Recent police shootings worry Calgarians about 'quick to draw' officers: criminologist

The high rate of police-involved shootings this year has some Calgarians questioning police use-of-force, especiallyafter a recent shooting put the number in the double digits.

A woman armed with two knives acting erratically was shot to death by police early Tuesday morning in Sunalta.

It was the fifth fatal police shooting in the city this year and the10th officer-involved shootingin total.

That puts Calgary well ahead of all other cities in Canada, including larger centres like Toronto and Vancouver.

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Sgt. Lee Stanton, a senior trainer with the skills and procedures team of the Calgary Police Service (CPS), says officers are trained to de-escalate a situation, not shoot first.

"That's our goal whenever we deal with anybody, but that's not obviously attainable as you are well aware," Stanton told CBC News.

He says all officers are given mandatory training in the use of Tasers, sometimes seen as a less fatal option to guns, but it's a personal decision to carry one or not and conducted electrical weapons have their own sets of problems.

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"We are always evaluating our training," Stanton said.

"We are always looking for newer technologies and new ways to communicate with the public as we are dealing with them, finding ways to de-escalate or diffuse as best as we can. Our training is constantly being re-evaluated."

However, aMount Royal University criminologist says the force's problems are not only related to training.

"Training is one thing and to be able to actually practice it, is another," Ritesh Narayan said.

"There is a disconnect between how the officers are being trained and how they are actually putting the training to use out in the field."

Narayan says the public is increasingly concerned about the violence.

"I think the sentiment among the public is a concern that the shootings that are going on in Calgary could soon become the status quo, that police officers would be more quick to draw on their service weapons than try to de-escalate the matter or resort to other means."

Narayan adds that an increase in crime in general in the city is also a factor.

"With the rise of crime also comes violent crimes and violent criminals. Situations that police officers have to deal with are more volatile now and sometimes volatile situations meritmore extreme measures to tackle them."

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He says the service needs to make some changes.

"What CPS really needs right now is unity and strength and leadership," Narayan said.

"The integrity among police officers in Calgary right now is a question. It becomes very imperative that the chief of police at this time, takes a leadership [position]and shows his staff that he is backing them up."

Meanwhile, Stanton says minor adjustments to training programs, along with technology, could be a step in the right direction.

"We haven't adapted or really modified our training in a number of years. What we have done is tweaked things, made things better," he said.

"We are constantly looking for new ideas, new technologies to help us along the way to do that, but mainly our real goal is voluntary compliance."

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