$1,000,000 "...a litigation settlement for an officer injury during arrest..."

Stupid is as Stupid pays.

A source tells me that Taser International’s Annual Report for 2010 (Form 10K) includes the following tidbit:

...a charge of approximately $1.0 million relating to a litigation settlement for an officer injury during arrest claim, included in other expense...

So, if you're a Police Officer that has been let down by the unreliable and sometimes ineffective taser, leading to an on the job injury, the line forms here.

HTV

"After ineffective taser attempt, police shoot man"

...officers surrounded the suspect in a neighboring back yard and the man threatened to shoot himself. After convincing the man to holster his weapon, officers deployed a taser, which was ineffective. Chief Steve Robinette could not address the reason why the weapon did not work. "We hope to determine why it was ineffective through the course of the investigation," he said. After officers deployed the taser, the man unholstered his gun. According to reports, officers fired at the man in order to protect themselves. He was apparently hit in the torso and the hand. ...[LINK]

Unreliable and dangerous (to all present) weapon.

Taser International claims it is "generally safe and effective", and utterly refuse to acknowledge the risks.

Illuminating taser use stats from New Zealand

Figures obtained by the Sunday Star-Times show police have "presented" Tasers to offenders 797 times since March 2010 and, of these, they were fired 102 times. However, the police's Tactical Options Research database shows the weapons were ineffective on 36 of those 102 occasions, meaning the weapons worked only two-thirds of the time. [LINK]

Tasers are "presented" about 800 times, but only deployed about one hundred times.

If this sort of 8:1 ratio applies more generally, then there 'should be' thousands of people falling over dead at the "presentation" of a taser (assuming that Taser International's disgusting lie about taser safety is true).

Tasers are ineffective in about one-third of all attempted deployments. For whatever reason, it's a huge and dangerous failure rate.

This well-known ratio reveals that Taser International's claim that tasers are "generally safe and effective" is a bald-faced lie from a bunch of bald-faced liars. They know about this sort of failure rate - it's been seen before. But they try to deflect attention away from it. Even though it is inherent with the flawed concept and design of the taser.

If they'll lie about tasers being "generally effective" then they'll also lie through their teeth about taser safety too.

Scum.

Taser fails to help Vancouver Police with sword-wielding man

File under: Unreliable weapon

CBC News:

Police used rubber bullets and a Taser to try to take down a sword-wielding man in downtown Vancouver near the busy intersection of Burrard Street and Georgia Street on Monday. ...a shot from a Taser stun-gun failed to take the man down, and he was then tackled to the ground by several officers... [LINK]

Not only inherently potentially dangerous. But also dangerous due to the relatively high rate of it being ineffective.

FAIL.

Report: "X26 Tasers have had a greater than 25 per cent failure rate"

It's simply amazing how often we are exactly correct...

We've noted before that there seemed to be a very high rate of reports that tasers were ineffective. Ineffective tasers puts the poor officer into a situation that has suddenly become violent, but his taser ain't working.

We figured the rate of ineffective tasers was significant, by the fork-tongue stungun salesmen denied it.

Now this:

Police figures show the X26 Tasers have had a greater than 25 per cent failure rate since they were reintroduced in 2010. [via TNT]

That's a very dangerous level of unreliability.

Search this blog for "ineffective" [LINK].

People have been KILLED because of ineffective tasers.

"Taser was ineffective", man shot dead

Taser International claims that tasers are "...safe and effective..."

Deputy Michael Medina, an eight-year HCSO veteran, deployed his Taser at the suspect [Charles Roy, 37] to try and subdue him, but the Taser was ineffective. At some point during the struggle, the suspect managed to take the Taser from the deputy. Deputy Medina, fearing for his safety, discharged his weapon striking the suspect once. ["shot and killed"]... [LINK]

So much for reliable effectiveness. Tasers are CLEARLY not always effective. This has been proven time and time again.

So what about safety? And by this I mean not only direct cardiac safety, but also the indirect safety of those that naively depend upon their weapons for protection.

