Veteran pathologist says he believes tasers can contribute to sudden death

May 21, 2008
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — There are no obvious features on a body to indicate to a pathologist that a Taser has directly caused a death, a former chief coroner told a B.C. public inquiry Wednesday.

But Dr. John Butt, who was the former chief coroner in Alberta and the chief medical examiner in Nova Scotia, said he believes Tasers can contribute to a sudden death. "There is no specific pathology related to death by Taser," Butt told the inquiry into Taser use.

He told retired judge Thomas Braidwood that when the anatomical cause of death is elusive, a pathologist must turn to so-called "proximate" events, such as intoxication from alcohol or cocaine, heart disease, or the force involved in the takedown by police.

"Often there is no hard-core, pathological information from the autopsy," Butt told reporters after he delivered his submission. In terms of what you see with your naked eye, nothing there."

He was reminded that Taser International's opinion of its stun gun is that it does not kill.

Butt noted the company says the weapon doesn't kill "directly." "But when you have a pre-existing cardiac condition and you deploy the Taser and the death occurs instantly, then I don't think it's an easy thing to dodge the responsibility."

Butt told the inquiry that he took it upon himself last year to try to become an expert in Tasers and has read on the subject widely. He said his research suggests Tasers are being used about 600 times a day in North America. "I would have concerns about the number of times it's deployed knowing that some of the rules for engagement are not sound."

The inquiry has already heard that police forces in B.C. don't have a uniform policy on Taser use and the training regimen varies from force to force, as do policies surrounding its deployment.

"The issue is rules of engagement," said Butt. "What are they? Are they the same for the Vancouver police department as they are for the RCMP?

"Have they been looked at as an ethical concern? I think one would want to look at them as an ethical concern knowing that there have been issues of sudden death associated with them."

Butt also expressed concern about the widespread marketing of the weapon, noting that it is being bought not only by more and more police forces but also by citizens for personal protection.

The inquiry heard Tuesday that the New Westminster police department has 20 Tasers and informs its trainees that injury or death could result. But it also provides no first-aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation training.

Butt suggested that issue would come up in the second part of the Braidwood inquiry, which will look at Tasers and their connection in the death last fall of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport. Dziekanski had spent many hours in the airport and was agitated and throwing things. When four RCMP officers arrived to deal with him, he appeared confused and agitated. He was hit with a Taser almost immediately after police arrived and died shortly afterwards.

"I think you're going to hear a lot in the second part of the inquiry," said Butt. "I join with most of the people that they are very happy there is a video to look at (of Dziekanski' death) and I join most people in their concern if police don't have proper training in CPR."

Police need to know tasers can kill: MDs

May 21, 2008
Suzanne Fournier, The Province

Tasers can cause fatal cardiac arrest and are especially dangerous if the person being Tasered is agitated, stressed, dehydrated, exhausted or has heart disease, two top Vancouver heart specialists warned yesterday.

The Taser may be particularly dangerous if a dart hits close to a person's heart and is hazardous to any of the more than 35,000 British Columbians who have pacemakers or implanted defibrillators, the doctors told the Braidwood Inquiry into Taser use.

Police forces need to know the risks of using the Taser and be fully-trained in resuscitating heart-attack victims, the specialists said.

Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and a professor at the University of B.C., warned the inquiry that "Tasers must be regarded as being capable of causing cardiac arrest."

The Taser might be safer than a gun or club, said Janusz, but it can cause cardiac arrest and police should be "cognizant of this hazard. This will require a 'mindset' of providing immediate, thorough and meticulous care of critically-injured persons."

Janusz told commissioner Tom Braidwood, a retired B.C. judge, that the risk of dying after being Tasered is similar to the chances of dying during or after major heart surgery.

Janusz cited San Francisco cardiologist Dr. Zian Tseng's findings of about "1.4 per cent mortality for individuals subdued by police using a Taser, [which] is similar to the mortality risk of a coronary-artery bypass operation."

Dr. Charles Kerr, a cardiac electrophysiologist at St. Paul's and a UBC professor, warned that "the perception one gets is that the police officers do not seem to recognize that situations in which a Taser is used could lead to death."

Kerr said there may be a place in policing for the Taser and it is "better than a bullet," but he said it is essential that police understand "there is a potential for harm."

Kerr said although the possibility is low, it appears that even one dart of the dual-dart weapon hitting near the heart could trigger ventricular fibrillation, in which
the heart beats wildly and then stops.

People with "psychiatric disturbance" or who are on drugs are even more at risk, said Kerr.

Even "the pain inflicted by the Taser discharge" and the "extremely agitated state of most people receiving a Taser shock" increases the likelihood of ventricular fibrillation, he said.

As if to underscore the medical specialists' cause for concern, New Westminster police Staff-Sgt. Joe Spindor said later that most Taser training in B.C. is done by the manufacturer or by others like him who have been trained by Taser International.

"They stated the Taser is safe," said Spindor, explaining he was not told it could cause cardiac arrest.

Spindor said police in B.C. do not yet collect or share data on Taser use or its consequences.

Police do not carry defibrillators, said Spindor, who said the New Westminster police have used the Taser without incident since 2000.

Braidwood is inquiring into Taser use by municipal police, sheriffs and corrections officers.

Tasers can cause cardiac arrest: heart surgeon

May 20, 2008
By MATT KIELTYKA, 24 HOURS

Taser International’s credibility was called into question by a leading heart surgeon at the Braidwood Inquiry yesterday.

Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon and clinical professor at UBC, told the inquiry that most physicians would conclude that Tasers are capable of causing heart problems under the right circumstances.

And he questioned Taser’s reluctance to support that view.

“It creates a problem with credibility with the company and can make it difficult to deal with the company regarding safety,” Janusz said. “Tasers must be regarded as being capable of causing cardiac arrest. The consequences are not trivial.”

Both Janusz and expert cardiologist Dr. Charles Kerr, who also made presentations at the inquiry yesterday, said police need to recognize the risks of using a Taser – no matter how small – and be prepared to deal with complications immediately.

Extremely agitated people are especially susceptible to heart problems because of their increased heart rate and other metabolic changes, according to Kerr.

“There should be a realization that the potential for sudden death does exist,” he said. “Policy should recognize that.”

Kerr says officers should be fully trained in resuscitation and have defibrillators within reach when a Taser is deployed.

