Allison Kilkenny on tasers

"Tasers are dangerous weapons that are capable of inflicting great bodily harm on their victims. ... An electronic control device that occasionally kills and permanently wounds people. ... These types of lawsuits are going to keep coming, and will probably increase now that the word has gotten out that tasers are lethal, barbaric weapons, which are more often used to suppress non-violent dissidents, mildly disagreeable citizens, and the mentally ill than as a safe way to subdue violent criminals." [LINK]

Ms. Kilkenny points to the taser trade-in program. But she doesn't mention anything about the new Taser X3 emitting about 40% less output (electrical charge) than the most-dangerous taser ever made - the X26.

And if the X26 Taser is "safe", then why wouldn't the newer X3 Taser emit the same or more electrical output?

Hey, I'm just asking...

From Nov 2008 - Cops Raise Taser Safety Claims

Some interesting background info: [LINK].

BREAKING NEWS - Taser fined for delaying tactic in Butler trial

SANTA CRUZ - A Santa Cruz County Superior Court judge denied a motion by a stun-gun manufacturer to dismiss a civil lawsuit filed by a man who claims he suffered permanent injuries after being shocked by one of the weapons in 2006. Monday, Judge Jeff Almquist turned down the request by TASER International that would have ended the case. Almquist also fined TASER International $15,000 for delaying the court process, according to court documents. Watsonville resident Steve Butler, now 51, is seeking lifetime medical costs in the suit. The trial is set for Aug. 2. [LINK]

Taser International's cozy little world of seeming-immunity is slowly being cracked open.

"Other officers laughed at what was happening..."

The Advocate - Baton Rouge Police Cpl. Charles O’Malley, right [see image at link], uses a Taser on a handcuffed man in 2008. O’Malley was later fired for the incident.

Three years earlier, he was accused by a New Mexico trooper of kicking and choking a handcuffed teenager. After an Internal Affairs probe, O’Malley was not disciplined. [LINK]

Other officers laughed at what was happening, and supervisors did nothing to stop the actions taken "...while dealing with a 16-year-old black male that they had no probable cause to stop, was illegally searched and had nothing in his (possession) that was illegal."

Background on former member Taser International's Board of Directors, Bernie Kerik

Now-convicted, multiple-felon Bernard ("Bernie") Keirk was on the Board of Directors of Taser International for several critical years, partially overlapping the development of the most-dangerous taser, the X26.

Mr. Kerik was recently sentenced to 48 months in prison. His various crimes reportedly had no direct connection to Taser International, but they did span approximately the same time frame.

Here is some interesting info about his supposed 9/11 heroics: [LINK]

Background on Taser International losing the San Francisco sale

Taser Death Not an Issue in San Francisco [LINK]

The Chronicle reported that one of Taser's own scientific advisers has attributed at least one fatal heart attack in an otherwise healthy person to the Taser. The company has since recommended that police avoid firing the Taser at a suspect's chest.

Zian Tseng, a researcher at UCSF ... cautioned against targeting the chest or firing multiple times and advised that heart defibrillators be made available to revive suspects.

Dr. Byron Lee, a UCSF cardiology professor... warned "That's where the risk happens, where you don't realize these are potentially lethal and they are used in a haphazard manner."

Minnesota Taser fanboys very concerned...

Blog direct hits this morning:

07:54 - Chanhassen, Minnesota arrived from email01.secureserver.net on post "Taser International is so screwed...".

08:06 - Minneapolis, Minnesota arrived on post "Taser International is so screwed...".

09:08 - Minnetonka, Minnesota arrived from us.mc622.mail.yahoo.com on post "Taser International is so screwed...".

That whole "less-lethal" (than what?), tasers vs. guns, ~100-to-1 use ratio issue

Ref.: Tasers a controversial tool for police departments [LINK]

Tasers are marketed as "less-lethal", raising the obvious question, less-lethal than what?

The obvious answer is: less-lethal than guns. So replacing gunfire with a taser deployment is nothing but pure good, right? Yes of course, but too bad that tasers replacing guns is such a rare event.

[There's also the issue that tasers are actually "less-than-or-equal-to-lethal".]

Fontana police Sgt. Doug Wagner says... "A Taser is used probably 100 (times) to one," (compared to guns and bullets). Since the beginning of this year, Wagner said he believes there has been one officer-involved shooting compared to 30 to 40 deployed Tasers, a number based on empty cartridges.

Anyone following this blog will realize that I have repeatedly pointed out this approximate 100-to-1 use ratio (tasers/guns) many times over the past couple of years. But this is the first time that I've seen it independently confirmed as a good approximate ratio.

