The coroner’s inquest recommended better police training after the killing of Jimmie Johannesson
Haida Elder Ruby Marks has urged greater collaboration with First Nations on police reform after her brother, Haida Elder Jimmie Johannesson, was killed by an RCMP officer during a wellness check.
Marks’ comment comes at the conclusion of the inquest conducted by British Columbia’s Coroners Service into Johannesson’s death on April 8, 2022. Surrey RCMP officers had been sent to Johannesson’s home that morning after he told his probation officer that he wished to harm himself in public.
Officers were accompanied by a civilian witness as they entered Johannesson’s home. Johannesson rushed at the officers with a knife after a short exchange, causing the police and the civilian to leave the house. An officer then fired on Johannesson five times, killing him.
The inquest found that after Johannesson’s probation officer asked the RCMP to conduct the wellness check, the officers did not request background information on Johannesson’s situation. Moreover, Police Mental Health Outreach Team members said they were not involved in the officers’ plan on dealing with Johannesson, having arrived after the initial responding officers.
The inquest noted that none of the officers opted to call Johannesson’s mobile phone on arriving at his home. In addition, the tactic they deployed prevented them from applying non-lethal force in the situation and put the civilian witness at risk, an officer testified.
In its final investigative report released on August 1, 2024, BC’s Independent Investigations Office found no reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence in the matter. However, it suggested in a statement published by the BC Civil Liberties Association that “all police agencies should develop training to ensure, as much as possible in the circumstances of each case, that any approach to an [affected person] in their home takes this factor into account,” noting that confronting Johannesson at home could have heightened the stress of the situation.
“For many people, the very presence of a police officer is a form of escalation. It is far easier to escalate the use of force than to de-escalate once tensions are high. Jimmie was already in a heightened state of mental health crisis. There were several actions the officers could have taken first to better inform their response, but they didn’t,” said Latoya Farrell, BCCLA policy staff counsel, in a statement. “It was incumbent on these officers to consider how their presence in Jimmie’s home would increase the stress of the situation. It took 23 seconds between the time Surrey RCMP entered Jimmie’s home and the time he was killed. No one should die because of a wellness check.”
Following the conclusion of the inquest last Wednesday August 5, the jury presented seven recommendations to the policing and law enforcement services director and the ministry of public safety and solicitor general. It suggested that provincial policing standards be assessed to ensure standards and training in relation to following:
- Require police to conduct ongoing risk assessments during mental health wellness checks, such as where there are public safety threats.
- Require police to be aware of the circumstances in which lethal overwatch is necessary when using conducted energy weapons.
- Consider the presence of civilians during wellness checks where there are risk elements.
- Integrate standardized mental health training for mental health outreach officers.
Moreover, the jury recommended that provincial policing standards be evaluated to:
- Ensure officers involved in matters under IIO investigations are informed of recommendations in the office’s public report.
- Include the facilitation of meetings between law enforcement agency leadership and involved officers to discuss IIO recommendations and determine if further internal policies must be developed and/or amended.
The jury also suggested identifying supports for Indigenous individuals with intersectional barriers while going through housing applications.
Marks and the BCCLA urged the policing and law enforcement services director, the ministry of public safety and solicitor general, the minister of housing and municipal affairs, and the minister of social development and poverty reduction to allocate resources to assessing and implementing the recommendations.
“Overall, I am happy with the jury recommendations,” Marks said. “I hope the government implements these recommendations in a meaningful way to prevent future harms.”