160 new tasers for Manitoba RCMP

May 20, 2008
By CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG - The RCMP in Manitoba is buying more Tasers for its officers.

The provincial division of the police force has spent about $160,000 to buy and ship 160 newer models of the controversial weapons, which will increase the number of Tasers it uses by about 10 per cent.

Documents about the purchase say 26 of the Tasers will "increase the inventory" of units that are in use, while the rest will replace older models.

The new Tasers will be smaller, which the documents say will make it easier for plainclothes or undercover officers to conceal.

The documents were released to the Winnipeg Free Press under the federal Access to Information Act.

Manitoba RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish says the new purchases mean there will be 237 Tasers in use among approximately 1,000 officers in the province.

While the documents say the new Taser is 60 per cent smaller and 60 per cent lighter than the current Taser used by the RCMP, they say it has the same peak of 50,000 volts.

Taser use is a controversial subject following the high-profile death last October of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport. The 40-year-old, who did not speak English, was videotaped by a bystander after he was shocked by RCMP officers and lay convulsing on the floor of the airport, later dying.

Last Thursday at an inquiry into the incident, Dziekanski's mother wept as she urged an end to Taser use.

Manitoba Mounties started using Tasers in 2003.

The weapons are made at Arizona-based Taser International, said Karpish, and then they're fired and tested, catalogued and inventoried by an armourer in Regina.

Karpish said that no additional training will be required for officers using the newer model of Taser, beyond a two-day session required for all officers using the weapons.

The report notes other Taser products "would require a major retraining initiative at significant cost to the RCMP."

Tasers could cause cardiac arrest, doctor says

May 20, 2008
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

The electrical shock from a Taser stun gun used by police could cause cardiac arrest, a Vancouver heart surgeon told a Taser inquiry today.

"One can conclude the risk of death from a Taser is small but not insignificant," said Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital.

"Tasers must be regarded as being capable of causing cardiac arrest," he said. "The device appears to be safer for all concerned, including bystanders, than guns and clubs, but its consequences are not trivial," he added.

"Hearts don't simply stop," he told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood.

Janusz said there has to be underlying heart disease or other contributing factors such as lack of oxygen due to asphyxia or massive blood loss or severe metabolic abnormalities such as acidosis or abnormal potassium levels.

He said first responders should be thoroughly trained in providing first aid and use of a defibrillator.

Another expert, Vancouver cardiolist Dr. Charles Kerr, made s similar submission.

Janusz also questioned the credibility of Taser International, the manufacturer of the Taser. The company maintains Tasers could not cause cardiac arrest.

"This creates a problem with respect to the credibility of the company and could lead to difficulty in dealing with the company in matters of safety standards and training requirements," he said.

Kerr, who practises in the field of electrophysiology and is current head of the Arrhythmia Management program at St. Paul's Hospital and the University of B.C, told the inquiry that a heart beats as the result of an electrical impulse.

Of most concern about the use of the Taser is the electrical function of the heart ventricles, the main pumping chambers of the heart.

Kerr said there is a potential for harm and cardiac arrest.

"It is my opinion that there is a small possibility that an electrical discharge from a Taser dart could directly induce ventricular fibrillation," he said.

Kerr said the pain inflicted by the Taser causes intense muscle contraction, an increase in heart rate and adrenaline-like chemicals and sympathetic nerve discharge.

"This coupled with subsequent physical restraint of the individual could also result in the inability to breath adequately and possibly a drop in oxygen levels and changes in the acid balance in the blood, which would make the patient more prone to ventricular arrhythmias."

While the Taser appears to be a much safer weapon than guns for both victims and police, police do not seem to recognize that Taser use could lead to death, Kerr said.

In such situations, he added, people should be ready to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and use automatic external defibrillators.

"It would seem reasonable to recommend that an automatic defibrillator be readily available in such circumstances," Kerr said.

Cardiologist, heart surgeon tell Taser inquiry weapon can cause cardiac arrest

May 20, 2008
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Two heart specialists told an inquiry into the use of Tasers on Tuesday that a jolt from the weapons can "almost certainly" cause heart problems and possibly even sudden cardiac arrest.

Dr. Michael Janusz, a heart surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of British Columbia, told the inquiry that based on his study of available literature on Taser use, "almost all physicians would conclude that Tasers can induce ventricular fibrillation."

The hearing was told ventricular fibrillation is an extremely rapid rhythm in the heart's lower chambers, leading to ineffective contractions of the heart.

"In summary, Tasers almost certainly can cause cardiac arrest in humans, particularly in people with underlying heart disease," Janusz said.

A spokesman for Taser International has told the inquiry that Tasers are not risk free and that the term "non-lethal" does not mean safe.

Taser International has maintained there's a big distinction between a Taser jolt being the cause of a death and it being a contributing factor.

Dr. Charles Kerr, another UBC professor and a heart surgeon, told the inquiry Tuesday that based on his reading of animal studies and the agitated state of most people who receive a Taser shock, he has concluded a Taser jolt could induce ventricular fibrillation.

"Whatever the cause of death in patients receiving Taser discharges, there does appear to be the potential of a cardiac arrest situation, as has been demonstrated on a number of occasions," Kerr said.

In a state of ventricular fibrillation, "the heart cannot pump blood and, unless it is interrupted quickly, sudden cardiac death will follow."

Both men also agreed outside the inquiry that the Taser may still be preferable to a firearm or a club.

Kerr was asked whether they should be used when many questions about their safety remain unanswered.

"My personal opinion is that they are probably better than a bullet but I think we need to have the understanding that the entire situation, whether it's the Taser or (Taser contribution) there is no question that there have been situations of sudden death," Kerr told reporters.

Janusz said each situation that a police officer uses a Taser has to be judged independently. "Certainly in many or most situations it's a safer alternative than a gun or a club. "But I believe the risks are there and you have to be cognitive of the risks and be prepared to deal with any consequence arising from it."

The current phase of the inquiry is looking at the use of the weapon in general and the next phase will look specifically at the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport last fall, after he was hit with an RCMP Taser.

Victoria police board approves ‘pain compliance’ use of taser gun

May 16, 2008
By Keith Vass - Victoria News

The Victoria police board needed minimal discussion this week to approve a policy amendment that clears the way for police to use a 50,000-volt Taser shock for 'pain compliance.'

Last month, the Victoria News reported that the department's use-of-force policy governing Taser use was silent on the weapon's 'push stun' mode.

The written policy only endorsed the use of Tasers as a 'force presence' or for an officer to deploy the weapon's barbed probes to disrupt a subject's muscle control.

In push-stun mode, electrical contacts at the weapon's tip are placed directly against a subject.

According to training slides provided to the News by the Victoria Police Department's Taser program co-ordinator, Const. Mike Massine, "the push-stun mode affects the sensory nervous system ONLY, making it a pain compliance weapon that will not cause (loss of muscle control)."

The policy now contains a clause that reads "a push stun can be used to cause localized motor dysfunction or to gain compliance from a subject who is displaying active resistance." Police define 'active resistance' as any situation where a subject is refusing to comply with demands, including turning away or saying 'No.'

In a four-minute discussion at Tuesday's meeting, none of the board's seven members questioned the amendment or what differentiates push-stun use from probe deployment.

Before the board passed the amendment unanimously, provincial appointee Catherine Holt asked for clarity as to whether the terms 'push stun' and 'drive stun' are used interchangeably and was told they are.

Esquimalt Mayor Chris Clement questioned other sections of the policy. In response, interim Chief Bill Naughton said 120 of the force's 220 officers are trained in Taser use. He said the term 'lower lethality' used to describe the Taser indicates "the likelihood of death is remote but possible."

An analysis of 183 Victoria police incident reports from 2005 to 2007 revealed the device was used in push-stun in 57 per cent of all cases where police activated their Tasers. Often, it was used to get a subject already pinned to the ground to produce their hands for cuffing.

Naughton told the board that he expects the Taser policy will need to be amended again after the ongoing Braidwood inquiry into Taser use by police forces in B.C. Twelve other inquiries are ongoing or scheduled across Canada.

See also TASER POLICY GAP WORRYING

See also IN THE LINE OF FIRE

RCMP use of tasers has more than doubled in past two years

May 19, 2008
Marianne White, Canwest News Service

While the RCMP is on the hot seat at the inquiry probing the use of Tasers in British Columbia following the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, documents from the Mounties show their use of stun guns has more than doubled across Canada between 2005 and 2007.

According to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act by Canwest News Service, the overall use of Tasers by the RCMP soared to 1,119 incidents in 2006 and 1,414 in 2007, compared to only 597 incidents in 2005.

The majority of the incidents took place in western Canada where the force does a lot of front-line policing -- Quebec and Ontario have their own provincial forces.

About a third of the RCMP use of Tasers occurred in B.C., the province where Mounties deployed their 50,000-volt weapon the most. The use of Tasers in B.C. jumped from 218 incidents in 2005, to 406 in 2006 and a high of 496 in 2007.

When you look at the use of Tasers per capita, B.C. still comes first in the country with 11.26 incidents per 100,000 people. P.E.I. comes second with 11.18 incidents per 100,000 people, followed closely by Manitoba at 10.83, New Brunswick at 10.78, Saskatchewan at 10.76 and Alberta at 10.64.

Former B.C. premier Ujjal Dosanjh, now a Liberal MP and public-safety critic who is sitting on a parliamentary committee examining stun gun use in Canada, said he is deeply worried by this dramatic increase in his province as well as everywhere else in the country.

"What we see is that the Taser is now being used as a substitute for the good-old traditional talking by police, or the baton or pepper spray," said Mr. Dosanjh.

The RCMP have been under fire for months over the death of Mr. Dziekanski who received multiple electrical jolts from Mounties stun guns at the Vancouver airport last year. An amateur video of the incident showing the 40-year old writhing on the floor provoked an international outcry.

The national force was also criticized last week at a B.C. inquiry into the use of Tasers for being trigger-happy and using the stun gun as a compliance tool.

Mr. Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, told the inquiry she holds the RCMP responsible for her son's death. "I know my son would not die if he was not Tasered," she said during a short, but very emotional, testimony.

As questions are mounting about the safety and effectiveness of the stun guns, a review of the Taser incident reports shows the RCMP falls short of providing answers to those who criticize its use of the controversial weapon.

Officers are required to fill out a form every time they fire or draw a Taser. In the more than 4,000 reports filed since the Taser was introduced in 2001, the RCMP blacked out the injuries suffered by stun-gunned suspects as well as the summary of events that could have shed some light on how and why the officers use the Tasers.

Some summaries are totally blank, while others give very little information such as "members responded to call" or simply "intoxicated."

The police force cites the need to protect privacy to explain why it removed basic details from its reports. "We have to strike a balance between the individual rights to privacy and releasing information. If we release information about a person that has been Tasered in a small community, maybe someone will come out and say ‘Hey, I know that person'. So that's where we are getting into difficulties," said RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Nathalie Deschenes.

In the incidents reports obtained by Canwest, the RCMP also censored the injuries suffered by people, if the incident involved a mental health crisis and what police tried before resorting to the stun gun.

The reports did show that more than half of the suspects were under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they were Tasered and that they were not armed.

The RCMP defended the stun gun that is often seen as the best option to neutralize a threat without having to draw guns. "There are no cookie-cutter scenarios where the Taser will be used or not. It's not because a person is under the influence of alcohol or drugs that he or she will be Tasered, it all depends on the circumstances," said Sgt. Deschenes.

Mr. Dosanjh, who testified at the B.C. inquiry last week, said there should be stricter guidelines about when police can deploy Tasers. "The use of Tasers has gone up in the last few years partly because the forces feel freer to use them under circumstances where they are not needed," Mr. Dosanjh said.

The RCMP said they don't plan to divulge more details of the incidents reports, such as what the officer did before resorting to the Taser.

The RCMP have some 2,800 Tasers and more than 9,000 officers are trained to use it.

Taser tales - there's a viable alternative to controversial weapon

May 19, 2008

Editorial in the Edmonton Sun

By EDWARD GREENSPAN

"To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail." -- Mark Twain

To someone with a Taser, everyone looks like Frankenstein's monster, in need of a jolt.

Taser proponents state the Taser is capable of temporarily incapacitating a person while often causing little, if any, bodily harm. Great concept. But in reality, people do die after a Taser has been used on them.

