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Community news page 19 Soccer stalwart page 15 Home Newspaper of Hills No local shootings ECTION Are police firearms policies safe By TAYLOR Herald toff writer Eight people have been shot and killed by police officers In Metro Toronto in the year and controversy simmers around that city police force with a lot of questions being asked about the use of fire arms by police Questions such as What is the extent of training of police officers in the use of firearms Is it adequate Are policemen trained to shoot to kit or to shoot to wound Why t policemen armed with Iran guns or some other nan fatal weapon Arc police men adequately for the moment when Ihcy must decide whether or not to pull the trigger The Regional Police Force has revamped its fire arms program this year and Staff Eric Bullock a veteran officer with years on police forces in has been appointed to head up the program The Herald talked with Staff Sgt Bullock about the use of firearms by polite officers and the pro gram in Ballon The Herald also spoke with Don director of the Ontario Police College in about the training provided for recruits EXTJSSlVt TItUMNG Mr said the firearms training program at is extensive and includes both classroom work and practice on an indoor range Some recruits have never fired a before or even held one Mr Atam Public health nurses make regular visits to the hospitals to discuss with nurses which patients might benefit from such health unit services at home visits and home core programs Public health nurse Joyce Wood and Lorraine Kennedy talk over the list of patients who might be interested In talking to Mrs Wood Public health nurse relatively unknown Herald stallurilcr Ask anyone whul a nurse actually does and they would probably be able to Rive a relatively ale answer bu ask them what a public health nurse does and the answer would probably be a shrug This week from September lo is Nurses Week in Ontario and this Ontario Nurses Association chose emphasize the rule of the public health nurse in medicine The Herald spoke w Joyce WoodandKarcn Bennett both public health nurses with Halton Health Unit about the it lakes lo become a public nurse and the services which the nursing division of unit provides for Hie public Public re quires additional training on top of the registered nurses course Mrs Wood said tan complete Hit three year registered nursing course and then tike a one year course in university for a certificate in public nursing or take a bachelor of science degree at THIRDAlTrHNVFlVi Then is a third Mrs Bennett said but few people advantage of it It involves taking the three year registered nursine course and following up with three of study at university Mrs Bennett said the approach of public health lo medicine is more holistic more geared treating whole person than the disease Because hospitals are more concerned with curing a parti disease they tend concentrate on that Public health nurses are concerned with teaching and with Hon she said The structure of nursing in public is very different from hospital nursing The a much more structured environment where public health nursing Is mora on going A public nurse can visit certain patients at home for years Mrs Wood me major the public health nurses offer is the home visits Mrs Wood said Patients may be referred by their family doctors through the schools through agencies such as the Ontario Society for Children through hospital visits by public health nurses and Inn requests from per sen himself Home visits from visits homes with a new lo visits to senior reus and everything in be Mrs Wood said Visits to homes with new cm enable nurses in new mother the answers lo that they ma want to bother the with or straighten ul any confusion that may from things said b liiffertnl members of the farm Nurses homes with I re school children can assist mothers Willi any problems the hive such as pro with toilet training a The family doctor may isk the public health to visit Ihe home and eon iucl a nursinj assessment child who is Invinf medic il problems to help establish Ihe oust of the problem or jusl to observe the child in his The public health nurse is Iso imporlanl part of the school Mr Wood She may act as an lerpreier of the child s needs lit child has a medical riblcm which require consideration at Tl nurse ilso conducts pre of the child vision and in Denver till Test Mrs said Slit thai the ver Developmental Test is nol in intelligence test but merely a which gauges a child readiness for school UK medical pro blems can lake advantage of home visits as well A person may develop diabetes as an adult the public health nurse will instruct him or her in giving himself an insulin injection in proper diet and he illh information Mrs Wood said Home visits ore helpful to amputee patients or torn patients too Mrs Wood said The can let the patients know what agencies and can help them find necessary equipment such as wheel Senior citizens who are on medication or who have been in the hospital and need some one to keep an eye on them also benefit from home visits Mrs Wood mid visits from health nurses also moke il easier for r home I ami lobe shifted to nursing I time Public lieaMli nursi s ire involved in health care Ihe Mrs Were visible in tie scho but or I ivvari all the pirts if the school pro si Each nurse has an average of four schools to visit each week The nurse is involved in helping children with medical problems such as cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy teaching heallh cither formul ly in the