As I recall the first representatives of the RCMP to report to the media told an untruthful version of events that claimed that Dziekanski had attacked the police and was assaulting them even after tasered. The video does not bear this out at all. The video was held back for some time by the police as well. I suppose we should be thankful that they did not just take the video and destroy it as is often done in other places when embarassing videos are taken.
This is a bland politically proper response no doubt appreciated by the RCMP.
RCMP commission defends the force following taser death
CanWest News Service
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Feeling the heat of public outrage over the death of a man tasered and tackled by Mounties at Vancouver International Airport last month, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott issued a statement Saturday defending the service's handling of the case.
"The RCMP wishes to once again extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to his family," Elliott said in a press statement issued Saturday night, just days after the release of a graphic video showing Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski writhing in pain and screaming after being shocked by police on Oct. 14 - and only hours after Dziekanski's funeral in Kamloops, B.C.
"Although a number of representatives of the RCMP have made themselves available to the media, there is a perception that the RCMP has been silent since the airing of the disturbing video images earlier this week," Elliott said.
"I have not made a public statement before now as I felt that the best course of action was to let the investigations underway proceed so that we could all benefit from an independent determination of the facts.
"I recognize, however, that the RCMP cannot provide effective policing services without the support of the communities we serve and I am concerned that growing misperceptions are eroding the public's confidence in the RCMP."
Elliott said the force moved quickly to probe Dziekanski's death, launching a homicide investigation in B.C. He pointed out that the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, an independent agency answering to Parliament, is conducting its own investigation, and the B.C. Coroner's office has announced an inquest.
"The RCMP fully supports these investigations and is anxious to learn as much as possible about this tragic event,"he said.
Elliott said the four officers involved have been assigned to other duties "for the time being," and the RCMP has started a review of policies and procedures on stun gun use for Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day.
"Based on the information available to date, the RCMP remains of the view that 'Tasers' are effective law enforcement tools and are safe in the vast majority of cases," Elliott said.
"When properly deployed they result in overall injury reduction when dealing with the arrest of violent individuals. We and other police services teach our officers that it is less likely to cause serious injury than other tactics."
Elliott acknowledged the images in the Dziekanski video are "disturbing."
"We do not, however, believe that it is appropriate to draw conclusions based on these images alone," he added. "This serious event deserves a comprehensive and complete examination and we are confident that the processes underway will provide the proper basis on which to make conclusions and to determine appropriate action."
© CanWest News Service 2007
Showing posts with label William Elliott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label William Elliott. Show all posts
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Praise for Elliott from Collenette
No praise from politicians will probably help Elliott convince those who wanted someone from inside the force but Collenette must think he is quite good to give him this thumbs up. We will just have to wait and see.
New RCMP boss should fit in with the force, says former minister
Don Butler
CanWest News Service
Saturday, July 07, 2007
OTTAWA -- The next commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a blunt-spoken man of 53 who's committed to doing what's right for the country, says a former Liberal cabinet minister who worked closely with him for years.
And though some might find him a bit brusque, adds David Collenette, William Elliott's forthright style should be a good fit with the RCMP's para-military culture.
"He's a consummate public servant," says Collenette, who as minister of transport worked with the incoming commissioner from 2000 to 2003, when Elliott was Transport Canada's assistant deputy minister of safety and security.
"He's a very thorough person," he says. "He's very dogged. He's very balanced and fair-minded. He doesn't play any political games. He's very much up front."
Elliott, a senior public servant, lawyer and former Conservative political aide, will become the first outsider to lead the storied but troubled police service in its 134-year history when his appointment takes effect July 16.
Along with his wife Carolyn and their four children, he lives in an unpretentious two-storey house on a leafy suburban street in old Ottawa's west end, virtually the definition of a traditional middle-class neighbourhood.
But there's nothing traditional about his path to the top RCMP job. He has never been a police officer, or worked for any police organization.
After earning degrees in arts and law from the University of Ottawa in the 1970s, he was called to the bar in 1981.
He practised law until 1988, when he went to work for Don Mazankowski, then deputy prime minister in the Mulroney government. He later rose to become Mazankowski's chief of staff.
In 1992, in the dying days of the Conservative government, he joined the public service as a senior counsel and manager with Justice Canada, dealing with land claims and other legal issues involving Indian Affairs and Northern Development. That same year, he was appointed Queen's Counsel by Kim Campbell during her fleeting term as prime minister.
In 1998, the Chretien government named him deputy commissioner of the Coast Guard, a job he held until becoming assistant deputy minister at Transport in 2000.
When the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred, Elliott was in Beijing attending a conference. With all flights into North America grounded, it took him three or four days to make it back to Ottawa.
"We really felt badly," Collenette recalls. "We couldn't get him back in time."
By the time Elliott was able to return, Collenette and his colleagues at Transport Canada were bleary-eyed and exhausted from working around the clock in the wake of the attacks.
"He came back raring to go," says Collenette. Elliott immediately tackled the urgent task of updating Canada's air safety regulations. "We redid all the aviation safety rules in two weeks," Collenette recalls. "It was an incredible effort."
From 2003 to 2005, Elliott worked as an assistant secretary to cabinet in the Privy Council Office, with responsibility for security and intelligence. He went on to serve as national security adviser to two prime ministers, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, before moving to his present job as associate deputy minister of public safety in May 2006.
Collenette says one thing he liked about Elliott was that "he didn't have any fear of challenging the minister."
He says he appreciated that, because many public officials are obsequious and won't say what they think for fear of offending the minister.