It does not take a degree in electrical engineering to understand that 50,000 volts of electricity cannot be good for the human body. If it were, jumping on electric fences would be a form of exercise. In any event, there have been dozens of deaths in which the victim died shortly after coming into contact with a Taser.

A website called taser.org claims that consumer models have "more stopping power than a .357 Magnum" and the .357 is a pretty powerful weapon, as we all know from Clint Eastwood. Supporters argue that Tasers are overwhelmingly safe in practice. So are airplanes, but they do crash on occasion, even when the pilot does nothing wrong. We haven't banned airplanes because, despite the risk, we trust pilots and ground crews to allow a plane to fly only in minimally safe conditions. Pilots are trained. Where is the training for the proper use of the Taser? With the Taser, experience has already shown that the likelihood of abuse is too high.

Fare dodgers

In Canada there have been instances where Tasers have been grievously misused. Vancouver's transit police have reportedly used the Taser at least four times against would-be fare dodgers (better known as "Operation A Fare to Remember").

Tasers should be used only in situations that call for at least a Taser, and no others. It is inevitable that the authorities will abuse them and use them in situations when it is inappropriate to do so.

I don't trust any police officer, let alone a transit cop, to exercise the necessary restraint before using the Taser. What makes a Taser so dangerous isn't the Taser itself, but the belief that it is harmless.

When someone believes they can use a weapon without causing harm, that person will abuse the power to use that weapon.

It brings to mind Stanley Milgram's famous psychology experiment in which test subjects were willing to impose increasingly severe electric shocks on a counterpart claiming to have a heart condition.

I am convinced that in most situations where a Taser would be considered appropriate, the police could probably do just as well without it.

In London, a city with a population three times as big as Toronto, patrol officers (bobbies) still carry nothing more than a baton and pepper spray. Before anyone is zapped, minimally the police should determine if the zappee has a pacemaker.

As a technological Neanderthal, I can think of a far safer and cheaper alternative to the Taser: The lasso.

Solution

Robert Dziekanski died in Vancouver airport after police used a Taser on him. I have no doubt in my mind that if he had instead flown to Calgary during the Stampede, he could have easily have been detained by a cowboy with a rope and lasso and thus would be alive today.

If a cowboy riding on a fast-moving horse can lasso running cattle with incredible precision, why wouldn't it have worked in Vancouver? Sometimes old technology is still the best.

I am opposed to police using Tasers. If the police could actually be trusted to use Tasers with restraint, I'd be shocked.

See other recent editorials.

Forget report, [Australia] police will get tasers anyway

May 19, 2008
Sydney Morning Herald

The government won't wait for the Ombudsman's report on the safety of Tasers.

The NSW government is to go ahead and arm police with Taser stun guns even before a state ombudsman's report into their safety has been completed.

There have been a number of Taser-related deaths overseas, including three in Canada late last year. A United Nations committee has declared their use could be a form of torture.

But NSW Police Minister David Campbell says he won't hold off any longer because the public expects action. The government has spent more than $1 million on 229 new Tasers, and 2000 police across NSW will be trained to use them, before they are put in the field at the end of this year.

The decision to roll out the weapons has been taken without waiting for the publication of NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour's report into the controversial devices. After several months in preparation, it is due in six to eight weeks time.

"The reason the government's made this decision (to introduce Tasers) is that governments are elected to make decisions," Mr Campbell said today.

"I received advice from the (police) commissioner, from operational police, that these devices would be useful. The government is about making decisions not necessarily about sitting around waiting for reports."

The ombudsman's report would examine Taser training and safety issues, police operational procedures and the effects of stun guns on individuals, as well as fatal cases from around the world, a spokeswoman said.

A range of agencies, including police from across Australia and overseas contributed to the report, she said.

Mr Campbell has said every Taser would have an in-built video camera with up to 90 minutes of footage in order to hold officers accountable.

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione yesterday said Tasers were a "less than lethal option" that would aid frontline police in dealing with difficult situations often fuelled by drugs and alcohol.

The new weapons mark the first time general duties police will use stun guns, with the 50 devices currently in use in NSW restricted to specialist commands, including the Tactical Operations Unit and the Riot Squad.

Mr Scipione has defended the safety of the weapons. "(Tasers) do not affect the heart or other vital organs - that we know. That is what the research tells us," Mr Scipione said. "The Taser in itself is not likely to cause anyone to die."

There would be some cases where Tasers would not be used, for example on a pregnant woman. However, children under the age of 18 could still be shot with one, he said.

Concerns rise on taser use

May 18, 2008

EDITORIAL IN TODAY'S Chronicle Herald (Halifax)

THE grieving mother of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died after being Tasered by Mounties at Vancouver’s international airport last fall, last week told a B.C. public inquiry into Taser use that the incident has "shattered" her faith in the RCMP.

Police forces across Canada which use Tasers should be paying close attention to Zofia Cisowski’s words.

Despite a string of unexplained incidents – in Canada and elsewhere – in which people have died after being Tasered, police spokesmen have continued, for the most part, to defend Tasers as safe, useful tools for law enforcement. Tasers are proven to have saved thousands of lives, they say, echoing claims – and sometimes the precise numbers used – by the device’s manufacturer, Taser International. Tasers are a superior alternative, backers claim, when otherwise deadly force might need to be used.

The trouble is, the real life evidence backing these claims is sometimes sparse.

If thousands of lives have been saved because of Taser use, surely police forces can produce hundreds of examples showing where that was the case. As for the claim of Tasers being a better option than firearms, surely police are not saying they would otherwise have had to use their guns in incidents such as when an 82-year-old man was Tasered in his hospital bed in B.C. recently because he was brandishing a penknife, or when a Dartmouth teenager was Tasered in her own bedroom in February 2007, after being unco-operative with police called to the house by a parent.

The public’s faith in the judgment of law enforcement officials – including the transit police in Vancouver, who have been Tasering some people who have attempted to flee rather than pay their fares – has been continually eroded by reports of incidents in which police officers use Tasers both too quickly and against inappropriate targets. It’s as if police, rather than trying to talk down situations, reach for the "Easy" button and draw and fire their Tasers.

