Nova ScotiaNew direction from Halifax’s police oversight board says the municipal force should update its decades-old use of force policy to emphasize de-escalation, bringing it in line with modern provincial standards. Public can send feedback on board’s draft policy until mid-JanuaryHaley Ryan · CBC News · Posted: Dec 04, 2025 12:34 PM EST | Last Updated: 11 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.The Halifax board of police comissioners is directing HRP to build a new use of force policy that prioritizes de-escalation. (Robert Short/CBC)New direction from Halifax’s police oversight board says the municipal force should update its decades-old use of force policy to emphasize de-escalation, bringing it in line with modern provincial standards.On Wednesday, the city’s board of police commissioners passed a draft of their own policy laying out what the Halifax Regional Police chief should include in its new use of force policy. “I don’t think any officer comes to work on their shift each day looking to apply force,” board chair Greg O’Malley said after the meeting.“Situations … can evolve quite rapidly that might require it, and this is about trying to set some guidelines in a policy to help them understand acceptable uses of force.”HRP’s current policy was first issued in September 1996 and has remained the same since, except for an addition on Tasers in 2011.O’Malley said a lot has changed over those decades, including significant events like the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, and the Wortley report that found Black people in Halifax were six times more likely to be stopped by police than white people.Greg O’Malley, chair of the Halifax board of police commissioners, says a lot has changed since HRP’s use of force policy was first established in 1996. (Haley Ryan/CBC)There are also new policing tools that have emerged over those years, like body cameras, drones and armoured vehicles, he said.The board’s policy states that force should be a “last resort” and officers should de-escalate situations “when reasonably feasible in the circumstances.” That includes using verbal warnings first to gain compliance, and continually looking for ways to de-escalate “even after force has been applied.”This is different from the current policy, which says “in a majority of cases, some level of physical force will be necessary to effect an arrest or protect others.”A staff report on the board’s policy said this 1996 position contrasts with the new Nova Scotia policing standards on use of force brought in last year. It says officers should use strategies to “decrease the intensity of a situation,” improve decision-making and reduce the need for force.There have been multiple recent recommendations to update HRP’s use of force policy, including in the final report of the Mass Casualty Commission, Halifax’s defunding the police report and the civilian review of the 2021 encampment evictions.The board’s direction said the HRP policy must require officers to intervene if “inappropriate force” is used by colleagues and to report when it happens.It should also recognize the risks of vascular neck restraints, including possible permanent injury if improperly applied, and dangers of pursuing a fleeing vehicle.All sworn members must be given periodic training on de-escalation, the board’s policy said, recognizing that children, pregnant people and people in crisis have “specific vulnerabilities that must be taken into account” when they are subjected to force.The policy must also include a plan to ensure the subject’s well-being, like a health assessment, after a use of force option is deployed, the board’s direction states.“The risk of physical, and moral, and psychological injury to both police and to the public is what we are trying to reduce here,” Commissioner Vincent Beswick-Escanlar, who helped craft the board’s policy, said during the meeting.The board is also asking for new annual data reports from both HRP and Halifax RCMP, which include the total number of use of physical control incidents, vascular neck restraints, police dog bites and displays or discharges of a firearm.HRP Chief Don MacLean told the board the most common reason for a gun to be fired by a Halifax police officer is to euthanize an injured animal.The Halifax board of police comissioners met in Dartmouth, N.S., on Dec. 3, 2025. (Haley Ryan/CBC)Beswick-Escanlar said he’s also interested in expanding the data to include more information similar to Toronto’s annual use of force reports. That could include the percentage of use of force incidents among overall calls, where they happen, whether the person was in crisis, their ethnicity and age, and if they had a perceived weapon. The RCMP changed its national policies on use of force to include greater emphasis on communication, crisis intervention and de-escalation in 2021.The public can send feedback on the board’s draft policy until mid-January. The board will make changes, and the final policy is expected to pass in early 2026.HRP has been reviewing its use-of-force policy for the past few years. CBC News has asked for an update on when the new policy will be brought in.MORE TOP STORIES ABOUT THE AUTHORHaley Ryan is the municipal affairs reporter for CBC covering mainland Nova Scotia. Got a story idea? Send an email to haley.ryan@cbc.ca, or reach out on Twitter @hkryan17.
Halifax police board says use of force policy must prioritize de-escalation, training