"Really, you haven't got time for those games," Collenette says. "If you want to push back because you think the minister is saying something you don't agree with, then do that. And he did that, and we had some good exchanges. But they were always professional."
Collenette thinks the RCMP will appreciate their new commissioner's directness.
"He's not going to be mulling around, engaging in introspection and dancing around issues. He's going to say, look, here's the problem, this is how I think we should deal with it - what are your views?
"Some people may find that a bit brusque," he acknowledges. "But if you want to get results, you don't want to muck around playing all kinds of political head games. You want to just get to the point."
Though Elliott has already acknowledged his outsider status will present some special challenges, Collenette believes he is up to the task. "There's no question," he says. "If anyone can do it, it will be him."
Elliott's exposure to para-military cultures at the Coast Guard and, to a lesser degree, within Transport Canada, will serve him well, Collenette believes. "He understands how an organization like the RCMP functions."
When Elliott first came to work for Transport Canada, Collenette admits he was initially taken aback by his past life as a Tory political aide.
But he showed no sign of his political roots as assistant deputy minister, he says. "He was just another public servant, and was not partisan in the least."
Collenette doesn't share the concern that Elliott's appointment will erode the RCMP's independence from government.
"He's there for the greater good of the country. If the prime minister's staff try to cross the line, there's no way that he would allow that."
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2007
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
New RCMP boss should fit in with the force, says former minister
Don Butler
CanWest News Service
Saturday, July 07, 2007
OTTAWA -- The next commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a blunt-spoken man of 53 who's committed to doing what's right for the country, says a former Liberal cabinet minister who worked closely with him for years.
And though some might find him a bit brusque, adds David Collenette, William Elliott's forthright style should be a good fit with the RCMP's para-military culture.
"He's a consummate public servant," says Collenette, who as minister of transport worked with the incoming commissioner from 2000 to 2003, when Elliott was Transport Canada's assistant deputy minister of safety and security.
"He's a very thorough person," he says. "He's very dogged. He's very balanced and fair-minded. He doesn't play any political games. He's very much up front."
Elliott, a senior public servant, lawyer and former Conservative political aide, will become the first outsider to lead the storied but troubled police service in its 134-year history when his appointment takes effect July 16.
Along with his wife Carolyn and their four children, he lives in an unpretentious two-storey house on a leafy suburban street in old Ottawa's west end, virtually the definition of a traditional middle-class neighbourhood.
But there's nothing traditional about his path to the top RCMP job. He has never been a police officer, or worked for any police organization.
After earning degrees in arts and law from the University of Ottawa in the 1970s, he was called to the bar in 1981.
He practised law until 1988, when he went to work for Don Mazankowski, then deputy prime minister in the Mulroney government. He later rose to become Mazankowski's chief of staff.
In 1992, in the dying days of the Conservative government, he joined the public service as a senior counsel and manager with Justice Canada, dealing with land claims and other legal issues involving Indian Affairs and Northern Development. That same year, he was appointed Queen's Counsel by Kim Campbell during her fleeting term as prime minister.
In 1998, the Chretien government named him deputy commissioner of the Coast Guard, a job he held until becoming assistant deputy minister at Transport in 2000.
When the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred, Elliott was in Beijing attending a conference. With all flights into North America grounded, it took him three or four days to make it back to Ottawa.
"We really felt badly," Collenette recalls. "We couldn't get him back in time."
By the time Elliott was able to return, Collenette and his colleagues at Transport Canada were bleary-eyed and exhausted from working around the clock in the wake of the attacks.
"He came back raring to go," says Collenette. Elliott immediately tackled the urgent task of updating Canada's air safety regulations. "We redid all the aviation safety rules in two weeks," Collenette recalls. "It was an incredible effort."
From 2003 to 2005, Elliott worked as an assistant secretary to cabinet in the Privy Council Office, with responsibility for security and intelligence. He went on to serve as national security adviser to two prime ministers, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, before moving to his present job as associate deputy minister of public safety in May 2006.
Collenette says one thing he liked about Elliott was that "he didn't have any fear of challenging the minister."
He says he appreciated that, because many public officials are obsequious and won't say what they think for fear of offending the minister.
"Really, you haven't got time for those games," Collenette says. "If you want to push back because you think the minister is saying something you don't agree with, then do that. And he did that, and we had some good exchanges. But they were always professional."
Collenette thinks the RCMP will appreciate their new commissioner's directness.
"He's not going to be mulling around, engaging in introspection and dancing around issues. He's going to say, look, here's the problem, this is how I think we should deal with it - what are your views?
"Some people may find that a bit brusque," he acknowledges. "But if you want to get results, you don't want to muck around playing all kinds of political head games. You want to just get to the point."
Though Elliott has already acknowledged his outsider status will present some special challenges, Collenette believes he is up to the task. "There's no question," he says. "If anyone can do it, it will be him."
Elliott's exposure to para-military cultures at the Coast Guard and, to a lesser degree, within Transport Canada, will serve him well, Collenette believes. "He understands how an organization like the RCMP functions."
When Elliott first came to work for Transport Canada, Collenette admits he was initially taken aback by his past life as a Tory political aide.
But he showed no sign of his political roots as assistant deputy minister, he says. "He was just another public servant, and was not partisan in the least."
Collenette doesn't share the concern that Elliott's appointment will erode the RCMP's independence from government.
"He's there for the greater good of the country. If the prime minister's staff try to cross the line, there's no way that he would allow that."
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2007
Copyright © 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
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