The point is that it's not reasonable to use the argument that tasers are safer than guns, while at the same time standing by and allowing tasers to be used about one hundred times as often, and most often in situations where gun fire would never be acceptable.

Even if it is obvious that tasers are less-lethal than guns, that still leaves the other 99% of the entire taser debate unresolved.

It's a duh-obvious point that should be instinctive to anyone, but it's still a leap of logic that many miss.

Taser International is so screwed...

A good friend of the Excited-Delirium blog sent me a copy of the "DECLARATION OF DOUGLAS P. ZIPES, M.D., IN OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT", dated February 19, 2009.

This document is in relation to the case BUTLER v. TASER INTERNATIONAL, INC. et al.

It's a 36-page document that defies summarization.

Let's start with the C.V. of Dr. Zipes:

• BA cum laude Dartmouth College 1961
• M.D. cum laude Harvard Medical School 1964
• Distinguished Professor, Indiana University School of Medicine 1994
• Director of the Division of Cardiology Krannert Institute of Cardiology, 1995-2004
• Published over 800 medical articles and 21 textbooks
• Co-editor Cardiology Electrophysiology, From Cell to Bedside (2009, 5th ed)
• Co-editor Braunwald’s Heart Disease, (2008, 8h ed)
• Co-author Clinical Arrhythmology and Electrophysiology (2008)
• Past president of the Association of University Cardiologists and Cardiac Electrophysiology Society
• Founding member (1980) & President (1989-1990) Heart Rhythm Society (HRS)
• American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Chair of the Clinical
• Cardiac Electrophysiology Test Committee
• Co-Chair of the ACC/AHA/ European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/HRS Ventricular Arrhythmia and Sudden Cardiac Death Guideline Committee
• etc. (...it just goes on and on from there...)

Let's just say that qualifications of Dr. Zipes whistled past the qualifications of "Dr." Mark W. Kroll, (not a real doctor, an electrical engineer) about ten or eleven lines back.

Dr. Zipes:

I became concerned that TASER was misrepresenting that there are no cardiac risks posed by its ECDs. Accordingly, I delivered a PowerPoint presentation on those risks at the May 2009 Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) meeting in Boston. ... At the end of my presentation, Mark W. Kroll, Ph.D., an electrical engineer and the head of the TASER Scientific [sic] and Medical Advisory Board, was in the audience [!] and spoke in opposition to my remarks. Further, I told the president of TASER, Rick Smith, who was also in the audience [!], that TASER needed to issue a warning that its products might cause cardiac effects. We had sharp disagreements, and I left more concerned than ever about the undisclosed cardiac dangers of ECDs. ...

After the debate finished, the moderator polled the audience, and found that more than 90 percent of the audience supported my side of the debate that TASER ECD shocks could produce ventricular fibrillation. (TASER issued warnings to avoid chest shocks about four months later.) ...

Funny how Taser International sends all their high priced help [Pinky and The Brain] to attend meetings of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) while maintaining the ludicrous position that tasers have no significant effect on heart rhythm. Tasers probably don't affect the orbits of the planets, but I assume that Taser International doesn't send their unwashed hired help to attend meetings of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to make sure... 

Anyway...

Dr. Zipes states his opinion:

...that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the electrical impulses from a device manufactured by defendant TASER International, Inc., (TASER) caused Steven Butler’s cardiac arrest of October 7, 2006.

and

...that TASER’s representations of safety made to the involved police agency and officer prior to this incident were not correct, that the risk of causing cardiac arrest was well known prior to this incident, and that the risk could have been minimized had TASER issued proper warnings and training materials rather than false and exaggerated representations of cardiac safety. Finally, I address the inadequacies of TASER’s pre-release testing, and therefore the recklessness with which it marketed products for law enforcement officials to use on human beings.

The trial (Case No. CV 161436) resumes 22 March 2010.

Note - I don't have Internet links to this document at this time.

A crystal clear admission of wrong-doing

The City of Minneapolis will pay Rolando Ruiz $75,000, and cover his legal fees, to settle his lawsuit against the city and Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan. As part of his deal, Ruiz will drop his lawsuit against the city and Dolan, but not against Officer Todd Lappegaard, who was fired in January. ... [LINK]

Sweet!

