Letter from a Concerned Canuck

In response to this November 21st report: Caught on tape: Officers using tasers I received the following letter to FOX 8 Cleveland from "Concerned Canuck":

FORCED to use Tasers? The police choose to use the weapons when and how they do. In your edited examples, you showed unarmed, non-combative citizens being repeatedly shocked with a weapon the U-S Courts have decided is "deadly". One man was even hand-cuffed.

I write to you as a concerned Canadian citizen who has examined this issue extensively for many years. Please check the recent ninth circuit court decision in North Carolina, where the judges unanimously agreed Tasers are, by legal definition, "Deadly Weapons". Should police be using such a weapon on a handcuffed or unarmed suspect?

And now the manufacturer of this 'non-lethal police tool' has itself admitted its devices can cause dangerous metabolic and cardiac changes, which can lead to death, especially among vulnerable populations. It warns police not to use multiple or prolonged stuns. It warns police to avoid chest shots.

If you check the fine print of the latest training manual for the X26 model you'll discover, like I did, that there is a very long list of risks and warnings that was not there a decade ago, when police first purchased Tasers. The company said then that their devices were "safe to use on any assailant". That is not what they are saying now.

Has human physiology changed in ten years? Has the technology changed? NO-the only change seems to be the manufacturer's opinion of its own products. This admittance in the waiver should be all you need to see --to tell you the truth -- that Tasers were deployed prematurely without enough scientific scrutiny by any government on either side of our shared border —and now the legal responsibility is being thrown over to law enforcement. Police failed us too, with a lack of due diligence, because they never verified the initial safety claims made by Taser International.

Also of great concern is the fact that these electrical devices are not measured regularly in any police detachments across North America. This is -- ahem-- shocking, when you consider that according to Truth-Not-Tasers.Com, which has kept a death toll based on media accounts, 700 citizens have died after being 'tased', including a Tuscon police officer last week. Officer Fung was a healthy man who suffered a massive heart attack, a day after being 'tased' in a training exercise. I wonder if he bothered to read the fine print of the waiver? Did he sign it? And will his cop buddies agree so readily to being 'tased'?

A few other things your reporter might like to dig into -- shocks between 30 to 100 milliamps can kill. Yet Tasers have peak outputs of 151 to 162 milliamps. Don't be fooled by Taser's use of 'averages', as the danger is in the peaks. And despite taser's assurances that the there is consistent current being emitted, our national public broadcaster, the CBC, proved there is 'output variance'. They found in a random test, using Taser's own test protocol, that 12-percent of the weapons performed above the safety allowables set by the company.

Neither the UL, IEC or CSA have ever measured the Taser, nor would they, they say, because one of the modes of use of the weapon utilizes invasive probes which emit current INTO the body, where resistance is next to nil. Check with the UL -- they will tell you there is no electrical safety standard yet developed for internal shocks, just external shocks, where skin resistance provides a barrier.

The lack of safety standards for non-lethal technologies is why NIST - the National Institute of Standards & Technology - is working with other scientists to develop a proper measurement protocol. But there will have to be TWO TEST PROTOCOLS for the TWO MODES OF USE: drive stun and the more dangerous dart/probe mode.

It took a major Public Inquiry in British Columbia to do it, but Canadian police have raised the Taser in the use-of-force continuum, to just below the firearm, only to be used as a last resort, in truly violent, life-threatening situations. Americans have to decide too — is it okay for police to continue to use the taser so cavalierly? Lakewood’s police chief told you this is exactly what the taser is for, “allowing us to have somebody compliant … without actually having to put hands on, wrestle or fight with them.” Should a deadly weapon be used to gain compliance? There have been too many "unintended consequences", but deaths will continue if police use the Taser the way they have.

Concerned Canuck

Canadian condolences to the family of Tucson PD officer Henry Fung who died of an apparent heart attack on Tuesday this week, one day after he reportedly "volunteered" to take a taser jolt on Monday for "training" purposes.

The medical examiner must STRONGLY recommend that the taser(s) used on Henry Fung be measured for 'output variance'. As we have learned in Canada, not all tasers perform the same way. Many have tested way outside the safety allowables set by Taser International. The medical examiner (and all the doctors in the world) CANNOT rule out the taser until the shock from the weapon itself has been definitively ruled out. Proper measurement is required.

On CBS News last week, Taser International said that proving the taser did NOT play a role in a person's death is an UNPROVABLE supposition. There's your starting point. Click here: http://bit.ly/tT8iYq

It's notable that no one has reported the duration and number of stuns Officer Fung recieved. Usually when a citizen dies after being shocked by a Taser, he or she is blamed, because they had so-called "excited delirium", were on drugs or had a previous medical history (doesn't everyone have a previous medical history??).

