Vancouver airport announces changes after Taser investigation
Officials at Vancouver International Airport have announced how they will spend $1.4 million a year to improve service for international visitors.
The changes include:
- Hiringnewpublic safety officers skilled in negotiations and non-physical intervention
- 24-hour staffing of the customer care kiosks in the international arrivals area and inside the customs hall
- Terminal-wide access to translation services
- Emergency medical responders stationed in theairport 24 hours a day
- Improved multilingual signage with pictograms and translations in as many as 20 languages
- Hourly walk-through of the customs hall by airport staff and 24-hour public safety patrols
- Improved communication from inside the secure area of the customs hall to the public arrivals lounge for both staff and the public
- A new arrivals video that will be shown on all incoming international flights
- Improved customer care training for all airport staff
The improvements were announced Friday at the Fairmont airport hotel in Richmond.Robert Dziekanski, a Polish immigrant, died in the arrivals lounge of the airport after being stunned by RCMP officers with a Taser on Oct. 14.
Officials also released a complete timeline of Dziekanski'shours at the airport.
New details contained in the report included information that two airport officials saw Dziekanski sweating profusely shortly after his arrival at 3:20 p.m. on Oct. 13.
Airport officials also revealed that security staff saw Dziekanski reach into his pocket and pull out an object they could not identify, moments before he was stunned with the Taser.
After Dziekanski was stunned, the object fell from his hand and turned out to be a stapler.
Airport staff also said that immediately after Dziekanski was stunned,an ambulance was called and an airport official helped police find a pulse and confirmed Dziekanski was breathing. But when theambulance arrived, paramedics determined Dziekanski was no longer breathing and had no pulse.