Stupid taser QotW: "no clear indication"

Despite the fact that a Taser was used to subdue an unruly man in Rhinebeck Wednesday morning, “there is no clear indication at this time that the taser was responsible for Mr. Healy’s death,” Dutchess County Sheriff’s Lt. John Watterson said Thursday. James Healy, 44, refused to leave a woman’s home during a domestic dispute early Wednesday. That’s when she called police and Dutchess County Sheriff’s personnel and State Police from Rhinebeck responded. Healy would not follow orders from the officers and after he fought violently with them, a sheriff’s deputy hit him with a Taser to subdue him. It was after that, that Healy had difficulty breathing, according to troopers, and was taken to the hospital where he died. [LINK]

What exactly would such clear indications look like?

Tasered, difficulty breathing, died - it's a very common pattern in taser associated deaths.

A taser, even if it was the sole cause of a person's death, leaves little in the way of postmortem clues.

The larger meta-pattern indicated by the taser's Curious Temporal Asymmetry [LINK] is worth considering.

If Sheriff Watterson knows of a reliable postmortem test for a taser death, then perhaps he should write a paper for the New England Journal of Medicine.

The coroner should certainly perform the postmortem test for VF (see [LINK]). But lack of clear evidence is a common trend with taser associated deaths. And given the possible death mechanisms (some essentially new to science), that's not surprising.

If they try to attribute it solely to drug use, then the lethal overdose and exact timing had better line up perfectly. Otherwise it is more then likely a whitewash.


By the way - the justifiability (legal and moral) of this death is an entirely different matter than the possible cause(s) of death.

Victoria's smoking gun (an 85% reduction)

Victoria, BC - An audit of the Victoria police concluded that, "It appears there was a strong effect in the aftermath of the death of Robert Dziekanski," in October 2007. The use of tasers dropped 85% after Dziekanski's death. [LINK]

The correct response to this observation of a post-Dziekanski 85% reduction in taser use is "WTF?".

Here's some of the background:

• Victoria is where the Canadian distributor for Taser International is based.
• Victoria is where the infiltration of Taser International moles into the Canadian law enforcement community first occurred.
• Victoria is where, in a city famous for elderly folks and lawn bowling, the rate of taser deployments per population was about eight (8) times that of Toronto.

Combine these facts and the simplest and most rational conclusion is that Victoria's use of tasers was clearly (statistically obvious) out-of-control. They demonstrated a crystal clear pattern of clear-cut taser overuse. I could see it before, now it is self-evident to all.


At this point, the dung4brains taser fan-boys will suggest that tasers replace other, "more dangerous" forms of force. And that if taser use went down by such a huge ratio, then other "more dangerous" use of force must have increased.

Unfortunately for their logic, the same audit revealed that the overall use of force by Victoria police decreased 10% during the same period.

These simple statistics reveal many taser lies and myths for what they are - lies and myths.


A long time ago, I suggested that the appropriate goal for taser rate-of-use would be about a 95% reduction compared to what we were seeing in the available evidence at that time.

I based this proposed 20-to-1 reduction on the obvious 100-to-1 rate of taser overuse, combined with a very generous assumption about marginal deployments (not replacing lethal gun play).


And so here we are...

Victoria, ground zero of Taser deceptive marketing and resultant overuse in Canada, has proven that my suggestion for a 95% reduction in taser use was not only a perfectly reasonable suggestion, but also very easily achievable without any of the nightmare predictions about the risk of a wholesale slaughter of citizens.

There are a hand-full of well-known people in senior leadership positions in Canadian law enforcement (hey!, you know who you are) that have now been shown to have been oh-so very very wrong.

Example of Tasers-R-Fun moronic attitude during demos & training

The two morons left and right are actually smiling while the idiot volunteer suffers a shoulder-to-shoulder clip-on demo. You can watch the video here [LINK].

This tasers-R-fun propaganda, and misleading tasers-R-safe deceptive marketing, is pure evil because it directly encourages taser overuse.

Given the sort of attitude on display here, I'll bet that they also wear sick smiles while tasering citizens.

Eugene police Civilian Review Board a toothless tiger

Eugene, OR - The controversial case in which a non-English speaking University of Oregon student was tasered by a Eugene Police officer will remain closed for good. In September, an officer used a taser on a college student mistaken for a trespasser in the student's [very own] home. The City Attorney found the Civilian Review Board does not have the authority to force the Police Chief Pete Kerns to re-open the alleged misconduct case... [LINK]


In general, City Attorneys and similar are far too friendly with their local police. It's typically one of the many impenetrable lines of defense surrounding police and protecting them (sic) from anything resembling true accountability.

It's a form of evil that is actually very serious and works against the greater good of society.

