B.C.’s Ministry of Public Safety has found provincial Mounties have been using a controversial sleeper-hold and, in scores of cases, the incident reports did not appear to justify the knock-out technique.
Postmedia has learned that while reviewing RCMP reports from 2019, the ministry’s Policing and Security Branch initially raised concerns about more than 100 incidents involving the problematic Vascular Neck Restraint.
The branch flagged 79 incidents in particular from 2012 to 2018 and notified RCMP E Division (which covers the province) of the apparent discrepancy between the policy on using the technique and what officers were actually doing.
“I’m not surprised at how widespread the use is, and I am also not surprised at the lack of accurate reporting of the use of force by officers,” said Carly Teillet, a community lawyer with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
