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Use of force reports filed by Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officers have nearly doubled this year.
Officers have submitted 87 accounts of drawing weapons, Tasers and using physical force from January to May compared to 46 during the first five months of 2020.
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Fourteen reports, or 16 per cent of the total number, were submitted in May. The same number of reports were filed in March with 15 in January. Six use of force reports were submitted in each of February and April.
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Nine strip searches of accused persons were done by Sault Ste. Marie Police Service in 2020.
Checking for drugs prompted the searches of three women and six men, said Sgt. Darren Sirie in a report to Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board.
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The searches were evenly split between Black, Caucasian and Indigenous suspects.
Police made 1,224 arrests in 2020. Less than 1 per cent of arrests involved strip searches. The checks are done under the authority of the Criminal Code, Chief Hugh Stevenson told board members. Police are checking for items related to evidence, injury or escape.
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Use of force incidents increased from 74 to 82.
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Try refreshing your browser. Weapons, Tasers drawn more in 2020 Back to video
The percentage of calls where use of force was used inched up from .0023 per cent to .0025 per cent last year, said Sgt. Darren Sirie in a use of force report presented to Sault Ste. Marie Police Services Board.
“This is consistent with provincial averages, and represents only a slight increase with our service statistics from 2019,” said Sirie.
A total of 121 use of force reports related to the 82 incidents were filed in 2020. That compares to 75 incidents and 104 reports in 2019.