The Ridge Meadows RCMP agreed to additional training and mentoring for four members of the detachment, after an independent government agency found the police officers acted “unreasonably” in an incident that led to a citizen’s shooting death in 2019.
The findings came down in February of 2023.
Kyaw Naing Din was killed during a mental health call in August of 2019. He was 54 when he was shot in the family home he shared with his siblings on Colemore Street. He had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and was frequently taken by police to hospital. This time, however, he wouldn’t go, and his sister, Din, called police for help, ultimately leading to the fatal confrontation.
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The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP released its final report into the RCMP’s handling of complaints made by Yin Yin Din about the death of her brother.
The commission is an independent federal agency tasked with reviewing complaints made by the public against the RCMP, and stated they are “not satisfied” with the RCMP’s report into Maung’s death.
The commission’s report said on the day Din was killed, the four officers failed to communicate appropriately with each other and “maintain situational awareness.” It also said they failed to try and de-escalate the situation before they entered Maung’s bedroom, using “surprise and force to subdue him.”
“While the specific circumstances where Ms. Din’s brother tried to attack an RCMP member with a knife meant that it was not unreasonable to use lethal force, the RCMP members’ unreasonable conduct meant that the decision to burst into the bedroom in the first place was also unreasonable,” the report stated.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said the agency will expand programs that pair RCMP members with trained mental health professionals or “otherwise shift to a healthcare-oriented response to mental health crises.”
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