classroom or infer mally in discussion with staff and students The nurse may also do medical assessment on a child to help the child wilh learning she said VISION If the child teacher feels the child may have a hearing or vision problem the will ask the nurse to arrange for testing The health unit routinely tests children every four years Mrs Wood Public nurses are also involved in controlling the spread of communicable diseases through the school and while they don make diagnoses the nurse might recommend the child see a doctor or be kept home until he or she recovers Mrs Wood said Public is in responsible ir i 1 n pro r m sl i I i by a team of ft child provided the parents nsent The unit holds iithlv Mr- Wood swl sit kind shot fir is available lhrou tie clinic wh is held on second Tuesday of every month She suggested anyone wanting shots should call for an appointment at Ihe clinic One of the popuhr services offered the unit are the pre natal which are always well attend Mrs mother usually attend the classes while they are in their sixth to eighth month of prcg Mothers and fathers continued on page 16 said We teach about the action of the weapon and about the actors and we teach them to shoot Mr said there arc so many different kind of lion arising in which a police officer must decide whether or not to dnw gun and whether or not to fire It that it is virtually impossible lo lite such situations for train purposes We cm pound it into Ihcm and again thai they t draw a gun unless they intend lo use it Mr said Bui if a citizen has gun the officer should be ready Ifhedoesn gel his gun out of his bolster Boon he could he dead by the time he gels it We teach them lo shoot and hopefully to hit hat they aim at but it the decision where he alms he said We don teach them to shoot to kill or to knock the wedpun out of someone hind It their responsibility to shoot if their own lifeor the life of i citizen Is in danger and it up lo the officer lo decide he continue tikes a lot of practice lo hit re aiming at especially with a Mr said lie any changes in the training program as a result of the shootings in Tironto In Halt in polite officers visit the target range In Oak every shift which works lo once a month Staff Bullock said They fire 3G rounds In combat style which means using two hands as opposed to target shooting using one hand In combat shooting you don worry about being quite is accurate as in target shoot Staff Bullock said INDOOR shooting is done entirely on Indoor range at cite targets Each fires the sequence of shots They fire shots from the seven yard line in a standing position six frem the yard line kneeling six from the 20yard line using a barricade as support firing right and left and six more shots from the line with no sup port and using lno hands Staff Sft Bullock said The first IB shots are fired double action pulling the trigger and the second 18 are done with single action cock the revolver and pulling Ihe tnggerhe said Every time a man comes in we go over safely over the aid handling of the gun and what permits the officer to use the gun for Staff Bullock said Our tr lining prognm Is kind of rigid right now because we re indoors he With an outdoor range we Mike takes aim at range In the headquarters force In police said It a reall target SURVIVED I seen pictures of men with half their shoulder shot away and they still manag lo fire gun he said People have survived with six bullets in them One of the alternatives to using guns with bullets is using tranquilizers guns but Staff Bullock said that Just isn t feasible For one thing Ihcy don t take effect fast enough he And tranquilizers have to be according to weifht You can t stand there ask somebody his weight They are told to shoot for the largest part of the body will have more we can do like praclising using a car the officers about aiming with wind and so on because they affect where the bullets go The permits police to draw and shoot Iheir on four occasions Staff Bullock said We can shoot to protect our or someone else who or a violent person to destroy a v icious or injured inimal or to an alarm hit the officer is in and needs assistance be In of giving an we re expected use another mems if possible Police officers In are told to shoot lo k II but inn for the largest pari of the body Stiff Bullock said The officers are they arc shooting to knock Ihe person down or slop him They for the largest part of body to shoot low because this will tend to knock the person The stomach area Is one of the belter targets because the person w til usually double ever and drop weapon but anywhere low will knock the man down he continued When asked about aiming for the person shoulder or leg stomach area Staff Sgt pick the rifht dosage cart ridge put it in the gun fire the gun Staff Bullock said there potential far coming up wilh some kind of chemical could slow a man down or stop him without seriously injuring him Mace could be used for that purpose but it has been binned in Canada he In that last shooting in Toronto if officer had had mace or some chemical he could spray in the mm f ice that man would be dive today he said Every cop in the United Stiles has mace They all carry it on their bells People say a police officer walk into a his gun Staff Hut per cent of shootings of police officer in the United Slates happened while the of fleer is 15cetawij when he was walking into a DON With bank alarms OT per cent of the alarms are false but we tell the officers not to go in their guns drawn he said We tell them to draw the gun partly out to look inside the building