In an ideal world - cases like this would result in the Feds stepping in and investigating to make sure that everything is on the level. And if they happened to discover that a local City Attorney was working to pervert the course of justice, then they'd prosecute him.. ...too.

A familiar pattern: tasered, "trouble breathing", dead

Hudson Valley man dies after being tasered by police

A Rhinebeck man died Wednesday after police used a taser to subdue him after responding to a call for a potential drug overdose and domestic dispute. James J. Healy, 44, was pronounced dead at Northern Dutchess Hospital shortly after the incident, according to State Police [via the Kingston Daily Freeman]. Healy, who doesn’t live at the home on Stone Quarry Road, was asked to leave, but was uncooperative, police said. A struggle ensued and Healy was tasered by a Dutchess County Sheriff’s deputy. Once he was in control, Healy was having trouble breathing and was taken to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead. A cause of death is still pending. [LINK]

Taser International has claimed a statistically-massive safety margin of at least 15-to-1. At one point there was even a so-called "study" that claimed that cocaine use made tasers safer. So if tasers in combination with drugs are even more deadly than drugs alone, then Taser International has some explaining to do...

"Tasers-R-Fun" OEM-origin propaganda terminates 3 careers

A life-lesson that one is supposed to have learned while still a child is to choose one's friends very carefully. Carried forward in adult (?) life, this should cause a thinking person to pause and think when confronted with a weapons manufacturer that brings an attitude of fun-and-games into the associated training.

Three Tulsa County Sheriff's Office employees have resigned and three others have been disciplined after an internal investigation revealed employee-on-employee use of Taser stun guns. Undersheriff Brian Edwards said he could not give the names of those involved or elaborate on the discipline they received, citing the county's personnel policy. However, according to Tulsa County records and a source who asked to remain anonymous, the employees who resigned were Sgts. Joel Pence and Stephanie Hatter and Deputy Bradlee Odom. ... [LINK]

I'm making an assumption that these incidents (that "...had been occurring over a period of months...") were a playful (sic, and sick...) off-shoot of the tasers-R-fun training propaganda. As opposed to an internal dispute based on true anger.


"The whole key to this story is that it was always employee-on-employee — not on citizens or inmates."

Oh puhleeze... If this is the attitude, then you would have to be an empty-headed moron not to instantly realize that this is an accurate indicator of probably taser misuse and abuse. And taser overuse is thereby incorporated.


Questions:

1) Nobody bothered to check the tasers' deployment counters?

2) What is the rate of taser use in this facility? Anybody tracking?

3) Have you fired the Taser Certified trainers?



Applicable legal concept: "...known, or should have known..."

A spin of the wheel...

From one extreme...

Barre woman arrested after laughing off Taser shot [LINK]


...to the other...

Man Tasered in Midlothian dies

Jaesun Ingles, 31, died just after midnight at MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island after fighting with police and fleeing from the parking lot of a Midlothian Dunkin' Donuts. An autopsy Wednesday failed to pinpoint Ingles' cause of death, and toxicology results will not be available for at least a week, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. According to police, a Midlothian officer smelled marijuana smoke emanating from Ingles' car after pulling him over for traffic violations. The incident remains under investigation... ...did not know whether more than one officer used a Taser or how many times Ingles was struck by an electric charge. [LINK]

Taser International makes Toyota pedals look Space-qualified

The stungun salesmen will tell you that tasers are "safe and effective".

Officer Michael Decocq fired his Taser at Paul J. Sutton with no effect. Jason M. Parsons, a mental health counselor, said in his statement, "Even the Taser had minimal effect. I heard Paul laugh after that was activated."

[LINK]

Taser QotW: "The bull was angered even further..."

Taser-trained moron at work:

A rodeo bull got loose in Houston.

The bull was angered even further when security shot it with a Taser. [LINK]

His Taser training led him to think that this was a good idea? Taser the 1200-lb bull long enough to get it in cuffs?

These people aren't exactly spending their weekends splitting atoms.

Vancouver's Transit Police release taser videos and pathetic 'backgrounder'

Vancouver Transit Police:

During 2007 and 2008, these taser-happy morons (remember: these are Transit Police, working amongst the traveling public, not exactly a crack SWAT team on dangerous missions) tasered ten (10) people. At least four (4) of the incidents involved cases of suspected fare evasion.

In May 2008, the "brain trust" running this outfit made a supposedly-minor adjustment to the wording in their taser policy. Since that time (almost two years) the Transit Police have tasered just one (1) individual.

See CBC News [LINK] and the Transit Police taser backgrounder [pdf].


