USE OF FORCE BY OFFICERS PROBED

The city police policy on the use of force goes under the microscope today,
as a fatality inquiry into a police raid that ended in two deaths gets
underway.

Adam Miller, 21, and Huu Pham, 15, died after falling from a fourth-floor
balcony of an apartment on Sept. 24, 1999, during an Edmonton Police
Service raid. The raid was part of a larger operation targeting an alleged
drug ring.

Lawyer Tom Engel is representing Miller's family during the inquiry. He
said the big question he wants answered is whether police used excessive
force and inappropriate tactics in the raid.

"Was it really necessary to go in commando-style?" he said. "We've also
been told the police stripped (Miller and Pham) as they were lying lifeless
on the pavement. Why?

"The Miller family believes the level of force used was excessive. How did
this raid square with EPS use-of-force policy? What did they do to
determine before the raid who was in the apartment, and where they were
standing?"

Engel had said the suggestion of excessive force comes from the police use
of flash-bang incendiaries during the raid, and the allegation that
officers kicked people who were already on the floor and "submissive."

The allegation has not been proven in court.

The inquiry is scheduled to run two weeks, but Engel said he wouldn't be
surprised if it took longer.

"I've asked to call some witnesses myself, but I won't know whether I can
until the inquiry begins," he said.

"I want to talk to all the officers involved, and to the police inspector
who reviewed the raid for the Edmonton Police Service."

Usually, fatality inquiries close with a list of recommendations for
changes to police or justice system practice, which is turned over to the
attorney general's office for review.