(2014-03-20) CANADA – Public meeting planned as Guelph Police expand Taser use [[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: According to the Ottawa Police, an Information session organized to allay fears about the devices, but the Police are to get more Tasers. The police service has set aside $15,000 in the 2014 operating budget to purchase six of the […]
[[ SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Ottawa police carrying Tasers will face additional training hours and more stringent reporting requirements as part of new use-of-force guidelines released by the province of Ontario and be required be required to complete 12 hours of training, up from eight. Officers will now have to fill out the forms any […]
[[ SUMMARY / COMMENTS : (Video here) Police in Virginia have accused of shocking a suspect – Lantz Day, 36, a passenger in a car that damaged five parked vehicles as it sped through downtown – with a Taser for 42 consecutive seconds. Police claim he was belligerent and threatened them. The driver fled the scene, […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Police said there were a total of 52 Taser deployments in 2011, 2012 and 2013, 12 more than reports released. But the reports do reveal the situations police face and what has prompted them to use the weapons. Out of 40 Taser-related reports, 18, almost half, mention mental health issues. calls […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Summary of the just-released “Health effects of conducted electric weapons” report. Focus on the conclusion that respiratory and cardiac risks are limited due to a lack of high-quality evidence; still, the study states that “while fatal complications are biologically plausible, they would be extremely rare.” 9000 tasers in use in Canada, […]
[[Summary / Comments : Even if they are considered “non-lethal” tasers – and Flashballs – need to be more tightly controlled. The Defender of Rights for the first time takes a position on these “intermediary” weapons – they can only be used when strictly necessary and proportional; to the situation. The Defender of Rights receives […]
[[Summary / Comments: A bill before the Vermont State legislature, co-sponsored by 30 legislators, would prevent a death like Macadam Mason’s in June 2012 from happening again. “His death was completely unnecessary” says a legislator, who knew him personally. Police with access to tasers would get training in mental health issues to prevent their “unwarranted” […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: While welcoming many aspects of the new Saskatchewan guidelines, Amnesty International remains concerned that the threshold for use – imminent high risk of bodily harm – is simply too low. Need for clear national legislative framework for the use of tasers and to limit the use of tasers to situations involving an […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Amnesty International welcomes new Saskatchewan guidelines on when tasers may be used by remains concerned about the threshold of use: “‘Imminent high risk of bodily harm,’ is an improvement but we really want to see something at the level of ‘imminent threat of death or serious — as in potentially life-threatening […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: a Macon police officer fatally shot a man – Sammie Davis Jr. – at a local grocery store. There has been a lot of talk about what nonlethal options the officer might have had. But some law enforcement agencies are saying: “The risks associated with Taser use outweigh the benefits in our […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENT: Reporting the Maui County settlement: $40,000 to a woman who was tasered 4 times in her home in 2006. The police had claimed she was the aggressor in a domestic violence dispute. Police later dropped all charges. This case sets a precedent across the United States: tasers can only be used if […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: In a long article, we learn that New Jersey police are “ecstatic”: they are about to get tasers, new Jersey being, according to this article, the last state to approve their use. Interesting to diuscover that earlier they were permitted to be used only on mentally disturbed people, and the weapons were […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : The National Parks Service is investigating a ranger’s use of her stun gun in subduing arresting Gary Hesterberg, who was illegally walking one of his dogs off-leash, in the Rancho Corral de Tierra open space area Sunday afternoon. The police say he also , knowingly gave a fake name and tried […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : Police Chief tells a neighborhood meeting: we will examine how his officers deploy the newly popular taser weapon—every time they pull the trigger. Citizens complaining of over-use against young trouble-makers are told: “Tasers are a great tool. They actually save lives.” – with no substantiation. New Haven Independent, by Allan Appel […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: There is not mention of tesers here, but this article raises serious questions about Canadaian police officers using excessive force and the this is part of the “police culture”. Obviously the user-friendly taser comes in very handy in this atmosphere of what can rapidly become “police brutality”. This report also suggests that […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS : The B.C. government says it’s now implemented all of the recommendations for the police use of Tasers that came out of the Braidwood inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport four years ago. Police will now get better training on Tasers, the weapons will only be used if […]
[[SUMMARY /COMMENTS: In general an investigative report showing TASER in a very positive light. A major U.S. TV network reports – including video footage – on part of the controversy surrounding tasers in the USA: enormous litigation costs for the company. TASER Inc. CEO Rock Smith: “We changed the rules of the game”: instead of […]
[[SUMMARY /COMMENTS: In an important decision, the the 3 judges on North Carolina Court of Appeals “ruled that a stun gun (an X26) “is a dangerous weapon that endangered or threatened Scott’s (victim) life.” The decision was ananimous.The case does not involve police use of tasers, but a woman who was tasered at a Walmart […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: A June 2011 ACLU Arizona report – the “most comprehensive survey of Taser use by law enforcement agencies in Arizona to date,” – illuminates the following key findings: Tasers are widespread among law enforcement, providing officers with Tasers does not guarantee lower levels of use of lethal force, officers often receive inconsistent […]
[[SUMMARY / COMMENTS: 10 taser-related deaths are reported from Montgomery County, Maryland]] MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) — A car accident turned into chaos. Montgomery County police ended up using a taser on the driver and then he died. Adam May reveals a growing number of taser-related deaths in Maryland. Moments after a car smashed into a […]