Calgary police highlight "textbook" taser deployment - the inherent irony escapes them

Canwest News (22 Dec 2009) - Calgary Police are crediting the use of the Taser for the peaceful resolution of a chaotic and potentially deadly incident. "Clearly, here is a textbook example of why our officers have these tools. You've got an individual who's agitated and not listening to the officer's demands, engaged in extremely violent behaviour," said Staff Sgt. Chris Butler, the service's use-of-force expert. "Serious assaults had occurred, he was acting extremely irrationally. Other than use of lethal force, the most appropriate device was used to take this guy into custody." [LINK]


I agree that this incident is newsworthy - primarily because it is so relatively rare. The vast majority of taser deployments replace lower forms of lawful force (they’re used roughly a hundred times more often than lethal force).

When one incident like this actually matches the original justification for tasers, it is such a relatively rare event that even the pro-taser folks feel it is newsworthy.

But they fail to note the inherent irony that this type of "successful taser incident" is sufficiently rare that they feel the need to trumpet it.

If only – OH IF ONLY – taser deployments were restricted to these sorts of incidents, then they could avoid much of the controversy.