Mission Statement - De-Spinning the Pro-Taser Propaganda

Yeah right, 'Excited Delirium' my ass...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The primary purpose of this blog is to provide an outlet for my observations and analysis about tasers, taser "associated" deaths, and the behaviour exhibited by the management, employees and minions of Taser International. In general, everything is linked back to external sources, often via previous posts on the same topic, so that readers can fact-check to their heart's content. This blog was started in late-2007 when Canadians were enraged by the taser death of Robert Dziekanski and four others in a short three month period. The cocky attitude exhibited by the Taser International spokespuppet, and his preposterous proposal that Mr. Dziekanski coincidentally died of "excited delirium" at the time of his taser-death, led me to choose the blog name I did and provides my motivation. I have zero financial ties to this issue.



Sunday, January 6, 2008

Charming... (it continues...)

Globe and Mail - December 11, 2007

Perhaps no one is more responsible for tasers coming to Canada than [Sgt.] Darren Laur. The veteran Victoria police officer played a pivotal role in a 1998 pilot program that led to his force adopting the weapons permanently.

A subsequent research [*] paper he wrote - which concluded that tasers were safe and effective - laid the groundwork for the devices' spread to police departments across the country.

[* If it is the paper I saw, it is not actually a 'research' paper, but more like a 'review' paper. And, to be fair, others were involved as well. If that's the paper they're referring to.]

...

"I do consider Sgt. Laur to have been in an apparent and perceived conflict of interest by reason of having held a financial interest in TASER through his stock options," the investigator, Inspector Cory Bond, wrote in her report. ...


Sigh...

Link= Copy of Globe and Mail article

[Copyright Notice - Fair Use is claimed for the above small extract for purposes of education, discussion of an important public-policy issue, criticism, and so on. The complete article is available for purchase from The Globe and Mail.]

No comments: