Blair's 2006 report on use of the Taser by the ETF

October 16, 2006
Don't taser me!
Don Weitz, The ACTivist Magazine

"It's important to note that the overwhelming majority of people tasered or threatened with tasers during the Toronto police force's recent 3-month 'pilot project' posed no immediate or serious threat to the officers' life or personal safety. One-third of the citizens taser-targeted were psychologically vulnerable, which challenges Chief Bill Blair's conclusion that "there is no correlation between TASER use and EDPs [emotionally disturbed persons]" ('Statistical analysis of the 2005 Annual Report: Use of Tasers' by the Toronto Police Service, August 15, 2006).

Let's take a look at another section of Blair's 2006 report on use of the Taser by the ETF (Emergency Task Force or 'SWAT Team'). In this report, we find the Taser targeted a disproportionately large number of psychiatric survivors or emotionally disturbed persons ("EDPs"). According to this report, among 65 people tasered in Toronto in 2005, 26 or 40% were "EDPs". Another disturbing finding is that among these psychologically vulnerable people, nine or approximately one-third were classified as "suicidal." In short, police threatened to shoot or shot suicidal citizens with the Taser's 50,000 volt-electrical barbs!"