Please note - their backgrounder report does not mention anything about them having had to shoot to death (with bullets) the delta of nine (10 subtract 1 equals 9), according to the "tasers save lives" myth.

It's not a coincidence that this policy change, and the dramatic drop in the rate of taser use, both occured at pretty much exactly the same time (early-2008) when the rage of Canadians peaked after the taser-assisted killing of Mr. Dziekanski at Vancouver airport in late-2007. But it doesn't follow that the wording change was the actual cause of the dramatic reduction in the taser overuse rate.

Here's the (time-aligned) pathetic reasoning offered up by the Transit Police BS department:

It is acknowledged that the term 'non-compliant' could have been reasonably judged to be somewhat vague. Consequently, Transit Police policy has since been revised (in May 2008), and the term 'non-compliant' has been replaced by 'actively resistant'.

The probably-more-accurate explanation is that these naive morons bought into the entire Church of Taser worldview suggested by the slick-talking stungun salesmen. They probably cut-and-paste their taser policy from the manufacturer's so-called training material, and thereby repeatedly violated Canadian laws (no matter what the whitewashing may have concluded). Then, when that sort of approach was shown to be stupid and potentially deadly, they had to not only change their policy, but also (separately) had to back off on the utterly-stupid trigger-happy approach.


They can dress-up this change with any decorative wording they want. The fact is that they've reduced their tasering rate by about a ten-to-one ratio. And, no matter what they pretend to believe, it's not due to some minor adjustment to some confusing wording. It's obviously a larger attitude adjustment (stupidity reduction), perhaps due to them slowly coming to their senses, as they watch the nightly news.

Don't get me wrong - it's a very good first step.

But it is absolutely dripping with whitewash.

Collier sheriff settles another Taser lawsuit for $95,000

Sigh, it's like an on-going IQ test...

COLLIER COUNTY - A 48-year-old North Naples man tasered while handcuffed in a jail cell after an unlawful arrest in 2005 settled his federal lawsuit against Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and four deputies for $95,000.

The settlement came a day after the agency’s attorney agreed to a $50,000 settlement in another taser case involving a teen who died, which deputies blamed on a drug overdose. ... [LINK]


Let's review some key points from the taser sales pitch:

• Tasers save money.
• Tasers are effective.
• Tasers are safe.

There's a sucker born every minute. LOL.

San Fran Police Chief Gascon's taser dreams "tasered"

The San Francisco Police Commission came to its senses last night, and voted 4-3 not to move forward with a plan for giving the cops Tasers. [LINK]

See also: [LINK]


Previous related posts: [LINK] [LINK] and especially [LINK].

CNN's Dan Simon reports...

CNN's Dan Simon reports on a new controversy surrounding the use of Taser devices. [LINK]

See also: Tasers under scrutiny after claims of death and injury [LINK]

Traffic incident escalates via ineffective taser to deadly shooting

A Sandusky Police Department patrol officer fatally shot and killed Kent Kramer, 30. The officer first discharged the taser, but it had no effect. The officer then resorted to using their gun, killing Kramer. ... [LINK] [LINK]

A police spokesman explained that the taser was probably ineffective due to Mr. Kramer's "heavy coat".

No word if this explanation will lead officers in cold climates to consider first trying other approaches before relying (life and death) on the randomly-ineffective taser.

QotW: On making police work easier...

"I wish it were easy. It's not. A policeman's job is only easy in a police state."

Posted by XXXXXXXXXXXX, February 27, 2010, 11:30PM [LINK]

See also [LINK].

San Fran Police Chief George Gascon and his Taser faith

Gascón said. "It is not a perfect tool. ... It is not nonlethal. We understand that occasionally, the Taser has been found to be a contributing factor in the death of someone during an altercation with police." [LINK]

"Occassionally..."? Yeah, but how often do police shoot and kill people using their guns? So tasers replace one "occasionally" with another, but add a layer of randomness that is evil at its core. The risk of death is reduced for the rare "sword-wielding lunatic", but increased for others that would otherwise have never faced a randomly-lethal police weapon.

But he said in many of those cases, "you have people who are extremely fragile. People who probably, if you were to ask them to run around the block, they would probably suffer cardiac arrest. So it's somewhat disingenuous to simply say that Tasers caused this." [LINK]

Utter bollocks. The old and evil 'Blame the victim(s)' trick. Disgusting. Repulsive. Evil.

And there are too many cases where young and normal-health people have been tasered_and_died. It's also worth highlighting that Taser International and their minions claim a massive 15-to-1 safety margin. So how does that claim fit into Gascon's false and deceptive proposal that taser deaths are to be blamed on the victims' health?

