DRDC pulls plug on non peer reviewed CPRC taser "study"

This is a huge slap up-side-the-head for CPRC.


A much-anticipated interim report on the use of tasers in law enforcement that was to be presented Monday afternoon at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) in Montreal has been canceled.

The Canadian Police Research Centre (CPRC) was commissioned by the CACP to conduct a review of tasers and their misuse. Steve Palmer, Executive Director of the CPRC, was expected to present an interim briefing to the CACP on Monday afternoon. However, over the weekend, officials decided to cancel the briefing.

The CPRC operates under the banner of Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), a special operating agency of the Ministry of National Defence. "It was decided it would be more valuable to have the study stand up to the rigours of peer review before being released," said a spokesperson for DRDC.

From The [Montreal] Gazette (26 August 2008) [LINK]


Peer Review? Do we need Peer Review?


The CPRC has had their chain yanked by the (real) scientists at DRDC. CPRC will now have a very difficult time slipping any psuedo-science crap past these hardened, seen-it-all DRDC scientists. And it is extremely likely that these scientist reviewers will be very aware of the controversial issues surrounding tasers.

I expect that they'll go through an entire box of red pens marking up the interim report.

The final report is likely to be delayed, significantly thinner, and much less confident in the support for Taser's claims of safety.

Well done DRDC.

Canadian Police Research Centre (CPRC) - gone silent?

We've met the Canadian Police Research Centre (CPRC) before.

Previous posts:
7 January 2008 - Canadian Police Research Centre (another report) [LINK1]
17 August 2008 - RESTRAINT - Risk of Death in Subjects That Resist [LINK2]
26 August 2008 - DRDC pulls plug on non peer reviewed CPRC taser "study" [LINK3]
18 September 2008 - CPRC makes massive oversight [LINK4]



Well, where have they gone?

According to their Publications webpage [CPRC Publications], they've not had a single publication since 2008. I've browsed around their webpage, and it's essentially dormant. Maybe I'm missing something...

They had previously announced that they were going to gather data for one year starting on 1 January 2008 and write another report. [ibid1] Well, gathering data for one year starting at the beginning of 2008 should have been completed almost a year ago. It shouldn't take a year to write a report.

Not to mention the report that was pulled... [ibid3]

Amazing how the pro-taser 'science' dries up when it's put in the spotlight.


If they're looking for something to do, perhaps they could answer the great unanswered question about the death rate per taser deployment, comparing the M26 vice the X26. See [LINK].

An ideal opportunity for redemption.

CPRC makes massive oversight

I was just searching the Canadian Police Research Center (CPRC) technical report entitled Review of Conducted Energy Devices, dated 22 August 2005 (Report Number TR-01-2006). I was searching this document for the term "firearm" and I reviewed every instance of this word in the report (not so many).

Interestingly, this report makes no mention of the basic fact that the taser is legally considered to be a prohibited firearm in Canada. [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK]

In fact the CPRC report clearly makes the mistake of comparing the taser against firearms, when it is one. With a mistake this huge, and some obvious Taser-love glowing from the report, it makes it clear that there are major problems within the CPRC.

Perhaps this 2005 paper should also have been peer-reviewed like this one from 2008, I mean (maybe) 2009... [LINK]

The authors of this fatally-flawed paper are as follows: Drazen Manojlovic, Christine Hall, Darren Laur [LINK], Shawna Goodkey, Chris Lawrence, Rick Shaw, Sylvain St-Amour, Annik Neufeld, Steve Palmer [LINK] [LINK]

RESTRAINT - Risk of Death in Subjects That Resist

The so-called Canadian Police Research Centre is working on a study called 'RESTRAINT (Risk of Death in Subjects That Resist)'. [LINK] The head of the CPRC sat beside Taser's Tom Smith in Ottawa at the Commons committee. Not even trying to maintain a credibility air-gap.

I assume that CPRC will eventually be presenting a Part 2 to be entitled:

DEATH-LOTTERY (Risk of Death in Subjects that are, for example, simply standing there failing to understand commands yelled at them by RCMP officers who have already been told that the subject doesn't understand the English language and those officers already decided that they were going to use the taser even before they arrived on the scene)


"...Subjects that Resist" my ass.

Even the sub-title of the report is evil propaganda that discounts an entire class of taser victims.


Look up 'Karma' on this blog for some ethical guidance about forcing people to unwillingly participate in a street-level death-lottery.


Now, you want to discuss Risk of Death?

Taser proudly points to a so-called study by Webster et al that (get this!) calculates that the risk of death from a taser hit is in the low end of the single digit range in parts per million (some pro-taser spokespuppets [hi Greg] round it to 1-in-10 million).

