Hundreds of stun guns are in the hands of police officers across the country, including about 400 Tasers used in Manitoba by RCMP and Winnipeg Police Service officers.
While there's been discussion on restricting the use of the weapons in the wake of Taser-related deaths, an Ottawa-based RCMP spokeswoman said Mounties across the country follow the same rules about when to use the stun guns -- which are known as "conducted energy weapons," or CEWs in police parlance.
According to the RCMP's website, using Tasers is part of a Mountie's job to protect public safety, while ensuring the "best intervention causes the least amount of damage." That means officers can only use a Taser -- which is classified by the RCMP as a less harmful weapon than a firearm or a police vehicle -- when officers perceive it's the best way to stop a perceived threat of violence.
"Our policy is the same across the country," said Const. Pat Flood, RCMP spokeswoman.
"It's the same for each member regardless of where they work."
Last month, a report by the RCMP complaints commission told the force to crack down on the use of CEWs by restricting the use of stun guns to experienced officers, keeping more thorough records of when the weapons are used, as well as summoning medical attention every time the 50,000-volt gun zaps a person.
The RCMP responded by saying they would act on the recommendations by restricting situations when CEWs could be used, as well as increase accountability.
According to a report given this March to Winnipeg's protection and community services committee, WPS officers can use stun guns to "neutralize armed and otherwise threatening individuals from harming themselves, other citizens, or police."
The report notes as of March 2008, the police service's professional standards unit was investigating one incident of improper Taser use, of the 150 stun guns in use by the WPS.
On Wednesday, the head of the protection and community services committee expressed sadness at Michael Langan's death but also confidence in police use of the controversial electronic device.
Still, St. Vital Coun. Gord Steeves said he recognized public anxiety over police judgment about when to use Tasers could undermine the device's future use.
"I worry... that people rush to judgment on these things," Steeves said.
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz declined comment on the incident, but through a spokeswoman said he did not publicly discuss matters of police protocol.
Steeves, who said he spoke directly to the police service's acting deputy chief, said he would await results of a police investigation but saw no initial signs of improper procedure by the officers.
"Our police service has been very judicious and very responsible in acquiring the (Taser) technology, the training for the technology, the reporting of the technology. And the numbers appear to stack up fairly against other jurisdictions across Canada," he said.
Justice Minister Dave Chomiak declined to comment on the Taser death, saying he didn't want to influence an ongoing investigation.
Last fall, at a meeting of provincial justice ministers in Winnipeg, Chomiak and his counterparts agreed to share the results of any internal reviews on Taser protocols.
And last year, Manitoba Justice surveyed the province's police forces to make sure there was proper training and records kept on Taser use after the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport. Liberal MP and former British Columbia Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh said police forces across Canada have stymied the implementation of a series of recommendations made after Dziekanski's death.
If those recommendations, including ones made by the RCMP's complaints commissioner, aren't implemented by year end, at least at the RCMP level, Dosanjh said a Commons committee has vowed to demand a moratorium on Taser use.
"Police forces, including the RCMP, have not made changes to the way they use Tasers to any great extent," said Dosanjh, who was on the front lines of last year's Taser debate. "If the public had confidence that Tasers were being used responsibly and appropriately, only as a second-last resort, then people would be more forgiving of incidents like this."
-- Staff
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