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.



Friday, January 15, 2010

Taser Use Policy countermanded by marketing

"...The [two] lawsuits [seeking a total of $20M] name the police officer, the city of Kankakee, Kankakee School District 111 and two teachers. ..." [LINK]

"Misuse or abuse of the Taser by any police officer is strictly prohibited by the rules and regulations of the Kankakee Police Department..." [ibid]

Obviously, the rules and regulations are being completely countermanded by the deceptive and misleading marketing and the defective "training".

A recent news report stated that Taser International was still handing out taser shocks for fun at the Consumer Electronics Show. This sort of "playing around" with what is potentially a dangerous weapon obviously leaves a stronger impression than mere "rules and regulations".

So even with the best of intentions, the local government and school district find themselves in serious legal jeopardy thanks, in large part, to the marketing approach used by the stungun salesmen.

This incident has happened before [ibid] and will almost certainly happen again.

Police officers are getting a mixed message, common sense contrasted against the drumbeat that tasers-R-safe and tasers-R-fun. Part of the solution will be for leaders in the law enforcement community to tell the stungun salesmen to shut-up and stop fooling around, or else.

Your Taser Use Policies don't stand a chance in competition with the louder marketing message.

And government regulators should consider finding an existing law that might allow them to jail those that hand out taser shocks just for laughs.

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