Mission Statement - De-Spinning the Pro-Taser Propaganda

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

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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.



Thursday, December 24, 2009

Taser hot-spots show largest decline in public support for RCMP

The provinces of British Columbia and Alberta are, in my opinion, the #1 and #2 taser hot-spots in Canada.

CBC Taser-death database [LINK] lists BC with eight taser associated deaths, and Alberta with five. Ontario has had six taser-associated deaths, but it has almost twice the population of BC and Alberta combined.

If you need more evidence, the rate of taser use in Victoria, the capital city of BC, has been 3.8 times higher than Toronto. [LINK] This is amazing when you realize that Victoria is probably the lawn bowling capital of Canada (many elderly ladies enjoying their afternoon tea, etc.) It is less surprising when you realize that the Canadian distributor for Taser International is located in Victoria. See also [LINK][LINK][LINK].

Keep this in mind as you read the following.

Canadians' confidence in the RCMP's "...internal operations and leadership has dropped by 61 per cent among B.C. respondents over the past two years. Albertans recorded the second-largest decline in confidence at 36 per cent, while, nationally, 32 per cent of respondents said their opinion of police had worsened since 2007." [LINK]

British Columbia (#1 taser hot spot): -61%
Alberta (#2 taser hot spot): -36%
National: -32%

More tasers and naïve trust in Taser International, more bad outcomes, and thus less public confidence. And that makes police work more difficult.

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