Teamwork, training will help save lives

May 8, 2009
Letter to the Editor
The Guelph Mercury

Dear Editor - Re: Too Close For Comfort -- April 25

In response to your recent article, I do not believe the goals of the Canadian Centre for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths were accurately portrayed to your readers. As an 18-year police officer and educator I see firsthand the value of teamwork and the importance of training.

The Canadian Centre for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths is committed to protecting the lives of all persons involved by:

Delivering current, objective, and scientifically supported evidence to emergency personnel so they can continue to protect and serve;

Promoting teamwork among all involved emergency services to effectively manage crisis situations;

Maintaining and encouraging transparency in our conferences, training curriculum, and our practices; and,

Ensuring that honesty and integrity remain at the core of what we do, which includes accepting no funding from any outside organization, such as Taser, that would compromise the provision of impartial education.

There is little doubt that controversy surrounds the condition referred to by many as excited delirium. There have been unfortunate outcomes, including death, that have resulted. This is why the work of the Canadian centre is so important.

We want to ensure access for emergency personnel to the best possible education and research so that they can make the wisest decisions, no matter the situation they face.

The training helps emergency personnel increase their knowledge base so that they can continue to effectively serve and protect their communities.

Gary J. Mulder, President, Canadian Centre for the Prevention of In-Custody Deaths, Inc., Guelph

I received the following comment, which I post here so that it is not missed:

The US IPICD (Lawsuits) made half-assed attempts to obscure the links from Taser International. These links were exposed by bloggers and shown to be much tighter than had been portrayed.

Now we have a Canadian clone popping up with a trademark-violating copy of the US logo, the same role, similar relationships, and we're asked to believe that everything is on the up-and-up?

To be clear, if he says that money has changed hands, then I'm sure that they've made sure that no money has changed hands. Fine. That's not the point.

The fact is that the Canadian outfit really is an obvious clone of the US outfit, and Canadian critics aren't so stupid that we will allow ourselves to be fooled about the true purpose of this made-for-a-purpose outfit.

Mr. Mulder's company obviously exists to promote 'excited delirium' as a phony excuse that can be conveniently used to try to obscure the links from taser deployments to death.

The simple test of his independence is the following question:

Can a taser cause a death?

What's his answer?