Regina police fired a gun once in 2016: report
The Regina Police Service fired a gun only once last year — and that was by accident.
On Wednesday, the city's board of police commissioners will discuss a report on the number of times officers used force in 2016.
The report says 174 use of force reports were submitted last year. However, officers used one more than method of force in some situations, increasing the number of times force was actually used to 267 times.
That's up from 2015 when officers used force 205 times.
Numbers show the type of force officers most commonly use is hard physical control, or strikes.
In 2016, officers used their hands or fists to strike a subject 52 times, causing injury in 33 cases.
Officers exerted soft physical control — defined as a a takedown — 36 times.
Types and frequency of force used more commonly used in 2016:
- Hard physical strike: 52 times, 33 incidents resulted in injury
- Soft physical control, defined as a takedown with injury: 36 times
- Restraint chair: 31 times
- Canine bite or injury: 30 times
5 accidental Taser discharges
According to the report, police pointed a firearm 15 times last year, but only once was a weapon fired, which was accidental, and resulted in no injury. In 2015, the service reported that guns were accidentally discharged twice.
The last time the police shot and injured someone was in 2013.
Police say that conducted energy weapons, otherwise known as a Tasers, were used 20 times last year, but five of those cases were accidental discharges.