Gascon is falling back into the bald-face Taser lie that tasers are not capable of causing death.


Fact: The AMA concluded that tasers can cause death, "directly or indirectly."

Fact: The Canadian Braidwood Inquiry concluded that tasers can cause death, "even with healthy adults."

Fact: The Maryland Attorney General concluded that Taser International has "significantly understated" the risks of taser use.


San Francisco Police Commission officials would be well advised to force Gascon to write the Taser Use Policy **in advance** of permitting procurement to proceed. They should review it and ensure that tasers are only used in those very rare circumstances when the risk of death is reduced, not increased.

It's the grey areas that need to be extremely well defined. If the fine line is not well defined and restricted, then it is very easy for tasers to become an overall negative and an increase in evil.

This is one of those real-life IQ test moments. If the Commission members can't see the logic of reviewing the policy while they have this ideal opportunity to provide actual and effective oversight, then they're idiots.

Boise "Mounted" Police settle with Gerald Amidon for $150,000

The Boise "Mounted" Police have settled for $150,000, but admitted no wrong-doing (puhleeze...).

Gerald Amidon stated that he did not realize that the men forcing their way into his apartment were officers. He tried to block the door, resulting in him being thrown to the floor by three officers. After giving him a good solid tasering, one officer sodomized him with his taser... [LINK]

Officer #3: Do you feel this?

Complainant: Yes, sir.

Officer #3: Do you feel that? That’s my...

Complainant: Okay

Officer #3: - ...Taser up your ass.

Complainant: Okay

Officer #3: So don’t move.

Complainant: I’m trying not to. I can’t breathe.

…

Officer #3: Now do you feel this in your balls?

Complainant: I do, sir. I’m not going to move. I’m not gonna move.

Officer #3 Now I’m gonna tase your balls if you move again.

A minute later, this exchange occurred:

Officer #3: Okay, I’m gonna take this Taser out of your asshole now. Are you going to fight with me?

Complainant: No, not at all, sir.

On principle, I've got absolutely nothing against homoerotic horseplay amongst consenting adults. [LINK] But when an officer of the law sodomizes a citizen with a taser, as well as lovingly fondling the subject's testicles with the same taser, that's more than just a bit weird. It should be a Federal Civil Rights issue.

Edmonton: "Cops say stun guns safe"

Edmonton Sun - Despite public concern about stun guns sending out more electrical current than specified by the manufacturer, Edmonton police say that most of their small percentage of defective Tasers have registered below-tolerance readings. And the few deemed to be above tolerance were still within safe parameters, said Const. Olena Fedorovich, of the Edmonton Police Service officer safety unit. "There’s an assumption that they’re above tolerance. They’re not. They’re below most of the time. There have been a few where either their pulse rate or main phase was slightly above manufacturer’s specifications — but they’re still considered safe." Chief Mike Boyd told the Edmonton Police Commission last week that 23 conducted energy weapons (CEWs) were pulled from service in 2009 because they failed independent testing. That amounted to about 6% of the EPS’s stock last year. ... [LINK]

Naive and stupid.

Even if the tasers are "failing safe" (electrical output on the low side), that still makes them (even more than normal) unreliable. And an unreliable weapon is a very very very dangerous weapon. For everyone involved (police AND the subject themselves).

See [LINK] for detailed explanation.

Example 1: "Police shocked the man with a Taser stun gun twice, with no effect. Officers then fatally shot the man." [LINK]

Example 2: Taser had no effect - Or did it? [LINK]

There have been innumerable examples of ineffective tasers, some with directly deadly consequences that might not have occurred with other (deescalation) approaches.


This amount of explaining away of tasers failing by the Edmonton police is very disturbing. They shouldn't be doing that. It's indicative of the level of 'Church of Taser' type-thinking within the law enforcement community.

Fedorovich admitted that some officers have some apprehension about using CEWs stemming from recent controversy. "...[members] also have a heightened understanding of the liability and accountability associated to it."

Well duh!

Taser QotW: "The use of electricity to immobilize animals should be forbidden."

Dr. Temple Grandin is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and a world-famous designer of humane livestock handling facilities.

"Electro-immobilization is NOT a humane method of restraint"

"The use of electricity to immobilize animals should be forbidden."

Consider that this advice is for animals.

What about humans?

See [LINK].