to sec what the situation is and then decide whether or not its necessary to draw his gun We teach them to use common sense with a gun and we leach them that they have to justify it every time they silhouette target on the firing of the Regional Police officers are required to visit the drawngun Staff Bullock said We have had Incidents where on officer gun goes off iccidentally or where an shoots at something he be shooting at but very few and we re trying to reduce It none He added that no one has been injured in in such incidents as far as he Is aware Police officers arc told never to cock their guns until they are ready to fire he slid to prevent the gun going off I tell the officers not to go running through a plowed field at 4 clock in the morning with the in Iheir hand cocked they re going trip and their necks or the tun will off Staff Bullock said Officers receive special on shooting dark with the aid of a flashlight because 50 per cent our work is done it night Staff Bullock said The training program proceeds from stages through skills of increasing difficulty he The force I have a qualification standard jet he slid But If an officer is below per cent in scoring I call him in ind work with We want accuracy first and then speed he said the score high we make it a little more difficult for Ihcm such as shooting one hand or running and then shooting It ikes hand to be able run a distance and then fire a gun with accuracy A police officer has to shooting until it be comes Bullock said There is no way a police officer con be liugfit when to shoot indwhen not he Slid because each situation is different and its a matter of the officer s judgement They ve to make a split second decision he said It easy to make if a guy comes at you with a meat cleaver and it either him or People are getting more violent now Staff Sgt Bullock People are using guns more now than ever used before he said They re carrying guns in hold violent people are using guns more People are fighting physically fighting over incredibly small dents Hit and run accidents arc also increasing dramatically Herald photo by Lor I Taylor target range once a month for testing of level of proficiency and Instruction In the care jnd handling of their weapon and the laws governing its use Staff Bullock said It used to be a hit and run accident was i big thing and really go all out on in Investigation he said Now you have two or three i diy People never used to to get iway the way they do now he said Hit and runs ire up and violence is the same way You try to appre hend somebody and the first thing they think is I Most times people are just hepped up when they start brandishing some kind of Staff Sgt Bullock slid They t drunk they re angry and excited ve to do something to shock them into rcilliing what they re doing A lot of people just don cart pirticulirly the younger fellows he said They just don give a damn I hope I never the position of having to shoot a gun but if its a choice between him or mi it going to be him he continued If somebody came at me wilh a sickle and slop when in the wall I m omg to knock him down whether he black while or green Staff joins the force he may have lo shoot someone If re dead against guns you shouldn be a police officer police officer on duty carries a special calibre Smith and Wesson revolver tin bullet of which would knock a man down Staff Bullock said They don I carry iny other weapons although each division has two shotguns which can be taken if necessiry with the permission of a superior he said Deputy Chief I Harding chief Itcgioml Police force said he happy with the fire arms training program when he joined the force because there was no co ordinating officer but he is happy it after making some changes I hope my officers in w ill never be called on to draw their gun to protect their life or but if the situation should arise I want them lo be ready he slid Deputy Chief Harding said be approves of the present instniclion which tells firearm instruclors to aim for the largest part of the body People are using guns more now than they ever have before Bullock said in reference to the most recent fatal by a Toronto police officer I ve only had to shoot at people twice but I ve never had lo hit anybody he said In both cases he people backed off I was shaken enough just putting a bullet between legs hard on a guv to have to shoot somebody Sgt Bullock said I know of a police officer who was a mem ber of the special weapons and tactical team in Toronto who shot someone and he quit the team within a week and went back to being regular One of the good things about the ruIes for drawing the gun is that as long as It only dons when a life Is In danger it a little different psycholo gically he added ltscasicr to help an officer after the shooting He knows when he If an officer needs to draw his firearm he needs to shoot for effect he said I want my officers to try a Tom Mix thing shooting the gun out of the man hand or lus arm Its highly likely if you shoot a man in the torso that he will die and that s bad he said But the officer shouldn t draw and fire his gun unless his life or someone else is in danger If someone was stand ing with a shotgun aimed at you and the officer was stand ing there aiming his gun at the man would you want him to aim for the man big toe Sometimes there a pre lude to on exchange of fire ana we hope with the use crisis intervention techniques we can defuse the situation Deputy Chief Harding said But If people take up firearms and place someone ekes life In Jeopardy then their life Is in jeopardy