitting surface nerves to cause intense pain that will stop a person in their tracks without doing permanent damage.

The bullets can be used in situations where someone armed with a knife or other weapon is too far away to be Tasered. Security Devices International’s CEO Greg Sullivan explains: “This has the ability to subdue them without going to a higher level of force.”

That’s good. Police should have these new weapons in their tool kit. Still, the first recourse in these types of emergencies should be to use de-escalation techniques and communication in place of force — as recommended by former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci in his report on the Sammy Yatim shooting.

As Iacobucci emphasized, police must shift their culture away from the aggressive “police challenge” to drop a weapon. Instead, they should first try to defuse the crisis by calming the person and offering help.

Other simple but effective methods to defuse situations before they require force include training officers to eliminate the assumption that deaths are inevitable and having them wear body cameras.

To their credit, Toronto police have already taken steps in this direction. They have followed up on Iacobucci’s recommendation to establish a voluntary vulnerable persons registry to help them identify people prone to erratic behaviour because of mental illness, physical conditions such as epilepsy, developmental disorders, addiction or allergic reactions.

The blunt impact bullets are a good idea — when necessary. De-escalating tense situations before they’re needed is even better.