Thursday, August 14, 2008

Annual Canadian Conference of Chiefs of Police, brought to you by TASER™


"Welcome to our meeting with history and modernity.
Better diversity management through partnership."
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One of this year's 'partners', a $25,000 "platinum sponsor" of the conference, is TASER™.
A presentation of the as yet incomplete "2008 Conducted Energy Weapon Report", on TASERS™ commissioned by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police will be given by Steve Palmer, executive director of the Canadian Police Research Centre.
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Well that seems a little...cosy.
We already know that Steve Palmer is a TASER™ fan. Following the death of a Montreal man zapped by a TASER™ while in police custody in 2007, Mr. Palmer said :
"There is a growing body of knowledge out there that these devices are safe when used properly," Palmer said.
"We don't speak often enough about the number of lives that have been saved, the number of people that are up and walking around today that might not have been had it not been for a Taser."
And look, it's right there on the TASER™ logo : "Saving lives every day".
Mr. Palmer fails to note that most of his "growing body of knowledge out there" in support of TASER™ is commissioned by, um, TASER™.
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TASER™ Int. itself uses Mr Palmer's report as a marketing tool :
Even cosier.
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Steve Tuttle, VP of TASER™, will be there.
"It is a major sales event. It is advertising," said Mr. Tuttle , adding "he has DVDs that contain 130 studies that have found the devices to be safe".
"I think that when Canadians look at the choices for use of force, do they want to go back to batons and nightsticks, or do they want to go to the future?
The future is taser."
G&M :
"Taser staff will be on hand to exhibit the company's trademark X26 model, a wireless taser round that is fired from a shotgun and has a range of 20 metres, and a system called Shockwave that fires multiple taser rounds that can incapacitate a number of people in an area up to 100 metres."
Also known as crowd control.
Stockwell Day will give the Opening Presentation on Aug 25.
"The future is TASER™"
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So to recap : TASER™ Int. sponsors the annual Canadian Conference of Chiefs of Police at which the executive director of the Canadian Police Research Centre gives a presentation on its report on TASER™s that is used by TASER™ Int. to market its products.
Perfect.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, the cozy relationship between Taser International and the police is a blatant conflict of interest, but we're all supposed to believe that it's all above board, nothing to worry about. You may be interested in reading the article, No Taser Deaths In USA, found here that discusses the experiences of a man who attended a Citizens Police School in the U.S. as part of his local police department's community outreach program. His account of the course, which led him to conclude,"It is very clear that at the training level, Police officers are being encouraged to harbor an "Us vs Them" mentality towards criminals and civilians alike. The line has been seriously blurred to the point of not really existing anymore. All of this taken together strongly suggests that we are moving inexorably toward a police state." is compelling reading. He was also told -completely contradicting a great deal of evidence - that there have been no deaths by taser in the USA!
Thanks for your post.

Alison said...

Thank you, Anon. I did see that but mostly I try to stick to Canadian news here. There was also this one.

Truth ... not Tasers is on hols at the moment and is asking readers to leave them comments re any new 'events', should you hear of any.

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