Not coincidently, this insanely low number means that, given some 700,000+ deployments (including all those many FAKE taser demonstration shots into the back - and ignoring this denominator washing for the time being...), that it is most likely that not a single person in history has ever been killed by a taser [sic(k)]. How convenient from a liability point of view.

With 'science' like this, who needs sorcery?

Taser and Kroll claim that the taser is "safer than Tylenol".

So CPRC - here is the question: Do you believe this crap?

Look at some of the taser-associated deaths reported here and tracked on other blogs. There are more and more cases where the young victim is DRUG FREE, and has NO PRE-EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITION. And yet they are tasered and die of obvious cardiac effects.

(Update: By the way, drug use and pre-existing medical conditions should be considered as 'givens' in the population - so these sorts of issues cannot be considered to be escape clauses in any case. This subtle point has been examined in some detail in this blog before, look it up.)

And now, recently, some coroners and medical examiners have managed to swim away from the excited delirium and related propaganda campaign (indirectly sponsored by Taser by the way) and have found that the taser was the cause of death [LINK].

According to Taser's twisted and perverted world-view - this can't be happening.


If you believe that the risk of death-by-taser (internal, cardiac) is higher than 1-in-10 million, then you must also conclude that Taser and Kroll are wrong. And if they're wrong, then they're liable and deserve to be bankrupted.

So what is your position CPRC?


PS: Have your work checked (if you dare) by epidemiologist Dr. Chambers [LINK][LINK] to see if it jives with the real world statitics. There appears to be zero chance of any overlap between Taser's world-view and the real world (but that's just my opinion based on common-sense).

Update: See also previous post 'Injuries vs Death' [LINK]

Braccarius scores own-goal with list of organizations

A young and naive pro-taser commenter on CBC, the only pro-taser commenter as far as I can see, is getting spanked pretty good by the crowd.

Braccarius offered a list of what he assumed were reputable organizations that support "excited delirium" as an excuse for taser deaths:

• Canadian Police Research Centre
• Defense Research and Development Canada
• National Institute of Justice
• Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths

To anyone following the issue, some of these "organizations" are excellent examples. Because they clearly demonstrate what's actually been going on with Taser International and all their sleezy connections, both revealed and not yet revealed, to many such organizations.

CPRC had its chain yanked by its masters (see below). [LINK]

DRDC - they're probably okay (now). They're the ones that yanked CPRC back into line. [LINK]  I've not seen anything that reflects poorly on DRDC.

NIJ's report didn't actually state that tasers are safe. Their report actually raised a red flag about the risks of repeated taser hits. [LINK]

IPICD is, in my opinion, just a front for Taser International. See [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] and many, many more [LINK]. They're by far the worst of this list. Direct sleezy connections to Taser International and to those that promote "excited delirium". Whatever they were doing, they weren't very good at it...


All of these organizations have been mentioned on this blog before many times. Use the various blog search functions to look up more details.

It's an excellent list, but it doesn't prove what Braccarius thinks it proves.

His list indicates things that are much more interesting...

Tasers are what's 'off the rails'

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino says the taser debate "...has gone off the rails." [LINK]

No.

What's off the rails is the abuse, misuse and overuse of tasers. Tasering fare dodgers in Vancouver. Tasering old men in their hospital bed. Tasering exhausted immigrants. Tasering children in their bedroom. Tasering minorities after (reportedly) picking a fight with them.

I don't need to provide links - if you've been paying the slightest bit of attention then you know these examples (Canadian examples, each and every one) off by heart.

What's off the rails is the degree of influence that Taser exerts in Canada. Holding hands with Toronto Police officials at a dog & pony show. Sitting comfy beside CPRC in front of SECU. Paying coroners travel expenses. Making deals with police officers in positions of influence.

Ditto

What's off the rails is the unwarranted faith some people have in tasers, and (worse yet) Taser. See De-spinning the Spin at the top of the right-hand column. Look up Bernie Kerik and note that he was a Taser Director during a critical period.


Let me put a challenge to you:

What is your estimation of the risk of death associated with taser use once the X26 darts land on the chest and the victim is exposed to the X26's waveform current of 150 mA (RMS) of 19 Hz waveform at continuous 100% duty cycle?

Taser points to studies that foolishly 'calculated' 1-in-10 million. Taser claims the taser is "Safer than Tylenol". Do you think that they're correct?

But what if they're wrong (read it all)?


And don't miss the subtle point about karma: [LINK] and [LINK].


Debate 'off the rails'... {ROLLS-EYES} We're just getting started.

Canadian Police Research Centre

... Given all of this information, it is difficult to image how the Canadian Police Research Institute [Centre] reached its conclusion that the benefits of the Taser and similar devices outweigh the risks they pose to anyone who is shocked with any of them. ...

Link= YourLawyer.com


Well, the CPRC announced that they're going to try again. They're going to gather data for one year starting on 1 January 2008 and write another report.

May I make a strong suggestion? Why not include late-2007 in this study? Do you have any reason not to go back a few months and include the recent spate of taser-related deaths in late-2007?

Any reason at all?

Cults - Part 2 - The CSIS Cult Checklist

A Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) report contain a check-list to help determine if you have a cult on your hands. [LINK] Let's see how the Taser Fan-boy club stacks up against this list.

(Extracts, see complete list at [LINK])


Characteristics of Cults:

Apocalyptic Beliefs - Without tasers, we would have to shoot to kill many more people.

Dualism - "good versus evil" Black and white - no shades of gray. They claim that Tasers are (essentially) perfectly safe. In their minds, there is no room for any doubt whatsoever.

The persecuted chosen - The recent Kaye & Momy Show [LINK] had overtones that they thought they were being unfairly persecuted. [LINK]

Imminence - The end of the world is nigh.

Salvation through conflict - Must... taser... anyone...

Charismatic Leadership - the High Priests of the taser world. Nifty black turtlenecks and cool sunglasses. Weilding nifty taser toys; pointing them at the camera. Looking a bit like Satan's foot soldiers (oh, that part is arguably true). [LINK] [Goofy twits.]


Threats:

Weapons Acquisition - Must have more tasers. "All officers need tasers." [LINK]

Institutional Infiltration - Do I even need to provide examples? CPRC tried to put out a pro-taser report sans peer review. [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] Toronto Police holding hands with Taser. [LINK] Pro-taser studies packed with pro-Taser insiders like Dr. J. Ho [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] and many others [LINK]. The NIJ panel has unmitigated pro-Taser fan-boy, Billo the blogger [LINK], sitting on the panel (!) who exaggerates and twists the NIJ findings. Coroners and police officers [LINK] [LINK] in apparent conflicts of interest. Strange links from Taser to the IPICD. [LINK] It goes on and on and on and on and on...

Criminal Activity - Bernie Kerik, former Taser High Priest (Board of Directors), made $6M from Taser, now facing 142 years on unrelated charges [update: now facing only 28 years]. Taser's distributor in France arrested. Other very serious accusations (not proven).


Early warning signs:

Humiliating circumstances - LOL. See [LINK] and many others...



It's obvious that The Church of The Taser shares some characteristics of a cult.


"Cult" - it's just a label.

But it sort-of helps to explain some of the otherwise-inexplicable behaviour by some of the more rabid pro-taser fan-boys.

It also helps to justify the requirement for some serious intervention and deprogramming of the cult members.

In other words, a taser moratorium.


At least long enough to press the reset button and start all over again from the opposite premise - that tasers are potentially lethal. Then build up from that new starting point.

Stephen Palmer - tasered and died of inconclusive causes

A certain Stephen Palmer is (was?) the (former?) Executive Director of (what once was?) the Canadian Police Research Centre [LINK] (a.k.a. CPRI, a.k.a. CITIG [LINK]).

The CPRC basically tasered themselves to death. They were (in my opinion) seduced by the slick talking stungun salesmen [LINK], got way too involved with defending the safety of tasers [LINK], and then they appear to have had their chain yanked (hard) [LINK], and appear to have been shut down [LINK].


And now, tragically, Stephen Palmer has been tasered and died.

#465 - December 30, 2009: Stephen Palmer, 47, Stamford, Connecticut [LINK] [LINK]


Of course, it's not (as far as we know) the same Stephen Palmer. But still... ...the irony. Seriously, you really couldn't make this sh_t up.

See also the Jesus list [LINK].

Taser spin: the weapon versus the shocks it emits

CJAD Radio on-line: Taser spokespuppet Stephen Tuttle is also anxious to see the CPRC study but stands by the weapon, adding no medical examiner has ever attributed any stun gun death to the weapon itself. [LINK]


Nice one Steve. The weapon isn't to blame. Just the shocks that it emits.


De-spin time:

Three prominent coroners have found that...
"Pikes died of cardiac arrest caused by the taser shocks..." [LINK]

So Steve, not the weapon itself, but just the electric shocks that it emits?


What are we left with? The in-house spokespuppet for Taser making a meaningless distinction between the weapon and the shock that it emits? This amounts to nothing more than a damn lie (and not even a good one unless the audience is so ill-informed as to buy it).


Attention decision-makers of Canada - what does Taser have to do before you speak out against them? How low can they go before you yank their chain?

Attention CACP - Why do you support companies that use such evil spin? Have you no morals?