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.



Sunday, October 18, 2009

Taser QotW: "Is that the best you've got?"

Australia - A North Queensland man, aged 21, has stunned police by proving impervious to a Taser deployment and casually removing the barbs - not once but three times. Octavian Borges casually removed the barbs fired into his upper body by police during a tense situation at Townsville on Monday.

...so the weapon was deployed with the barbs hitting him in the shoulder and rib area. Incredibly, the Taser appeared to have no effect on him and he removed the barbs, taunting police with “is that the best you’ve got?” Second and third taser deployments were also unsuccessful.
[LINK]

The most likely explanation for the first failure is defective equipment. Given the relatively high failure rate (10 to 12% of tasers in Canada were found to be out of spec) it just seems to be the most likely explanation.

Update - police will send the unreliable taser for testing. [LINK] Hey, suggest you test all of them. Double-digit failure rate is common in Canada.

The QA standards at Taser International are best described as erratic. I've not seen any mention that they're ISO9000 or CMMI certified. Perhaps they are, but most companies highlight such achievements prominently.

Given the life and death nature of their products, perhaps it's past the time when the P.O.s should include a clause demanding independently audited Quality Assurance standards such as ISO9000.


And in other news...

Tacoma - ...used a Taser on the driver, but with no effect. The driver and a passenger sped away, dragging the Kent police officer. ... [LINK]

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