Even more disturbing is recent evidence that Tasers may, in certain circumstances, affect the heart’s internal rhythms. Dr. Zia Tseng, a San Francisco cardiologist and electrophysiologist, earlier told the B.C. inquiry that Tasers pose potentially fatal health risks which are not taken into account by studies "proving" the devices’ safety. Taser research, he said, is done under optimal conditions, not the kind of operational realities police officers often face. Fatal arrhythmias induced by Tasers wouldn’t show up in autopsies, Dr. Tseng also testified.

Earlier in May, the Canadian Medical Association Journal released a new study showing Tasers could, depending on how close to the heart a shock was administered and whether the subject being Tasered had excess levels of adrenaline or other drugs in their system, adversely affect heart rhythms. In light of those findings, the Journal’s reporting that RCMP operating manuals actually suggest Tasers might be the "most effective" way to deal with agitated, delirious people surely indicates those manuals need revision.

With serious questions about safety, and inconsistencies in police training and policies, we urge the Taser be holstered.

See other recent editorials.

"Excited delirium" blamed for deaths

May 17, 2008
Adrian Humphreys, National Post

The message inside the meeting room was one thing -- "we're not talking about Tasers" one speaker said three or four times during a presentation to 250 police officers and paramedics -- but the chatter outside was quite another.

"I've been Tasered twice -- once sober and once drunk," said an officer during the break. "How many times have you used yours?" another asked a colleague. A third complained her force now makes her fill out a form every time she uses her Taser, while another described it as "kind of freaky" zapping someone for the first time.

As emergency personnel reached past the baskets of apples, cookies and chips during conference breaks, talk quickly turned to the Taser, the police-issue stun guns thrust into the public spotlight when an agitated Polish immigrant in Vancouver's airport collapsed and died after being hit by police Tasers and held to the ground.

Controversy over the increasing use of Tasers and the attention accorded in-custody deaths is, after all, why most are here, in Guelph at a conference hosted by the local police force on recognizing the signs of excited delirium.

While the Taser draws most of the heat, debate over precisely why people die after a brisk battle with police to restrain them -- whether using a Taser or not -- is growing as more attention is being paid to a condition that is only now being popularized.

On one hand, the officers and medics who are called to deal with the agitated and disturbed

people say they know the phenomenon well. They have seen the irrational responses, bizarre behaviour and hyperactivity of the people; they have felt their superhuman strength as they struggle.

Police readily grab hold of the medical terminology of "excited delirium" to describe it.

That excited delirium is a condition almost exclusively associated with a struggle with police, however, creates concern with some. One does not hear of a person dying of excited delirium during a barroom brawl or a fight with a spouse or when out camping or shopping.

"Anytime you see a specific condition being referenced in only one context it raises serious question," said Graeme Norton, the director of the public safety project with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Opponents in the United States go further, saying the term is used to mask over-aggressive police force.

Excited delirium is a term that has been accepted in the United States by the National Association of Medical Examiners, but not by the American Medical Association. It has been dismissed as a "pop culture phenomenon" in the pages of the Canadian Medical Association Journal and listed as a contributing cause of death in several coroner's reports in Canada.

At Thursday's conference, such debate was pushed into the background. As the presentations progressed, few in the room seemed to be nonbelievers.

A jerky video projection showed a large young man -- naked and agitated -- walking down the street with only passing compliance with orders to stop that are repeatedly called out by a growing cluster of police officers anxiously fingering canisters of pepper spray in their latex-gloved hands.

When the man starts punching out large sections of a wooden fence, the officers move in, bathing him in spray and piling on him as he pushes back with apparent superhuman strength.

As the video of the confrontation finishes, Chris Lawrence, a trainer with the Ontario Police College, turns to conference attendees and parodies what critics of police are saying: "We'd like you to negotiate with this individual; we can't understand why you just can't talk to these people."

The room erupts in knee-slapping laughter.

"We don't do this because we want to; we do this because we have to," he said of police restraint techniques, including Tasers, pepper spray, batons, handcuffs and physical holds.

Mr. Lawrence studied 407 police-related deaths in Ontario that went to inquest and are archived at the police college. He found 35 cases where excited delirium was deemed a factor, either by name or by mention of common features. The first death was in 1988.

Only one involved a Taser, although more recent examples may still be in the inquest system and are not included in his study. All but one of the 35 victims was male. Their average age was 34.

He found excited delirium deaths occurred over the years on every day of the week, but most often on weekends. All of the victims were either substance abusers (overwhelmingly cocaine) or suffering mental illness (most often schizophrenia) but rarely both at the same time. He found cases where the temperature was 31C and cases where it was -7.2C; cases in the biggest city and in rural northern Ontario.

"We cannot seem to eliminate the problem," he said.

Dr. Christine Hall, an emergency room doctor with the Vancouver Island Health Authority, addressed critics who dismiss excited delirium because it is not listed in the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the standard guidebook to psychiatric diagnosis.

"It is not a diagnosis -- get over it," she said. "It is a state, a condition."

She compared it to other conditions, such as abdominal pain. Appendicitis might be the diagnosis for someone with abdominal pain. Excited delirium, she said, is a symptom or condition of an underlying disorder.

She echoed the contention that police restraint is typically necessary. "Psychiatrists do not undertake talk therapy with delirious people … the medic's job is not to capture people," she said. "Physicians and nurses do not undertake treatment on people who are trying to kill them."

Dean Popov, paramedic practice manager at Sunny-brook-Osler Centre for Prehospital Care, told the conference that no matter what police and medics do in these cases, it could end badly: "The outcome may still be negative, even if everything is done properly. We truly don't 100% know what is causing this yet."

See also: Excited-Delirium

New use-of-taser term is 'actively resistant'

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Neal Hall and David Hogben, Vancouver Sun

The deputy chief of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service told a provincial Taser inquiry Friday that it has changed its controversial Taser policy.

The new policy replaces the term "non-compliant" with "actively resistant," Ken Allen said.

The Taser policy was changed Monday by the GVTAPS board, which includes four senior officers and three civilians.

"The original policy allowed Tasering in situations where a person was non-compliant," Allen told the inquiry.

He said the change was done in response to concerns raised by the public.

"The concern was non-compliant could be construed as non-payment of fares by the public," Allen explained.

The old policy, adopted a year ago, caused a public outcry after it was learned through a Freedom of Information request that transit police had deployed a Taser on non-violent passengers, including a person who had not paid his fare and tried to run away from an officer.