This failure of a taser to be effective put the officer's life in danger and directly led to the sequence of events that ended with death of the suspect.

FAIL.

Taser ineffective, struggle ensues, man shot dead

[Police say that] Deputy Michael Medina shocked Charles Roy, Jr., 37, with his Taser, but the stun gun appeared to be ineffective. Roy grabbed the Taser from Medina. Then Medina, fearing for his safety, fired his gun, hitting Roy once [killing him]. [LINK]

Why was the taser ineffective?

Why are tasers so unpredictable?

Why do police put their naive faith in unreliable tasers?

If Medina had simply drawn his gun and aimed it at Roy (at the appropriate point in the escalation of violence), how would Roy have reacted at that point? Would he have taken the situation more seriously and immediately surrendered?

Is it possible that the reliance on the taser actually cost a life?

Would the simple and reliable gun have been a more predictable choice?

Note - the issue here is NOT with Deputy Medina. Bless him. I'm glad he is okay. He is perfectly entitled to defend himself.

The issue is with the stupid, unreliable, dangerous-to-all taser. The issue is with the over-selling of this defectively-conceived product. The issue is with the infiltration of scummy, bought-and-paid-for, taser salesmen into the law enforcement community.

Go to your local "Taser Expert", back him into a wall, and poke him in the chest a few times. Ask him why he's taking money and putting officers' lives at risk with his incomplete and misleading misinformation.

Canada Feds to study taser safety

OTTAWA - Gaps in the research on how Taser stun guns affect people will be one focus of a federal program aimed at better understanding the powerful weapons used for years by Canadian police. Other studies will look at test procedures to ensure Tasers operate properly and ways to evaluate new weapons police might adopt, records obtained under the Access to Information Act show. The $1.8-million Taser research program is overseen by the federal Centre for Security Science, a joint initiative of the Public Safety Department and Defence Research and Development Canada. The effort is slated to run through 2012-13. ... [LINK]

Here, I'll save you $1.8M...

In dart-deployment mode, tasers are ineffective about 10% to 30% (reports vary) of the time. Such ineffective deployments often make a bad situation much worse.

In touch-torture (drive-stun, dry-stun) mode, tasers are too-frequently used to apply electroshock torture as part of civil and human rights violation. Officers are typically confused by the subtle distinction between lawful force-the-noun and force-the-verb (often torture).

Tasers are usually non-lethal, but every now and then someone is tasered and immediately begins to die. This is most often related to taser darts on chest, but other taser-death mechanisms exist. When darts hit chest, the risk becomes measurable (low end of single digits). Even Taser International has slowly shifted to the position (May 2010) that avoiding the chest reduces the risk of cardiac effects, something they had previously denied. Given that the X26 taser can kill, and given that it is essentially random, using the word "safe" is a lie.

Taser International will continue to deny these truths, while burying legal disclaimers deep within their published information. The bald-faced contradictions within their own positions make them a sitting duck for any lawyer that bothers to prepare.

Ineffective taser leads to death of Deputy

Ineffective taser, two dead.

Deputy Killed: Setting the Record Straight [LINK]

The death of Deputy Sam Brownlee is a tragedy for Weld County. ...
1) Deputies chased a known felon and gang member, Rueben Reyes...
2) ...A taser was reportedly utilized. However, the taser ... was ineffective...
3) ...Reyes apparently saw, and took, the opportunity to pull Deputy Brownlee's weapon from its holster. Reyes then shot Deputy Brownlee three times [killing him]...
4) Another officer then shot Reyes three times [killing him]...

The deputy chose to rely on the unreliable taser, and it cost him his life.

The perp saw that the gun wasn't being used, and took it.

Perhaps if the officers had approached Reyes with their hands on their guns, then perhaps the situation would have turned out better. Obviously it couldn't have turned out any worse.

Reliance on tasers is ill-advised.

