Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In fact, there have been changes. I would suggest there have been significant changes with respect to our policies, with respect to our vocabulary, with respect to our requirements.
I certainly cannot agree that our policy is such that the officers, members of the RCMP, are authorized to use the conducted energy weapon unbridled. At the time the committee studied our policies and practices, we authorized the use of the CEW against people who were resistant. We no longer allow that. We have clarified that this device is only appropriate to be used in situations of threat. We have emphasized that there are significant risks associated with the device.
We have made clear that there is a test: number one, it must be necessary to use the device in the circumstances, and the force must be reasonable.
We have increased our reporting requirements with respect to the device. We have established specific officers and positions to review each use of force and each deployment of a CEW. It is mandatory for people to report the circumstances of their deployment, which as I indicated, includes not only actually firing the device but threatening to fire the device. Those reports must be made on the same shift where the deployment occurred. They are reviewed immediately. They are provided to Ottawa. We analyze them here. We report each of those incidents. Those reports go immediately to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. They are the basis for our quarterly and annual reporting.
I certainly believe the facts are that we have made significant changes since the committee's report, and in my view we have responded to the committee's recommendation that the use of the device or the weapon should be further restricted. We have taken steps to restrict its use.