Mission Statement - De-Spinning the Pro-Taser Propaganda

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

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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, October 9, 2008

Trading in tasers...

City of Fife, Washington State - Assistant Chief Mark Mears stated, "When the department found out there was an alternative to tasers, we felt that we had a responsibility to our citizens and police officers to take a look at it. Having reviewed the features and capabilities of the S-200 as well as having several officers attend Stinger's training, we concluded that the S-200 is utilizing state of the art technology for Electronic Control Devices. We liked the fact that the Stinger puts less [reportedly 75% less] electrical current into the body than the taser. Not only does the S-200 meet our requirements, it also is a great economic decision for our tax payers. We therefore, decided to take advantage of Stinger's trade in our taser program and will be sending them back our existing units." [LINK]

My summary would be that the X26 tasers 'suck'; and Stinger Systems 'suck 75% less' (the reported reduction in electrical current as compared to the X26 taser). The 75% reduction in waveform current would make a huge change in the actual level of safety when one considers the shape of the bell curve.

Stinger Systems is also better in another way - they do not make false claims of safety even in spite of their improved safety margin.

Police departments may wish to consider that there may be a liability issue if you choose to purchase tasers when a safer alternative exists. Something to think about...

Disclaimer - I'm not a fan of Stinger Systems, but they're a step in the right direction.

No comments: