An open letter to Australia, re: tasers

The Courier Mail [LINK]

Hello from Canada. I hope that you Aussies are doing okay with all those horrific bush fires.

Taser news from Canada: The RCMP (Canada's national police force) has today [2009 Feb 12] admitted that 'tasers can kill', that 'tasers can cause death', that 'tasers are potentially lethal'.

And they have immediately restricted their use to only the most serious situations. As an example, the RCMP Comish has said that a 2nd officer should provide "lethal cover" (with a gun) in case the taser fails. This should eliminate about 99% (literally) of all taser deployments. No more brandishing tasers at children for example.

This RCMP taser policy change also inherently excludes use of the taser in its Touch Torture more (also known as 'Drive Stun' mode). I've always wondered why the police wouldn't just use the glowing end of a lit cigarette for an alternate method of pain compliance that is otherwise exactly the same (intense pain, minor burns and injuries). What's the difference? [LINK]

Canada is well ahead of Australia in the taser learning curve. So you have a choice. You can go through the same learning curve as Canada has gone through over the past two years, or you can bone-up on the ins-and-outs of tasers in Canada.

My blog has about 750 posts on the subject. They're mostly all backed-up with links to sources.

www.Excited-Delirium.com (don't forget the dash)

Another blog is called 'Truth ... Not Tasers'.

I hope that Australia will take advantage of all the experience that Canada has had with tasers.

You could save yourself a lot of time and trouble.