Belleville’s mayor is responding to criticism that City Council accepted and passed the 2021 police capital budget, without addressing the purchase of a restraint chair.
In his budget document, Police Chief Mike Callaghan noted that special constables have dealt with dozens of incidents of prisoners either acting out of control, or trying to harm or kill themselves and that the chair, when needed, will “improve safety from self harm for the prisoner and safety for special constables and officers dealing with the prisoner”.
The Belleville Peaceful Streets Network, a local advocacy group had condemned the $2,800 purchase, citing some cases of improper use of the chairs, while pushing for more to be done to address mental health issues and find other options, rather than use of force to restrain people.
Speaking on CJBQ’s Lorne Brooker Show on Wednesday Mayor Mitch Panciuk says the chairs are common place in policing and thinks the key to avoiding misuse, is proper training.
“Of course we need to train people properly to ensure that they use, not just this chair, but any equipment we give them from the Belleville Police Service and I’m confident they can do their job. At the end of the day, this is about public safety and we need to be able to keep individuals safe.”
He added that while he appreciates the concerns about police brutality and equipment misuse, there is very little evidence of those incidents here in Belleville.
“Anyone who has concerns about the equipment, don’t give me examples of something in the United States or whatever, give me examples of what you’re concerned about that happened here in Belleville and we’re willing to talk about it. But unfortunately we get all of these comments about what happened in other communities and people think we have to take action on that.”
Panciuk says he’s pleased with the budget put forward by Chief Callaghan and believes the BPS has the community’s best interests at heart.
The police budget as a whole wasn’t questioned by any councillors, before being accepted and approved.
You can hear an excerpt on the restraint chair issue, from Wednesday’s Lorne Brooker Show here:
