Robert Dziekanski holds a small table at the Vancouver Airport before he was tasered by police in this image from video. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Paul Pritchard

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The federal watchdog over the RCMP has passed judgment on allegations that have haunted the Mounties since Robert Dziekanski's death: officers acted inappropriately when they repeatedly shocked him with a Taser and their versions of events simply aren't credible.

Paul Kennedy, who chairs the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, said Tuesday that although he had access to the four officers' notes and to their testimony before a public inquiry, he found that evidence unreliable.

Instead, Kennedy relied on an amateur video of the incident, which has become the central piece of evidence in the investigations and debates that followed the fatal confrontation two years ago.

"The versions of events given to investigators by the four RCMP officers involved in the Vancouver International Airport in-custody death of Robert Dziekanski are not deemed credible by my commission," Kennedy told reporters.

"They gave their explanations at the time in their notes and so on, and what I've chosen to do in my analysis is to look at the Pritchard video."

Kennedy's scathing report criticizes nearly everything the officers did at Vancouver's airport on Oct. 14, 2007, and chastises the force overall for inadequate training and an unwillingness to heed commission recommendations.

The 208-page report is the latest blow to the RCMP in a case that has fuelled public outrage from the beginning, and it may not be the last, as the final report from a public inquiry in British Columbia is yet to come.

Canada's national police force has long defended the actions of the four officers, who have not been charged or faced any formal discipline for what happened.

But Kennedy said their repeated use of a Taser was wrong and their explanations unconvincing.

"Use of the conducted energy weapon (Taser) against Mr. Dziekanski was premature and inappropriate," Kennedy, who leaves his position as commission chair at the end of the month, told reporters in Vancouver.

The officers were called to the airport after Dziekanski, who didn't speak English and had arrived from Poland nearly 10 hours earlier, started throwing furniture in the international arrivals area.

Within seconds, one of the officers stunned the Polish immigrant with a Taser and then fired the weapon four more times.

"I found the conduct of the responding members fell short of that expected of members of the RCMP," says the report.

"Deployment of the CEW (Taser) by Const. (Kwesi) Millington was premature and was not appropriate in the circumstances."

The officers told investigators and the B.C. public inquiry that when Dziekanski picked up a stapler, he posed a threat to them and members of the public who were watching the drama unfold. When he was on the ground writhing in pain, the officers said, he appeared to be fighting back and needed to be stunned again.

The report said the officers made no meaningful attempt to de-escalate the situation or approach Dziekanski with a measured or appropriate response, and the officer in charge, Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, should have taken control of the situation.

And it said that after Dziekanski was unconscious on the airport floor, Robinson failed to provide him adequate medical attention.

Kennedy raised concerns about the subsequent police investigation, but he pointed out that he found no evidence of bias.

The report contains 16 recommendations that largely focus on Taser use, RCMP investigations and training.

Kennedy repeated his earlier recommendations that the force tighten its Taser policies and create an independent body to investigate officers in serious cases, such as those involving a death.

He suggested the officers' training was also partly to blame.

"If the trainers don't have an appropriate appreciation as to the danger of this device (the Taser), we can have officers trained to use a device that is justified by the training but which I believe is not reasonable, proportionate or acceptable," said Kennedy.

Kennedy's recommendations aren't binding on the RCMP or the federal government.

The commission's reports often include a response from the RCMP, but in this case Kennedy's findings were released without including a detailed reply from the force.

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott wrote the commission, objecting to the report's release before the results from the sweeping public inquiry in B.C. are released early next year.

While he declined to respond to the contents of the report, he noted the force has changed policies and training related to Tasers to emphasize their risks and restrict their use.

"I would like to underscore that the RCMP has already taken concrete action in relation to a number of the issues, concerns and shortcomings identified in relation to the death of Mr. Dziekanski and the events leading up to and following that terrible event."

But Kennedy dismissed Elliott's concerns, and accused the force of stalling to implement changes that should be obvious by now.

"It has not impressed me at all - there are issues we've identified, there is no excuse for delay," he said, noting he has released several reports into Taser use and investigations involving police.

"They've been dealing with (the Dziekanski case) for two years. They know the facts. This report could have been responded to very quickly. It wasn't."

Kennedy accused the RCMP of trying to control the release of the commission's reports.

Dziekanski's mother said she can't understand how four officers could have all made the same mistakes.

"If one was bad, or made a bad decision, that is one," said Zofia Cisowski. "But there was four of them. That makes me very sick."

Walter Kosteckyj, Cisowski's lawyer, said the RCMP needs to adopt Kennedy's recommendations if it wants to repair its battered image.

