Edmonton: "Cops say stun guns safe"

Edmonton Sun - Despite public concern about stun guns sending out more electrical current than specified by the manufacturer, Edmonton police say that most of their small percentage of defective Tasers have registered below-tolerance readings. And the few deemed to be above tolerance were still within safe parameters, said Const. Olena Fedorovich, of the Edmonton Police Service officer safety unit. "There’s an assumption that they’re above tolerance. They’re not. They’re below most of the time. There have been a few where either their pulse rate or main phase was slightly above manufacturer’s specifications — but they’re still considered safe." Chief Mike Boyd told the Edmonton Police Commission last week that 23 conducted energy weapons (CEWs) were pulled from service in 2009 because they failed independent testing. That amounted to about 6% of the EPS’s stock last year. ... [LINK]

Naive and stupid.

Even if the tasers are "failing safe" (electrical output on the low side), that still makes them (even more than normal) unreliable. And an unreliable weapon is a very very very dangerous weapon. For everyone involved (police AND the subject themselves).

See [LINK] for detailed explanation.

Example 1: "Police shocked the man with a Taser stun gun twice, with no effect. Officers then fatally shot the man." [LINK]

Example 2: Taser had no effect - Or did it? [LINK]

There have been innumerable examples of ineffective tasers, some with directly deadly consequences that might not have occurred with other (deescalation) approaches.


This amount of explaining away of tasers failing by the Edmonton police is very disturbing. They shouldn't be doing that. It's indicative of the level of 'Church of Taser' type-thinking within the law enforcement community.

Fedorovich admitted that some officers have some apprehension about using CEWs stemming from recent controversy. "...[members] also have a heightened understanding of the liability and accountability associated to it."

Well duh!