Canadian Universities Do Not Support Taser International

In March 2005, two major Canadian universities – the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Carleton University - demanded that Taser International remove links to their Universities from its website.

This was a significant development, given the intense international scrutiny of the weapon's manufacturer and the ongoing debate about whether the weapon was as safe as the company had led everyone to believe. Taser International had neither requested nor received permission to use letters from individuals at these universities to “affirm the life-saving value of Taser as a safer, effective non-lethal use of force”. The links on Taser International’s website implied agreement and support from the Universities which never existed.

In 2004, I wrote a letter to Dr. Hendry, a Cardiac Surgeon at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, to ask him if he was aware that his name and that of the Ottawa Heart Institute were being used on Taser's website to tout the weapon's safety. He returned the call the same day, seemingly quite alarmed, and he very quickly thereafter demanded that Taser International remove the link. (On its website, Taser International had referred to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute as the “Canadian Heart Institute.” I suppose that moniker gave it more perceived clout.)

Later in 2004, I wrote a letter to Carleton University for the same reason. In February 2005, the Dean of the University sent me a copy of a letter to Taser International from the Department of Electronics demanding that they remove the link from the website.

Neither of these individuals, nor their institutions, had given Taser International permission to use their names to promote the weapon and neither was even aware that these links existed until it was brought to their attention.

Eventually - and they took their own sweet time - Taser International finally removed the references to both from its website.