Circling the wagons for TASER™

Feb 12, 2009 : Tasers potentially lethal, RCMP head tells MPs when introducing new TASER™ policy guidelines to a House of Commons public safety committee in Ottawa :

RCMP Commissioner William Elliott :

"The RCMP's revised CEW policy underscores that there are risks associated with the deployment of the device and emphasizes that those risks include the risk of death."

However...
Feb 25, 2009 : Police defend use of tasers and proclaim their safety when they want to expand their usage in the face of an increasingly hostile public :

Chief Tom Kaye, VP of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police :

"To date, there is no evidence, either scientific of medical, that a conducted energy weapon has been the direct cause of death anywhere at any time on any person."

Charles Momy, the president of the Canadian Police Association :

"There has been no research to indicate clearly that tasers are involved in the deaths of any of the individuals that we've seen in the past years."

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino:

"150 studies worldwide have proven that “there is no direct link in any case in which a taser was deployed” to show that it was linked to the demise of an individual"

Bottom line : All officers need Tasers, police associations say

Hey, guys, does TASER™ still sponsor your annual Canadian Conference of Chiefs of Police? Just askin' .
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Two reports zap TASER™

but first let's look at one that doesn't.

Two weeks ago the Annual Canadian Conference of Chiefs of Police, sponsored in part by TASER™, wisely decided not to release the Canadian Police Research Centre's "2008 Conducted Energy Weapon Report" on TASERS™ pending further peer review. However as of July 31, excerpts from it were available from 2008 TASER™ Int. who were already using it as a marketing tool :

Two-Year Study by Canadian Police Research Centre Finds TASER Devices a SaferUse of Force
TASER International, Inc.(Nasdaq:TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices (ECDs)issued the following NEWS ALERT:

"A two-year study by the Canadian Police Research Centre found that TASER(r)Electronic Control Devises (ECDs) "scored high" in safety for both suspects and officers in Calgary. The 14-page report examined 562 cases in which Calgary police used TASER ECDs, pepper spray, batons, unarmed techniques, and chokeholds against people resisting arrest. Of those cases studied, nearly half were detained with a TASER device and one percent of those suspects resisting arrest ended up Hospitalized and 87 percent sustained either minor injuries or no injuries, according to the report.
The study stated "the commonly held belief" that TASER ECDs carry "a significant risk of injury or death... is not supported by the data."

Yesterday the Star reported on a different independent study ordered by RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott and obtained Thursday by the Star under Access to Information (and why was an AtI necessary?) :

RCMP didn't study Taser use enough: Report
Hard-hitting review says force relied too heavily on manufacturer's input

"The RCMP did not do "due diligence" when it approved the Taser stun gun for use as a less-than-lethal weapon by its officers, a hard-hitting independent review concludes.

The review says the RCMP relied too much on the advice of the Taser's American manufacturer in developing its policies and training, did not consult widely enough with medical and mental health experts about its impact on people, and did not treat the weapon as a "prohibited firearm" – its proper legal classification.

"Excited delirium" is not a recognized medical diagnosis, but a term sometimes used by emergency room doctors or coroners, the report says. However, its use by police amounts to "folk knowledge" and it should be eliminated from the RCMP's operational manual unless formally approved after consultation with a mental-health policy advisory body, said the review."

Via the Star :
RCMP Use of the Conducted Energy Weapon(CEW) Final Report. Excerpted :

"The Commission knows that CEWs have been deployed or threatened to be deployed a minimum of 4234 times and that over the years the number of usage reports has increased."

"The main finding within this report is that the quality of data in the CEW usage database is so poor that any of the policy shifts following the 2001 introduction of the weapon cannot be factually supported. Supervision to ensure proper CEW deployment reporting is faulty and in some cases may be non-existent."

"The number of members present at a scene is also significantly related to the use of the CEW. More precisely, the two increase together. When only one member is present, the CEW is deployed in 71.4% of incidents. However, when two (2) or more members attend, the rate of deployment goes up to between 79.1 and 87.7%. So, if more than one member is present, the likelihood that the CEW will be deployed is increased."

"The command -Police stop or you will be hit with 50,000 volts of electricity! -is actually given prior to engagement in fewer than 40% of cases."

"RCMP training teaches that “excited delirium” is a medical emergency wherein gaining control of the individual for the purpose of treatment is paramount and where the CEW is viewed as the best option to gain that control."

Most importantly, the report also focuses on overall changes in police policy exacerbated by the use of CEWs (italics mine) :

"It is a harbinger of a new model of policing in Canada, one in which the police are a group distinct from the public and whose decisions are the preserve of public safety experts. It is a model in which officer safety takes precedence over that of the general public and where the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is significantly undervalued.
The cumulative effect of these trends over time may reduce the degree of co-operation of the public that is essential to public safety in Canada."

Yes. Stockwell Day, the man nominally responsible for public safety in Canada, has the reports. We'll see which one he goes with.

See also Cathie from Canada and A Creative Revolution.
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Annual Canadian Conference of Chiefs of Police, brought to you by TASER™

The Annual Canadian Conference of Chiefs of Police program notes :

"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 :

Two-Year Study by Canadian Police Research Centre Finds TASER Devices a SaferUse of Force

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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