Aussie Police "threaten" to hand-in their tasers

The Police Union president Russell Armstrong says the Comissioner's announcement has upset officers. "They've said that they should hand their tasers back and we'll start carrying our batons and only our firearms," he said. [LINK]

Hey Armstrong!

You "guys" still have those puffter tasers? I heard that only weak wussies carry those yellow plastic (sometimes deadly, sometimes ineffective) toys. You guys (?) still carry them? Hey, not that there's anything wrong with that... ...ahem. It's 'good' (?) to walk around with a yellow plastic portable electro-torture device on your belt to let members of the public know that they could be the next Spratt, bouncing around on the floor, if they dare to mouth off. Maybe you should get the leopard skin print version, they look simply adorable. What next? A hot-pink Holden with menacing spikes glued on the bonnet? LOL.

Turn 'em in.

Wussies.

Ineffective taser (3 times) - deputy killed with own gun

GREELEY, Colo. -- Hundreds of men and women, many in uniform, gathered in Greeley Monday to remember a Weld County deputy killed in the line of duty last week. A memorial service for Sam Brownlee was being held on the University of Northern Colorado campus in Greeley. At the end of a high-speed chase Tuesday, the 43-year-old Brownlee was grappling with an accused car thief who fought through three attempts to subdue him with a Taser stun gun, investigators said. Somehow 20-year-old Ruben Reyes was able to grab Brownlee's gun and shoot him three times before another officer shot and killed Reyes... [LINK]

Taser was ineffective once.
Taser was ineffective twice.
Taser was ineffective thrice.
Perp grabs deputy's gun and kills him with it.
Perp is then killed by another deputy (with a gun).

It seems to me that the ineffective taser (and the over-selling deception that accompany it) lead to an escalation that resulted in two deaths.

The stun gun salesmen told us that tasers are "...safe and effective...". They have much to answer for; especially concerning their deception about the rate of ineffective deployments. See this post [LINK]. As usual their bald-faced deception endangers lives. And now an officer (and a perp) are dead.

--

My condolences to the family and friends of Deputy Brownlee.

This shouldn't have happened.

This needn't have happened.

Ineffective taser, deputy killed - consider the implications...

Taser didn't stop man who killed deputy

Police used a Taser three times on a suspected Fort Morgan gang member Tuesday before he shot and killed Weld County Sheriff's Deputy Sam Brownlee, but it did not have the desired effect. ... [LINK]

Taser flummoxed by "bulky clothing".

You could hear a pin drop in Scottsdale right about now.

RCMP rookie stabbed in arm, uses taser, makes arrest

Stabbed RCMP rookie still makes arrest [CBC News]

The incident began with a complaint about a suspicious vehicle. Insp. Al Ramey said "A member with six months' experience attended the scene and was confronted by a man brandishing a knife. The man attacked our police officer, cutting him severely in the forearm. Our member responded with the deployment of a conducted energy weapon [assume taser], managed to immobilize the suspect and take him into custody."

It is good to read about a story that describes an incident where it appears that a potentially-deadly weapon was used successfully and (assuming the story is accurate) without any moral/ethical downsides. As some comments on the CBC website have noted, the officer could have drawn his revolver and plugged the suspect in the chest.

That he chose to reach for his taser is a questionable decision (due to the relatively high rate of ineffective deployments). But perhaps the details not mentioned made his choice rational.

--

Critically - please compare the rate that such apparent success stories appear to the rate of taser use.

--

UPDATE: More details here [LINK]. Subject is 61 years old.

Speculation Alert - I wonder if the story will eventually shift so that it is revealed that the stabbing occurred because the officer was relying upon his untrustworthy taser?

Taser expert Patrick Burrell fails to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing but the truth

I realize that the above post title is redundant. The honorific "Taser Expert" implies a certain baseline level of deception (and often deep ignorance of technical topics, for example electricity). This comes from them being too-closely associated with the fork tongued stungun salesmen.