The old policy stated: "A Taser may be deployed. . . to gain physical control of a non-compliant, suicidal or potentially violent subject."

Inquiry counsel Art Vertlieb asked Allen if the new policy would allow a Taser to be deployed on a person fleeing police during a "fare blitz" -- a check to see if passengers had paid fares.

"It would depend on the extenuating circumstances surrounding why the individual was fleeing," the deputy chief replied.

Allen said the GVTAPS has also asked the Police Complaints Commissioner to investigate every incident of Taser use by the transit police force in the last 10 months.

The transit police initially declined an invitation to appear before the inquiry but were ordered this week by Solicitor-General John van Dongen to appear.

The police force said it didn't initially make a submission at the inquiry because it did not want to do anything to interfere with the Police Complaints Commission investigation into Taser use by the force.

Allen told inquiry commissioner Thomas Braidwood that 93 of the force's 156 officers are trained to use Tasers. The force has 20 Tasers, which officers sign out each shift.

Allen said GVTAPS is the only armed transit police force in Canada. Last year, he said, the force recorded 43,000 incidents and made more than 2,300 arrests, including 666 for outstanding warrants, 92 involving weapons associated with robberies, 143 for assaults with weapons and 619 for drug offences.

Gordon Keast, whose freedom-of-information requests kicked off the transit police Taser-use controversy, was unimpressed with the change in wording for Taser-use policy.

"Combative or posing a risk of death or grievous bodily harm would be better" and is what the RCMP's public complaints commissioner has recommended, Keast said.

"Changing the wording does not mean the Taser is safe," said Keast, who pointed out that "actively resistant" is still open to a broad interpretation.

"It could mean turning away or saying no" to a transit police officer, he said.

He hopes the inquiry leads to provincial guidelines that do not allow for use of the Taser unless absolutely necessary.

"We need a provincial use-of-force policy governing Tasers and it's something the solicitor-general should be involved in determining," Keast said.

Earlier Friday, Dr. Joe Noone, a psychiatrist who is a director of a secure ward at Riverview Hospital, told the inquiry that police often use the term "excited delirium" to describe the agitated behaviour of people who die in police custody.

"It's being used more and more frequently to absolve law enforcement for in-custody deaths," he said, adding "excited delirium" is non-existent medical diagnosis that is used by Taser International, the U.S. manufacturer of Tasers.

He said he prefers the old police term "emotionally disturbed person."

Dealing with such people, he said, requires treating the person with respect and using non-threatening communication skills.

"We're working with them, not against him," Noone said.

Vancouver transit police change their policy on taser use

May 16, 2008
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - Ken Allen, the deputy chef of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service told a provincial Taser inquiry today that it has changed its Taser policy after recent controversy.

He said the new policy replaces the term "non-compliant" with "actively resistant," he said.

He said the Taser policy was changed Monday by the. GVTAS board, which includes fouir senior officers and three non-officers.

"The original policy allowed Tasering of persons who were non-compliant," Allen told the inquiry..

He said the change was done in response to concerns raised by the public.

The old policy, adopted a year ago, raised a public outcry after it was reported that transit police had deployed a Taser against a person who had not paid his fare and tried to run away from an officer.

Allen said the GVTAPS has also asked the Police Complaints Commisioner to investigate every incident of Taser use by the transit police force in the last 10 months.

The transit police initially declined an invitation to appear before the inquiry but were ordered this week by the solicitor general to appear.

The inquiry will resume Monday.

Sex sells tasers at Vegas show

May 16, 2008
Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

Vancouver businessman Randy Puder was drawn to the booth operated by Taser International at the Consumer Trade Show in Las Vegas last January. Playboy bunnies were signing photographs while salesmen pitched a new personal Taser that's small enough to fit into a woman's purse, he recalled.

"It was excellent marketing," Puder told a public inquiry Thursday probing the use of Tasers in B.C.

He got a signed photo from a Playboy bunny, which he showed to The Vancouver Sun. It has the Taser company logo on it. He was asked who he wanted it signed to and he said, half-joking, "The Vancouver police board."

Puder said he attended the trade show because he has his own electronic systems integration company and wanted to check out that latest technology.

While at Taser's booth, he said, he was approached by the company's international sales manager, responsible for sales in B.C., and Puder recalled asking questions about the testing of the Taser.

"I asked if it had been tested on psychotic people who had medications in their system. He said, 'No.'"

Puder said he has a personal interest in mental health issues because he was a caregiver for his late mother, who was bipolar, and his grandparents, who had Alz-heimer's. He has made submissions to the Vancouver police board on the issue, he said.

He also discussed with the Taser salesman what happened at the Vancouver airport with Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being zapped by a Taser. He recalls the sales manager saying: "Dziekanski would have died anyway."

(Later, outside the inquiry, Puder told reporters that the man said Dziekanski was suffering from alcohol withdrawal.)

"I was shocked, actually, which is why I'm here today," Puder told the inquiry, pointing out that his late brother, Gil Puder, was a use-of-force trainer with Vancouver police from 1990 to 1993.

Puder said he was a concerned citizen and suggested a moratorium should be placed on Taser use until there can be proper testing in Canada.

"Until tested in Canada by Canadian medical practitioners, it should be put on the shelf," he said of the weapon, which incapacitates a person through a five-second, 50,000-volt pulse of electricity.

"We are not the United States," Puder said. "We have an entirely different model of police and training."

He also raised a possible conflict of interest, pointing out that two officers who do police training have a website for their private company, Defensive Tactics Inc. of Vancouver, which says the officers -- Vancouver police Insp. John McKay and Sgt. Joel Johnston -- are trainers certified by Taser International.

Johnston made an earlier presentation at the inquiry, where he said he had approval from the police chief to run a private company. He is in favour of Taser use in B.C. and is the province's use-of-force coordinator for police services, a division of the Solicitor-General's Ministry.

Murray Mollard, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said in an interview he has concerns about Johnston being a possible Taser instructor to other police forces through his private company. He said Johnston is also in charge of a review of Taser use in B.C. for the B.C. Association of Municipal Chiefs of Police.

Taser killed my son, Dziekanski's mom says at inquest

May 16, 2008
Suzanne Fournier, The Province

All four presenters yesterday at the Braidwood Inquiry into Taser use called for a moratorium on its use, including the weeping mother of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who saw her son die seconds after being Tasered.

