TORONTO—A type of less-lethal projectile that’s gaining popularity among American police forces is now finding its way onto Canadian streets.
Six forces across the country, including the RCMP and Correctional Service Canada, have begun making use of a type of expanding rubber bullet that’s designed to incapacitate targets without causing lasting harm.
The manufacturer of the Blunt Impact Projectiles, Security Devices International, said municipal police forces are starting to make use of the technology as well.
Chief Executive Greg Sullivan said the BIPs have been fairly widely deployed among officers in Montreal, while smaller task forces in Toronto, Regina, and Saskatoon are also starting to make use of the weapons. Edmonton and Calgary are looking into the possibility of equipping some of their patrol cars with BIP launchers as well, he added.
Saskatoon police spokeswoman Alyson Edwards said the force has ordered a box for testing, but the projectiles are not currently in use.
Sgt. Laurent Gingras of the Montreal police said the force uses the projectiles “very rarely” as part of swat team interventions or at certain public protests, but declined to offer more information. None of the other forces currently using the BIPs immediately responded to a request for comment.
Sullivan said the growing popularity of the bullets is an extension of a trend that’s been even more noticeable south of the border, where a spate of high-profile police shootings of African-Americans have lent new potency to long-standing debates on race relations.
While Sullivan said the racial undertones are less pronounced in Canada, he said the nation’s police forces still have a pressing need to broaden their arsenal of less-lethal weaponry.
