Guelph police board backs officer

Two anonymous comments I received today:

Anonymous said...
Oh yes, the fact that the Chief of Police in Guelph is monitoring Mulder should be enough to appease Miss Gillman. This woman has been monitoring taser misuse and abuse for 5 years now and has never been far off the mark. Perhaps we should all consider learning more about this non medical police/taser coined condition "exited delirium" since a good majority of us will probably suffer from it if taser use is not curbed. However, very nice of Chief Davis to "feel sorry" for Ms. Gillman over the brutal tasering death of her brother Robert. This issue goes far beyond the death of her brother...it encompasses the tasering deaths of 409 citizens to date. The list of the dead continues to grow...and the list of concerned Canadians is growing with the mistrust of our police forces and their documented brutality and coverups. So who are we to believe...Chief Davis and his monitoring? I don't think so!!!

May 22, 2009 2:11 PM
Anonymous said...
But Mulder's company ~IS~ linked to Taser International. Perhaps indirectly, but the dots can be connected.

1) His company is an obvious clone of the US outfit, and the US outfit has been linked to Taser International in several ways. (A bit stupid to copy the logo if you're trying to maintain an air of independence isn't it?)

2) Mulder also admits that he was in direct contact with the US outfit. It would be interesting to review his communications records if push comes to shove.

3) Also the purpose of Mulder's outfit includes promotion of the convenient excuse for a taser-associated death ("excited delirium"), very similar to the US outfit.

Mulder can claim pure-as-the-driven snow independence, but we do not have to believe him.


May 22, 2009
Greg Layson, Guelph Mercury

Guelph Police Service Chief Rob Davis stands by his man.

Davis yesterday defended Const. Gary Mulder and his private business, called Canadian Centre for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths Inc., which bears a striking resemblance to an American company called Institute for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths.

Both companies offer emergency responders training in recognizing potentially dangerous in-custody circumstances and offer strategies to reduce the risk of fatalities. Both also tout the existence of a condition called "excited delirium" and offer training on recognizing and handling it.

The American firm has corporate links to Taser International. According to Mulder, his does not.

In an email sent April 27, outspoken stun gun critic Patti Gillman, whose brother died after being Tasered, requested the Guelph Police Services Board once again examine its conflict-of-interest policies because Mulder was allowed to start a private company.

Gillman's concerns were examined again yesterday at the Guelph Police Services Board meeting. Davis prepared a report and supplemented it with a recent study that supported the use of Tasers.

"We investigated the concerns in her email and there is no connection (to Taser International)," Davis said. "We're standing firm that everything was done properly."

Davis said he is satisfied and will not monitor Mulder's business.

"Any time an agreement is reached between a member and the board and approval is granted, they are responsible to abide by the rules set forth," Davis said. "We don't monitor the approval once it's been made but if something comes to our attention we'll investigate it."

City of Guelph councillor Gloria Kovach, who sits on the police board, was also satisfied with Mulder's arrangement.

"Due diligence was done," she said. "We should be promoting extra educational opportunities like this."

Last year, Mulder organized a Guelph seminar on excited delirium. More than 300 emergency personnel attended.

Excited delirium is a controversial term that describes a state of mind and body in which individuals are agitated, exhibiting both incoherent speech and extreme strength. It is not, however, listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association.

Gillman doesn't subscribe to the theory. Davis does.

"I feel sorry for Patti Gillman and the loss of her brother, but we still need to be progressive in recognizing this and training people in recognizing this," said Davis, whose department has a policy to, if possible, call for an ambulance before using a Taser.

The report Davis prepared cited a study published in Blue Line Magazine. It concludes the Taser M26 and Taser X26, which the Guelph Police use, are both safer than some over-the-counter headache medicines.