VPD Will Disable ‘Sonic Cannon’ Chu Tells Police Board, Mayor Robertson Gives Chief His Vote of Confidence

The latest piece of equipment purchased for the VPD toolkit will not be used as a weapon, assured the chief of police, Jim Chu at a police board meeting today.

Although the equipment, a long-range, acoustic device, is capable of emitting high-pitched (and possibly damaging) tones, the VPD maintained that it was purchased as a public address system only.

In response to concerns from the BC Civil Liberties Association, including the fact that the “sonic cannon” hasn’t been independently tested in Canada and could be used against Olympic protesters this winter, the long-range, acoustic device (LRAD) will have its high-decibel tone function disabled.

In a November 9 letter to Chief Chu, BCCLA President Robert Holmes outlined several concerns:

“To our knowledge, there have been no public discussions around the purchase of an LRAD in Vancouver or British Columbia…

“We are writing to express our distaste for the ‘process’, which appears to have started with the Taser, by which new weapons are introduced to the police ‘toolkit’ in British Columbia and Canada. This process as we understand it simply involves a police department purchasing whatever new weapon technology it pleases, without any oversight.

“Such a process does not provide for adequate public discussion of risks v. benefits, device safety, or development of policy based on the precautionary principle, or any principle. At best, we can only speculate that a closed-door police board meeting approved the use of this new weapon.”

The Police Board did not weigh in before the VPD purchased the LRAD, which was first used in Vancouver this summer during the Festival of Lights. Rather, the VPD made the unilateral decision to purchase the $17,000 device from the Current Sales Corporation in Port Moody.

Chief Chu said the police department did not need the approval of the Police Board to buy the LRAD because the intended use was never force, but rather the ability to communicate with large crowds, in the event of a natural disaster or during a hostage situation, to name but a few.

The chairperson of the Police Board and Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson, said he is satisfied with the VPD’s decision not to seek the board’s approval before purchasing the LRAD.

“There is a clear distinction that the Chief made between use of force tools, weapons, versus all the rest of the equipment they have. And the board, at this point, trusts the Chief and his team to make those decisions on equipment that is not use of force.”

VPD spokesperson Constable Lindsey Houghton said the choice to purchase routine equipment does not need the board’s oversight or approval. However, any time an officer does use equipment to apply force, regardless of the intended use of the equipment, that officer must meet the requirements of the Criminal Code: the force must be considered reasonable and lawful.

“Anything that we have, whether it is our police cars, batons, fire arms, the ball-point pens that we carry around in our shirts — anything that we have that could be use as what people classify as a weapon,” said Const. Houghton.

In the case of the LRAD, Const. Houghton told the Canadian Press that specific protocol would have to be met before the concentrated, high-pitched tone was used as a weapon. “If we’re going to be using it for the function of moving away people in a riot-type situation, the riot proclamation has to be read,” reported CP.

Const. Houghton said the tone feature of the LRAD will be disabled until the VPD can establish clear guidelines for the device’s use. The LRAD will still be used as a PA system.

He said any policy regarding the LRAD was not expected to be completed before the Olympics.

Asked if the high-decibel capacity would remain disabled through the Olympics if no VPD guidelines exist, Const. Houghton said, “That is a fair, fair comment.”

Chief Chu said the VPD would seek approval from the Police Board should police want to use the LRAD for its high-decibel tone.

One member of the seven-person Police Board said he “would be most upset if [the LRAD] were used for anything else” besides the PA system. He said he did not want the VPD to tarnish its reputation.

Said Terry La Libertée, “I would be very upset if I found out, all of a sudden, the officers used it and said, ‘We didn’t have time to go back to the Police Board.’”

In his letter to Chief Chu, BCCLA president Holmes emphasized that more police oversight and equipment testing is needed before purchases are made.

"This type of implementation led to a months long inquiry at huge expense to the public purse following the hurried introduction of the Taser and the death of Robert Dziekanski, and is almost certainly the least cost efficient of safety conscious means of introducing new weapon technologies."

VPD spokesperson Lindsey Houghton offered these comparisons for the LRAD 500, sometimes referred to as an MRAD because it is half the capacity of a LRAD 500X. The VPD model has a range of 300 meters.

At one meter, the decibel level is 146 dB: “Our sirens on our police cars are approximately 120db at one meter

“At one meter, it would be equivalent to fireworks or gun shots

“At 25 meters, it is equivalent to an ambulance siren or an indoor concert

“At 100 meters, it is equivalent to a car horn or a lawn mower

“At 200 meters, it would be the range of most power tools

“The range of our model is approximately 300 meters, so at 300 meters it would be quieter than a power drill.