Australia - Antonio Galeano taser death inquiry:

Police training warned of Taser dangers [LINK]

Taser expert Patrick Burrell told the inquest into the death of Antonio Galeano that... ...a 2005 bulletin issued by Taser International stated that repeated or prolonged exposure to the electrical charge generated by a Taser could impair breathing.

Did he mention anything about how Taser International later retracted that exact warning based on a made-to-order study? Their ever-changing and self-contradicting claims are clear evidence of The Great Taser Safety Scam.

He said evidence of flashes of blue light between the Taser wires and a loud clicking noise suggested the device was not able to perform a complete electrical circuit. The device was almost silent when working effectively with only a small arc of electricity visible between the metal barbs which were in contact with the subject's skin, he said. If the device was able to generate a complete circuit, only a small arc of electricity would have been visible between the two barbs which had connected with Mr Galeano's skin, he said.

Taser International claims that the taser is effective even with a TWO-INCH air gap. That's what the 50,000 volts is intended to do. This extraordinarily high voltage is intended to ionize the air gap and establish a good conductive path, through up to two inches of air. Accomplishing this technical feat is obviously going to put on quite a display.

The taser can be effective if it makes direct contact. And the taser can be effective (I'm quoting Taser International) even with an air gap of up to TWO INCHES combined gap. These two extremes will obviously result in different displays of arcing and different sounds.

But since the taser is supposed to be a constant current source, the effects on the subject should be similar over the entire range of air gap, from zero up to the maximum of approximately "two inches".

Therefore his "expert" testimony that there are only two possibilities, and that one of them can be assumed to be ineffective, is not in keeping with the information published by Taser International.

His claims are not true.

--

Also, as if further proof were required, review the many videos of Taser International demonstrating the taser by firing it into a tin-foil coated target. Those demos clearly show sparks and arcs, and one can hear loud clacking sounds. And yet the darts are firmly embedded in the target's layer of tin-foil. Conductive tin-foil.

--

But his testimony is hanging those involved in the taser death out to dry. And that's a different approach than typically used in North America.

Weird...

Taser International boldly claims "94.5%" field effectiveness rate

Steve Tuttle, spokespuppet for Taser International, said, "Tasers have unmatched effectiveness with a 94.5 percent field success rate." [LINK]

Sorry Steve, I'm gonna call 'Bull Sh_t!' on that claim. Either you've twisted the meaning of words into meaninglessness, or you've fudged the numbers to achieve a number that looks attractively high.

The problem with making this sort of claim is that, if it is misleading (something that appears highly likely), then you're actually endangering police officers. You're putting out misleading info that will lead them to bad decisions and defective policy.

For decision-making purposes, when the subject is armed with a knife, mixing the obviously more reliable Touch Torture mode into the piss-poor reliability of the hope-and-pray Dual Dart deployment mode is an obvious bald-face attempt to cover up the more-critical failure rate.

And if you've also mixed-in the display-only threatened uses to further bulk-up the number, then that would be utterly evil. Comments?

Here's my counter-claim:

In the Dual Dart deployment mode, there is simply no way on God's Green Earth that the field success rate ever even approaches 95%. No fricken way. Not a chance.

Previous reports have noted figures for the rate of ineffective deployments at 10% to as high as 30%. See this previous post [LINK] for a list helpfully provided by 'Fortress Tactical' of some of the many failure modes.

I'll leave it for police officers to look at Steve's claim and decide for themselves if he's really a true friend of law enforcement.

Fortress Tactical helpfully explains why tasers can be ineffective

Fortress Tactical wrote:

There are several reasons for ineffective TASER deployments. The most common reason is lack of a circuit, which is required for a TASER to do its job. This is not TASER failure, but simply the product of any given scenario. If you miss with one or both probes - no circuit. If a wire breaks during a fall or struggle - no circuit. If a probe is pulled loose during a fall or struggle - no circuit. If your target is wearing loose clothes - no circuit. If your target is wearing thick clothes - no circuit. If your target is overweight - insufficient muscle groups are affected. If you're too close to your target - insufficient probe spread. If your battery is dead - no power. If you used improper batteries - insufficient power (older models). [LINK]

Mr. 'Tactical' was attempting to explain how tasers are a viable self-protection option, and then proceeded to score an own-goal by helpfully listing just a few of the many reasons why tasers are not a reliable option.

