UK – TASER International, Inc. Lands London Police Contract (2014-04-15)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: In a TASER press release, we read that the London Metropolitan is about to start trialling 500 TASER International of AXON on-body wearable video cameras. TASER CEO says: "EVIDENCE.com has been in New Zealand since 2009 and has expanded its data-center deployments on Amazon Web Services to Dublin, Ireland; São Paulo, Brazil; and Sydney, Australia." Says TASER CEO; Rick Smith. This will ...
USA – California: East Hollywood fatal officer-involved shooting investigation underway (2014-04-13)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Unclear here whether the taser may have contributed to a homeless man’s death. Probably not, just police over-reaction: Los Angeles police use a taser in an altercation with a knife-armed suspect. Witnesses say the suspect was a homeless man who usually frequents the area. They described him as being elderly, between 70 and 80 years old. The taser failed to subdue him. ...
UK – Independent Police Complaints Commission makes recommendations to force after investigations into use of Taser in custody cells (2014-04-14)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Two incidents in Lancashire in July and September 2013 involved Taser being used by officers attempting to carry out strip searches, and led to complaints by the detainees. Although the investigations found that the use of Taser could be justified in both instances, there were some areas of concern highlighted by the IPCC. These involved how incidents were reported by the police ...
USA – Hartford, Connecticut Man Dies After Police Shock Him With Stun Gun (2014-04-13)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: State police and the Hartford State’s Attorney are investigating the death of a Manchester man, 22-year-old Jose Maldonado who was shot with a stun gun while resisting arrest early Sunday. He died after struggling with officers at the East Hartford Police Department, according to state police. According to state police, Maldonado seemed to suffer medical distress” after the stun gun was used. ...
USA – San Diego, California: Privacy an issue with police body cameras (2014-04-12)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: The San Diego Police department has been rocked by numerous allegations of sexual misconduct in recent years. Partly in response, body-worn cameras are projected to be adopted. Following the results from Rialto Police Dept., TASER AXON cameras are being trialed. “We’re doing this for the accountability of our officers, and regaining the public’s trust that has been somewhat eroded away,” says the ...
USA – Watching the Watchmen: Are Police Officers’ Body-Worn Cameras a Win for Accountability? (2014-04-12)
[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Thousands of police departments around the nation are beginning to implement the use of portable cameras worn on officers' lapels, helmets or sunglasses. Nearly one in every six police departments are actively patrolling with body-worn cameras, according to one expert on the matter. They are being hailed as a success in terms of police accountability. Police, it seems, are going to “lawyer-up” ...
UK – Wiltshire Police defend Taser use increase (2014-04-11)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Taser use by Police in the South of England has more than doubled between 2012 and 2013 according to the latest figures released by the Home Office. The Wiltshire Police Chief says this is because the Taser is an effective way of controlling dangerous or threatening offenders. With more Taser trained officers this would naturally equate to increased use but processes have ...
USA – Should Vermont restrict police use of Tasers? Electronic devices described as both a deadly threat and lifesaver (2014-04-11)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: A Vermont Senate committee hears conflicting view on taser deployment. Some say it should be used instead of a firearm. The ACLU warns of insufficient training has made Tasers too dangerous in Vermont and the cost of settlements. A police training director says police are trained to use a Taser when a subject is doing more than simply pulling away…]]
Burlington Free Press, ...
USA – Torturing Children at School (2014-04-11)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: Civil rights lawyers are filing complaints about dangerous disciplinary practices involving tasers cropping up all over the country. In Texas, a disabled 15-year-old was shocked with a Taser three times during an interrogation at school, resulting in punctured lungs. And in New York, civil rights lawyers have sued the city of Syracuse on behalf of two students. One was shocked three times, ...
USA – New Mexico: Report: Albuquerque Police Dept (APD) guilty of Taser abuse (2014-04-11)
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: APD has a problem with the use of force against civilians, particularly tasers. The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday issued a report yesterday, devoting a full seven pages of its 46-page report to the APD’s use of Tasers. DOJ investigators pointed at numerous examples of Taser use the agency found unreasonable. The DOJ write: “Officers engaged in a pattern of using ...