Rule changes being recommended to Vancouver police after Indigenous man, granddaughter handcuffed
The Vancouver Police Board is to hear a report Thursday recommending the force change its handcuffing policy after an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter were handcuffed outside a bank in 2019.
The police board said it launched a review of the department's protocols when Maxwell Johnson and his granddaughter were handcuffed after trying to open an account at the Bank of Montreal using their government-issued status cards.
The board report said it was later determined there was no criminal activity involved.
The report said an extensive review included an examination of all officer training relevant to Indigenous cultural competency, along with a review of the legal authorities and policy surrounding the use of restraint devices.
The new policy recommends that handcuffs be used when reasonable, proportionate to the risk, and necessary to fulfil a legitimate policing objective when the officer believes using cuffs is necessary.
“It provides direction on documentation and the safe applications on handcuffs, it specifies that officers must have the lawful authority to use a restraint, it provides legal considerations that would result in that lawful authority, and it entrenches an officer's ability to exercise discretion,” the report reads.
Johnson filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal last year alleging the bank called 911 over an identification issue because they are Indigenous, while it accuses the police of racial profiling leading to their detention and the use of handcuffs.
The police experience has led to his son and granddaughter suffering mental health issues following the detainment, Johnson previously said.
The police department issued a statement after the rights case was launched saying the circumstances were “regrettable” and understandably traumatic for Johnson and his family.
The board report says the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner is still looking into the handcuff complaint and it won't finalize its policy until that ruling and the human rights tribunal case is resolved, “as there may be recommendations stemming from these processes that will need to be taken into consideration.”
It says the most notable changes about the interim policy are that it gives direction on safe application of handcuffs, specifies that officers have lawful authority to use restraints and entrenches the officer's ability to exercise discretion in their use.
The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner said in an email that a review into a discipline decision of the arresting officers' conduct was still underway and being led by a retired judge.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.