Zofia Cisowski said she was "shocked and distressed" to see how her son died, as captured on a bystander's video. "I know that my son would not die if he was not Tasered and I know he did not deserve the treatment he encountered at the Vancouver International Airport," she said.

Dziekanski was Tasered by RCMP after wandering around the international arrivals area for at least six hours on Oct. 14, following a flight from his native Poland.

Cisowski said: "Mr. Commissioner, my confidence and faith in RCMP and Canadian authorities are shattered."

Cisowski's lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj, who has attended the full two weeks of the inquiry, noted that police and government presenters "all agree on the fact that at the very least, a proper system of reporting, training and study be implemented. They all acknowledged that doubt existed over the safety of the Taser and that the issue of its safety had to be addressed first."

Demanding a moratorium, Kosteckyj said "it is time to put the genie back in the bottle and start from square one."

Amnesty International spokeswoman Hilary Homes, citing more than 300 U.S. deaths from Tasers and at least 19 in Canada since the weapon was introduced, also called for a moratorium on Taser use "pending a rigorous, independent and impartial study into their use and effects."

If no moratorium is declared, then the Taser's use should be strictly limited to situations where the next alternative would be deadly force, not as a "come-along" weapon used by police to make people obey them, said Homes.

And electronics consultant Randy Puder, also a mental-health advocate, said he asked Taser officials at a January 2008 Las Vegas trade show if the Taser's effects on people taking prescribed anti-psychotic medication has been studied.

"They told me they had no idea, and then they also chose to tell me that 'Dziekanski would have died anyway.'" Puder said he pressed them and was told, erroneously, that Dziekanski was suffering from alcohol withdrawal. In fact, autopsy results showed no traces of drugs or alcohol in Dziekanski's body.

Retired judge Tom Braidwood is the sole commissioner enquiring into Taser use by guards, police and corrections officers. Yesterday, he noted that the SkyTrain transit police, who reportedly have used Tasers on people resisting arrest, will likely appear before the inquiry today, after being ordered to do so by Solicitor-General John Van Dongen.

Braidwood's second inquiry into Dziekanski's death will likely begin in the fall, when the RCMP has finished its own investigations.

The inquiry continues next week.

Police learn about excited delirium

May 16, 2008
Lisa Varano, Guelph Mercury

The police encounter an agitated, paranoid, violent person who is naked and sweating profusely. Several officers are needed to restrain him because he is stronger than he looks and he won't stop struggling. He tries to kick out the windows of the police cruiser. Then, within minutes of quieting down, he is dead. What happened?

The person may have been in a state of "excited delirium," a medical condition that has garnered media attention recently.

Police officers and emergency personnel from across the province learned about the signs of excited delirium at a conference in Guelph yesterday.

The conference, organized by the Guelph Police Service, was the first in Canada to simultaneously educate the policing and medical communities about recognizing excited delirium. The condition has garnered attention recently because of some deaths in police custody.

Suspects in a state of excited delirium have died after being stunned with a Taser gun.

But an expert on excited delirium said deaths have also occurred in people who were not stunned. "We have no medical evidence" that police officers should not use a Taser on a suspect in excited delirium, said Dr. Christine Hall, an emergency room doctor and researcher in Victoria, B.C. She said research on excited delirium deaths should consider the effect of Tasers, but not fixate on the stun guns.

People in states of excited delirium have died of cardiopulmonary arrest in police cars, jail cells, ambulances and hospitals, Hall told 250 police officers and emergency medical technicians at Lakeside Church.

Excited delirium is not a diagnosis but rather a symptom of an underlying disorder, she said. Causes of excited delirium may include certain psychiatric illnesses, drug intoxication, alcohol withdrawal and heat stroke.

Police officers must restrain the person and describe the condition to medical personnel, Hall said. "What we're needing to start doing in Canada is to teach our nurses and our physicians what it is you're dealing with," she said.

Over the past decade Guelph Police have faced people a few times who may have been in excited delirium, said Constable Gary Mulder, a conference organizer and use-of-force trainer. None of them died in police custody, he said.

"First contact is the police. Then you get into medical involvement. Everybody has to treat it as a medical emergency," Mulder said. "We can't diagnose this person on the street. We're not doctors. We just have to recognize (excited delirium) and try to take the best possible course of action."

Excited delirium focus of meeting in Guelph (Ontario)

May 16, 2008
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

GUELPH -- Police officers and emergency personnel from across the province were in this city yesterday to learn about the signs of a controversial medical condition called excited delirium.

The conference, organized by the Guelph Police Service, was the first in Canada to simultaneously educate the policing and medical communities about recognizing excited delirium, which has garnered media attention in recent years because of some deaths in police custody.

Suspects in a state of excited delirium have died after being stunned with a Taser. But an expert on excited delirium said deaths have also occurred in people who were not Tasered.

Inquest called in Taser case

May 16, 2008
Mike Chouinard, Chilliwack Times

CHILLIWACK - An official inquest will be held into a case in which a man died last fall after an altercation with police that involved a Taser. Robert Knipstrom, 36, died shortly after midnight Nov. 24 at Surrey Memorial Hospital. He was on life support for several days following an incident at a Chilliwack business on Nov. 19. There was an autopsy after his death, but no results were released. Regional coroner Vince Stancato confirmed the B.C. Coroners Service will be looking into the case further, although no dates have been set.

Special prosecutor to review ruling in Summit jail death

May 15, 2008
By Ed Meyer, Beacon Journal staff writer

Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman was appointed today to investigate a possible appeal of a recent judge's ruling that changed the autopsy findings in the 2006 death of an inmate at the Summit County Jail.

On May 2, visiting Summit County Judge Ted Schneiderman ordered a change in the manner of death in the autopsy report on inmate Mark D. McCullaugh Jr., 28, from "homicide" to "undetermined."

Schneiderman's ruling followed a four-day trial over a civil lawsuit filed against the county medical examiner, Dr. Lisa J. Kohler, by Taser International Inc. and the city of Akron.

That suit challenged Kohler's findings that the use of a Taser stun gun was a contributing factor in the death of McCullaugh and two other unrelated deaths involving confrontations with Summit County law enforcement officers.