SF police chief pushes for Taser use by officers

San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon "...pushes for Taser use by officers..." [LINK]

The headline is probably more accurate than actually intended. I can smell from here that this man is a full member of 'The Church of Taser'. If his officers ended up using tasers several times per week (about one hundred times more often than his stated justification), then he would probably support that.

I find it funny/sad that the Commission officials have been promised that "...the department will create a policy that allows officers to use Tasers only with aggressive, combative suspects...", and are not taking the duh-obvious step of forcing Gascon to supply the policy IN ADVANCE of approving the procurement. Duh!!!!

Tell the Chief to write the policy and submit it to the Commission for review and approval. Then see how it compares to the lessons already painfully learned in other jurisdictions. Because he is obviously a 'True Believer', you're not likely to see a reasonable policy unless forced.

Allowing this Arizona ex-pat to bring in tasers (from Arizona) in advance of setting the rules would be naive.

Taser's "Anti-Felon ID Tags" will have this assassination case wrapped-up shortly

The assassination of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a Hamas military commander, in Dubai last month was carried out by an 11-member 26-member hit squad. ... Police say his murderers used an electric shock taser, tortured him with a lit cigarette [redundant] and smothered him with a pillow... [LINK]

Gather up the scattered 'Anti-Felon ID Tags', e-mail the codes off to Taser headquarters, and they'll be happy to help identify the killers.

An "undisclosed overseas client"...

Reliance on taser nearly costs officer his head

Law enforcement leaders are allowing the propaganda-based taser training to replace common sense and good judgment.

File this one under 'Stupid':

NSW, Australia - ...Sergeant De Lorenzo had found Tevi Koloamatangi, allegedly armed with a loaded .357 handgun, and three staff in the hotel's bottle shop... Sergeant De Lorenzo fired the Taser at him, striking him in the chest... Mr Koloamatangi reeled back, but then composed himself and fired again at Sergeant De Lorenzo, narrowly missing his head. ... [LINK]

RCMP planning to make about 50 taser policy changes

OTTAWA (Jim Bronskill, CP, 15 Feb 2010) - The RCMP plans a sweeping overhaul of its taser policy following recommendations from inquiries prompted by the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. An internal briefing note obtained by The Canadian Press says the Mounties' policy centre on use of force recommends four dozen specific changes on stun gun use. ... [via TNT]

Well, assuming that these are the sorts of changes that we're expecting, then that would be nice.


I hope that the changes are accompanied by an explicit acknowledgment that the previous taser policies, almost certainly traceable back to slick-talking stungun salesmen, were wrong / incorrect / unethical / lethal / evil / deadly / counterproductive / immoral / dangerous / illegal / criminal.

There has to be some blowback against those within the law enforcement community that were so damn stupid and naive. But also the stungun salesmen that orchestrated much of this mess; they need to be held to account.

Taser International's Axon headcam business model disqualified by RCMP

CBC News - ...A camera made by Axon [a.k.a. Taser International] was disqualified from the field trials due to RCMP concerns about control over the videos. "After obtaining further information on these cameras it was learned that the recordings from the Axon camera are sent to a third party housed in the United States. As a result of this, the Axon was removed as an option for the pilot project." [LINK]

What stupid moronic idiot would develop a business model where gigabytes of data, per day per officer, is sent back and forth over the Interweb-thingy to some distant location (somewhere...) and held under strict control (of someone...), all to convert what should be a hardware purchase (with logistical support) into a pay-through-the-nose-forever "service".

It's not like anyone could see this objection from a mile away...

http://evidunce.blogspot.com/2009/12/security-to-help-protect-evidence.html


LOL.

"Taser May Not Have Worked" on Michael D. Hawkins

KSPR News - The head of Springfield police is questioning whether a taser actually shocked a man who died following a confrontation at a motel. A medical examiner ruled Michael D. Hawkins death as an accident. ... Interim Springfield Police Chief Ron Hartman says the taser may never have sent electrical pulses into Hawkins' body. The examiner’s report showed only one probe hit his body. "If two probes aren't touching, it makes it hard for that system to be closed and work," Hartman said. [LINK]

News-Leader - A copy of the autopsy report provided to the News-Leader says Adelstein found a single, small wound from a taser probe on Hawkins's upper left chest, indicating only one of the device's two probes made contact. Interim Springfield Police Chief Ron Hartman said two probes must have contact with a person's body -- completing the circuit of electricity -- for a Taser to have full effect. [LINK]

The medical examiner's report, however, says an "area of taser penetration shows a 1 millimeter area of burn artifact with sclerosis of collagen." [ibid KSPR]


Okay, let me explain this for you.