International forum takes aim at Taser use

Police from across Australia will share ideas and lessons on the use of Tasers at an international forum opening on Queensland's Sunshine Coast today. The Queensland Police Service is hosting the event.

[LINK]

Setting appropriate 'Taser Use Policy' is extremely easy, once you start with the correct assumptions:

1) The stun gun salesmen are not to be trusted. They are not true friends of the law enforcement community. If you make the mistake of naively accepting their advice, you will experience nothing but grief.

2) Tasers are not reliable weapons. There are constant news reports about ineffective taser deployments, reports of subjects pulling out the darts, and reports of some subjects even laughing-off the effects. Obviously a dart can miss, but these reports include other unexplained failures. These reports, from the real world, indicate that policy should consider this level of ineffective deployments in determining when use of such an unreliable weapon might be considered rational.

3) Tasers can kill. Directly. Even with healthy adults. But perhaps even more so with those already in crisis. Even Taser International has been forced to acknowledge the risk of death (Training Package, 1 May 2010), but they continue to downplay the magnitude of the risk.

4) Tasers are a form of torture. Oh sure, when they work they can be used to incapacitate, but note this: they accomplish this using electrical shock that is simultaneously excruciatingly painful. This electro-torture is part of the equation; failing to consider the pain as part of policy would be a sub-human decision. (If you get your jollies causing people to suffer excruciating pain, then please find another line of work.)

Combining the above, it becomes obvious that tasers are being overused, misused, and abused.

The remaining slice of taser deployments that are simultaneously rational, useful, moral, ethical, legal, and practical is actually very thin.

After the Canadian Braidwood Inquiry, use of tasers in B.C. dropped by a huge ratio, something like 90%.

Taser - 1st hit "no effect", 2nd hit "killed" subject

Man with mental illness killed by Taser in conflict with police [LINK]

An officer fired a Taser at Johnson, but it had no effect. Johnson was then hit by a second Taser cartridge and collapsed.

Fired twice.

1) Ineffective.

2) Apparently deadly.

Law enforcement decision makers should really take this degree of randomness into account when considering the safety, usefulness and morality of tasers.

The Peanut Gallery suggests that tasers ineffective due to PCP

...officers tried a Taser on the still-resistant suspect, police said. It, too, was “ineffective”...

[LINK]

The comment section associated with above news report includes many pundits proposing that PCP drug users are not susceptible to tasers.

The problem with this otherwise-reasonable suggestion is that it does not align with The Gospel according to The Church of Taser.

Their official worldview is that tasers work directly on the muscles and do not rely upon a pain response. According to their detailed explanations, a taser should (for example) still incapacitate even a freshly-dead corpse. That example is a perfectly fair restatement of their claims about how tasers work.

Thus a taser should be exactly as effective against someone whacked-out on PCPs as it is on anyone else.

So the PCP suggestion is wrong..,

Unless, of course, the Taser folks are full of sh_t...

Taser International yet to explain ineffective taser deployments

Stun-gun mystery in man's 'suicide by cops' [LINK]

The NYPD is trying to find out why a stun gun didn't stop a knife-wielding man before he was fatally shot by cops outside his Manhattan home. Investigators will look into how Emmanuel Paulino was able to laugh and pull out the electrified prongs and keep coming at cops with a knife. Officers finally fired nine bullets, killing Paulino...

Repeated reports of ineffective tasers, even in cases where the taser darts actually hit the subject, are yet to be fully explained.

One potential explanation might be that Taser International is managed by children (oh sorry...), has insufficient quality control processes, and only a fool would place his faith in such an unreliable weapon. But that's just one possible explanation.

If there are better explanations, please advise.