Five Summit sheriff's deputies are facing criminal trials in the McCullaugh case, and last week their lawyers filed a motion to dismiss all charges, directly citing Schneiderman's decision in their arguments to visiting Judge Herman F. Inderlied Jr.

A decision by Inderlied -- a retired judge from Geauga County who was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to handle the McCullaugh case -- is pending.

Deputy Stephen Krendick, 34, is facing the most serious charge, a single count of murder, in McCullaugh's death.

Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh asked for the appointment of Holman as special prosecutor, saying in court papers that it was being done to "avoid the appearance of impropriety or a conflict of interest."

Walsh argued that the conflict stems from Schneiderman's decision, "which goes well beyond the narrow scope" of Taser's civil suit.

The only issue in that trial, Walsh said, was whether the Taser contributed in any way to cause the three deaths.

But the broad scope of Schneiderman's ruling "orders removal of a variety of other findings, and thus ...any appeal would necessarily implicate the conduct of the involved law enforcement officers," Walsh wrote in her motion.

A spokeswoman for Walsh did not return messages seeking further comment on the possible appeal of Schneiderman's ruling.

Schneiderman, who retired from the Common Pleas bench in 2003, handles various civil and criminal cases as a visiting judge.

Summit County Common Pleas Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer, the court's administrative judge, approved Walsh's request for the special prosecutor and named Holman to handle the investigation.

Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman was appointed today to investigate a possible appeal of a recent judge's ruling that changed the autopsy findings in the 2006 death of an inmate at the Summit County Jail.

Hello and welcome, taser shareholders

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'I want justice,' sobbing mom tells taser inquiry

May 15, 2008
Neal Hall, Canwest News Service

VANCOUVER - The mother of a Polish immigrant who died after being shot with a Taser by Vancouver police told a public inquiry Thursday that her son would still be alive if they didn't use the controversial weapon on him.

"I know my son would not die if he was not Tasered," Zofia Cisowski told the Braidwood inquiry probing the use of Tasers in B.C. "My confidence and faith in the RCMP have been shattered," she said. "I want justice." Cisowski added she has faith that the inquiry will make recommendations "so another mother doesn't experience as much pain as I do." She broke down crying at the end of her short submission.

Cisowski's son, Robert Dziekanski, died Oct. 14, 2007, at Vancouver International Airport after he received multiple electrical jolts from an RCMP Taser. The incident was captured on amateur video, which resulted in an international public outcry and B.C.'s attorney general ordering the inquiry into the use of Tasers in B.C. before Thomas Braidwood, a retired appeal court judge.

The mother's lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj, a former Mountie, told the inquiry there should be a moratorium on Taser use in B.C. until the weapon is proved to be safe. "My client submits that the issues surrounding the Taser are so overwhelming that a complete moratorium must be put in place," the lawyer said. "The moratorium should stay in place until the concerns raised over safety have been answered and all the proper training and reporting concerns have been addressed."

Kosteckyj added: "It's time to put the genie back in the bottle and to start from square one. The advocates for the Taser need to prove that the weapon is safe, by thorough research, and that it will be used in the right circumstances and those safeguards exist that the public can reply upon."

At the very least, the electronic weapon should be repositioned higher in the police use-of-force standards and should only be used as an alternative to deadly force, Kosteckyj said. He said the weapon is now used in low-risk situations.

"The Taser appears to be reducing thinking time (of police)," Kosteckyj said. "In the Dziekanski case, there was no need to rush and move to the Taser. It is easily available and so four police officers, rather than take the time to diffuse the situation, chose confrontation."

He said the actions of the officers "embarrassed the country."

Kosteckyj said his client, a single mother who had been a carpenter in Poland, came to Canada nine years ago and now is living in Kamloops, B.C., where she works as a caretaker and for a janitorial service. Her goal was to reunite her family by bringing her son, an only child, to Canada to live with her so he could enjoy the freedom and opportunity that Canada had offered her, Kosteckyj said.

"She certainly never expected to be making a presentation before an inquiry, which is followed with national interest, but then again she didn't expect that she would be celebrating last Christmas on her own and laying flowers at an international airport to celebrate the birthday of her son or indeed spending Mother's Day alone as she did over the course of last weekend," the lawyer said.

RCMP should be forthcoming on taser use

May 15, 2008

Editorial in The Belleville Intelligencer

In the world of policing, when a suspect or even a witness is less than forthcoming, an officer's radar tells him or her someone's hiding something.

How should the Canadian public, then, react when it hears the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are steadfastly withholding information about how and when its officers use the controversial Taser?

Mounties have stripped any new answers from a heavily censored report on the high-profile stun gun incident involving Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver Airport. The report was obtained by The Canadian Press and CBC under the Access to Information Act.

Dziekanski died in the early hours of Oct. 14 after the RCMP hit the 40-year-old Polish immigrant with a Taser and pinned him to the airport floor. Police fired the electronic stun gun's metal probes less than 30 seconds after arriving on the scene of a sweaty, agitated Dziekanski, who had earlier tossed a small table and computer monitor in frustration.

There's a disturbing pattern emerging where the Mounties seem to be circling the wagons when it comes to scrutiny over the use of Tasers. The national police service has routinely avoided any details about how and when it uses Tasers when the issue of appropriate use of the device is questioned.

Opposition MPs and human rights groups have criticized the RCMP for being so secretive about the use of Tasers, including injuries suffered by people stunned and whether they were experiencing a mental health crisis at the time.

Many police agencies naturally don't like it when the media comes snooping. But, this is an extremely troubling pattern of obfuscation on the part of the Mounties as it goes to the core of public oversight in policing practices that may just be unsafe or, at the very least, require the kind of review that will come out of the Dziekanski/Taser hearings that have recently begun in British Columbia. The two-phase public inquiry being conducted in Vancouver is based on circumstances surrounding his death and the broader issue of the practice of Taser use by police.

But, the fact inquiries will likely extract all the information Mounties have recently blacked out of requested reports should not excuse the RCMP from their stonewalling tactics.

A national police agency thumbing its nose at public oversight is simply not acceptable.

Missing from the requested report is the name and rank of the officer who fired the Taser, the name of his supervisor, details about the duration of the firing and the number of times the weapon was used in stun mode - a contact Tasering that's akin to leaning on a hot stove.

Pressure is mounting on the Mounties to lift the lid on what went on in this case.