Burning of flesh in the context of a taser dart injury is most likely caused by the taser current. After all, the darts are "propelled by compressed gas" (not explosives), so they should be stone cold (not hot) when they impact the subject. Right!!??!!


In cases where the second dart misses the subject, then the stray dart is quite likely to land on the floor or ground (hey, it's called gravity). If the floor or ground is reasonably conductive ["...in a crawl space..."], then the taser circuit can be completed by the ground path.

This mode of operation is variously denied by Taser International's own on-staff "experts" (deception?) and at the same time is mentioned in the Clover patent and a taser training video (if not elsewhere).

See [LINK].
See [LINK pdf].


So what are we to conclude when the Interim Police Chief repeats the same misleading statement?

Deception or ignorance?

Ouch! "27 to 33" equals 48

Bernard (Bernie) Kerik (who just happens to be a former member of the Board of Directors of Taser International) has been sentenced to four years for various corruption convictions.

Ouch!

As part of the plea deal, the prosecution had only asked for 27 to 33 months.

48 months is an EXTRA year and a half over and above the mid-range 30 months. But the plea deal was with the prosecutor, not the court. The plea agreement even explicitly states exactly that; see [LINK].

See also his C.V. here: [LINK]

Taser use in decline in Springfield, Oregon

...records show that officers’ taser use in Springfield, Oregon appears to be on the decline. Springfield police fired tasers in 20 incidents in 2009 — down 43 percent from 2008, when officers used them 35 times. Springfield Police Chief Jerry Smith said he’s not sure why that is, although he offered one possible reason. "It could be that people know now that officers carry tasers … and they don’t want any part of it." he said, suggesting that suspects are less likely to fight or flee from an officer because of their fear of the electroshock device. [LINK]

Or maybe... the deceptive and false claims that tasers are perfectly safe is starting to wear a bit thin. Perhaps the police officers of Springfield now realize, despite all the false and deceptive claims made by the slick-talking stungun salesmen, that tasers actually are fully capable of causing death, directly or indirectly [AMA]. Such an improved real-world understanding of possible taser outcomes would encourage consideration of other options.

Or perhaps... the media attention to each taser deployment is giving the officers reason to pause...

Either way, a 43% reduction in taser use year-on-year is a very good first step.

But to attempt to attribute this reduction solely to hypothesized improvements in the decision-making capabilities of the potentially-tasered subjects (!) is simply not credible.

That offered explanation sounds like a pathetic excuse for previous taser overuse, misuse and abuse.

It doesn't wash.

Eugene, OR moving to restrict taser overuse

Since 40 patrol officers in Eugene, OR began carrying tasers in early 2008, they have used them nearly 200 times. Eugene officers fired tasers in 49 incidents in 2008 and 2009. They threatened to use stun guns but did not pull the trigger in 144 more cases... [LINK]

These figure should be compared to the historical rate of lethal gunfire. Were the Eugene police shooting about 25 people per year previous to the introduction of tasers?

Tasers are touted as being "less lethal" (than guns) but they're obviously being used at a rate that is many, many times that of lethal gun fire.

Eugene panel to propose Taser policy revisions soon [LINK]

Yeah, ...well duh!

Portland Transit Police taser disabled man

Beaverton, OR - Jamal Green, 34, is disabled, with serious cognitive impairments. His lawyer says it is difficult for Green to understand and follow orders. Green was attempting to get home using the public transit system. He initially got on a bus that wasn't operating, when two officers - one a Beaverton Police officer and the other from Portland - working for Portland's Transit Police, approached Green. They instructed Green to show his hands. Green says that he didn't understand the commands as he was confused why the officers wanted to see his hands. The police report indicates that the first officer warned Green he would use a taser, then did so. Then the other officer, who deemed the first tasering ineffective, tasered Green a second time. [LINK]

Even if one reviews this report with an open mind about the actions of the two officers, it is very difficult not to feel that their entire approach was defective from the start. Clearly their 'training' (sic) is all about dealing with criminals, and so they treat everyone as a criminal, even the disabled. It's a 'false positive' problem that has implications for the safety of everyone.

Former member of Taser International's Board to be sentenced

Bernard (Bernie) Kerik is due to be sentenced on Thursday (18 February 2010) to between 27 to 33 months (possibly more) in prison for his various hubris-laced crimes. Mr. Kerik was on the Board of Directors of Taser International between 2002 and 2005.

Does this now-convicted criminal reflect badly on Taser International?


I believe that the X26 taser, introduced to the market in mid-2003, should be named the "X26 Hubris" in his honor.