"Right now, I don't have a high expectation (that Kennedy's recommendations will be adopted), because when the RCMP is dealing with it, it's, 'We say nothing and do nothing and we're going to wait,"' said Kosteckyj.

"The RCMP is very important, we've got to have police officers that we trust and respect, and right now they're losing that trust and respect."

He has also argued his office doesn't have enough power to properly oversee the RCMP.

Robinson is currently suspended with pay pending the outcome of criminal charges in an unrelated fatal car accident last year.

But while all of the officers involved in Dziekanski's are still on the force, the report's release is one of Kennedy's final acts as the head of the commission. The federal government isn't renewing his appointment when it expires at the end of the month.

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RCMP complaint commissioner's recommendations stemming from Dziekanski death

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Recommendations of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP stemming from the death of Robert Dziekanski:

- The RCMP should review the conducted energy weapon (CEW) quality assessment program as currently in effect and consider whether it should be enhanced to ensure that a high degree of confidence may be placed in the performance of in-service CEWs.

- The RCMP should continue to be involved in and stay abreast of current independent research on the use and effects of the CEW.

- Notwithstanding the fact that the RCMP has (as of January 2009) amended its policy such that the use of the CEW is to be used in response to a threat to officer or public safety as determined by a member's assessment of the totality of the circumstances being encountered, the RCMP should clarify for its members and the public what the appropriate circumstances for using the CEW are and what threat threshold will be utilized to assess the appropriateness of such use.

- The RCMP should consider a review of its training to ensure that its members are well versed in the potentially dangerous nature of the weapon and to ensure that training provided to members assists them in appropriately assessing the circumstances in which deployment of the CEW is justified, bearing in mind the degree of pain inflicted on the subject during the CEW deployment and the potential outcome of such deployment.

- The RCMP should consider designing and implementing training for its members in techniques to communicate with persons who cannot meaningfully communicate with them.

- The RCMP should amend its CEW Usage Reporting Form, to require that information concerning a spark test be captured as part of the CEW usage reporting process (or include such requirement in the forthcoming Subject Behaviour/Officer Response data base).

- The RCMP should edit its operational policy to emphasize the importance of the spark test and clearly indicate that the spark test is mandatory to confirm proper functioning of the CEW.

- RCMP detachment familiarization procedures should include a detailed review of available medical facilities and equipment.

- The RCMP should review its processes and criteria with respect to the initiation of an internal investigation into the conduct of its members to ensure consistency of application across the country.

- I reiterate my recommendation from my report on the Police Investigating Police (August 2009) that all RCMP member investigations involving death, serious injury or sexual assault should be referred to an external police force or provincial criminal investigation body for investigation. There should be no RCMP involvement in the investigation. If, however, the RCMP continues to investigate such matters, then I recommend that the RCMP implement clear policy directives that all investigations in which death or serious bodily injury are involved and which involve RCMP members investigating other police officers will be considered criminal in nature until demonstrated not to be.

- If the protocol of SRR (staff relations representative - akin to a union representative in the non-unionized police force) attendance is to continue, the RCMP should formalize the role of the SRR to provide clear policy and guidance to ensure that the SRR knows the bounds of his or her involvement and the required protocols with respect to such attendance, and that in all such cases the SRR not meet alone with a subject member in advance of being interviewed by an investigator.

- I reiterate my recommendation in the Ian Bush decision (November 2007) that the RCMP develop a policy that dictates the requirement, timeliness and use of the duty to account that members are obliged to provide.

- The RCMP should review its operational policies and procedures to ensure that, particularly in serious cases in which members investigate the actions of other members, processes are available to enable investigator awareness of the nature and depth of detail required during interviews.

- The RCMP should take steps to ensure that members are aware of the importance of note taking, and that supervisors should be encouraged to regularly review the notes taken by their subordinates to ensure the quality of such documentation.

- Given the proliferation of recording devices, it is anticipated that incidents in which RCMP members will seek to obtain private video or audio recordings will potentially occur more frequently in the future. Whether the police seize a video or audio recording of an event or obtain it on consent from a member of the public, the police must know and advise the public of the authority under which the video or audio recording is obtained. I recommend that the RCMP provide clarification for members with respect to obtaining video or audio recordings of an event.

- I reiterate my recommendation in the Ian Bush decision that the RCMP develop a media and communications strategy specifically for police-involved shooting investigations that recognizes the need for regular, meaningful and timely updates to the media and to the public. In addition, the media and communications strategy should include a publicly available general investigative outline of the steps to be taken and the anticipated timeline for each step. I also expand my recommendation to cover all in-custody death investigations.

- The RCMP should immediately conduct a review of its policies and training regimen to ensure that members are adequately trained with respect to recognizing the risks inherent in, and signs of, positional asphyxia and in taking steps to mitigate those risks.