Taser International has been warning about multiple and prolonged stuns only in recent years even though, at the beginning, they told police, policy-makers and the public that the taser was "safe to use on any assailant".

That is NOT what they're saying now. One must wonder if Officer Fung was given an opportunity to read the fine print of the latest Volunteer Waiver Taser International put out.

Read closely and it is ALL there: Tasers CAN CAUSE dangerous and deadly metabolic and cardiac changes. Several "suspects" have died MANY HOURS after taser shocks because of changes brought on by acidosis, which causes the muscles surrounding the heart to fail.

The city of Tucson cannot accept the "averages" Taser International spouts -- according to the original spec sheets, the true PEAK OUTPUT of Tasers varies between 151 and 162 milliamps, when "working properly". Any first year med student can tell you that shocks between 30 to 100 milliamps can KILL. Add to that, the invasive nature of a taser used in 'probe mode' - resistance under the skin is next to NIL.

And another shocking revelation: there are NO electrical safety standards for shocks UNDER the skin. Check with the Underwriters Laboratory, the IEC or Canadian Standards Association and you will quickly confirm this fact.

Taser International has some SERIOUS explaining to do. And you can be sure that their damage control machine is in full swing. I follow the company on TWITTER and they are a company which normally posts several TWEETS per day. They've been ominously silent since the day police officer Henry Fung died.

The Department of Justice ought to investigate how this technology was approved without enough rigorous science being applied.

One pig in 1996 and five dogs in 1999 and no true human trials until years after initial sales, should be alarming to all citizens.

Cop sues CBC over Tasered teen story

May 13, 2011
Tony Blais, QMI Agency - Edmonton Sun

EDMONTON - Edmonton police officer Mike Wasylyshen has filed a $100,000 defamation lawsuit against the CBC regarding a TV broadcast about him repeatedly Tasering a city teen.

According to a statement of claim filed in Court of Queen¹s Bench on April 28, Wasylyshen alleges the 2009 broadcast falsely stated he admitted to committing a number of violent and potentially criminal acts.

In particular, Wasylyshen claims the story stated he is a cop with a record for assault who is "admitting to once again crossing the line," which he says implies he has admitted to having committed an assault or other crime.

The 12-year veteran also alleges the April 29, 2009 item on the 6 p.m. TV news stated he had admitted to both having "repeatedly Tasered a passed out teenager then beat him" and having hit the teen so hard on the back of the head with the butt of the Taser that he "snapped off a tooth when he landed face first on the ground."

According to the statement of claim, the broadcast, when taken as a whole, is defamatory because it falsely states Wasylyshen has admitted to having used unreasonable and excessive force towards a defenseless teenager when carrying out his duties as a police officer.

A statement of defence has not yet been filed. Statements of claim and statements of defence contain allegations which have not been proven in court.

Wasylyshen is currently before a police disciplinary hearing regarding the 2002 Tasering incident on internal charges of unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority and insubordination, and is awaiting a decision.

According to agreed facts, Wasylyshen and four other officers were dispatched to a complaint of a group trying to steal a parked car on Oct. 5, 2002, near Abbottsfield Road.

The cops ordered the people out of the car and three of four people inside exited, but Randy Fryingpan, then 16, was passed out in the back seat from drinking and did not respond to the order to get out of the car.

Wasylyshen then deployed his Taser on Fryingpan eight times in 68 seconds "in what appeared to be an effort to remove the passed-out youth from the vehicle," according to the Law Enforcement Review Board decision.

At the disciplinary hearing, Wasylyshen testified he Tasered Fryingpan six times, not eight, and maintained it was an appropriate use of force.

Wasylyshen, 35, was fined $500 and given a criminal record on April 16, 2009 for a Dec, 18, 2005 off-duty incident on Whyte Avenue where he drunkenly punched a man on crutches he called a "cripple," and threatened to burn down the home of a security guard who helped him.

Radio-Canada sells its television documentaries on the taser controversy to Canal+ in France

Le Groupe Canal+, en France, a acheté et diffusera sur ses ondes un condensé de la série de reportages de Radio-Canada Taser: l'arme de la controverse. La série, qui faisait le point sur cette arme de défense, avait été diffusée dans le cadre des émissions Enjeux et Enquête à la SRC et The National sur CBC. Canal+ a acquis les quatre volets de la série pour en faire une version courte, de 26 minutes, présentée dans le cadre de Spécial investigation à différentes heures de la journée entre le 18 et le 24 octobre, sur les ondes de Canal+ et Canal+ Décalé.

And now, back to our regular programming.

Hundreds of faulty RCMP Tasers destroyed or pulled

April 18, 2010
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The RCMP has destroyed or retired hundreds of Tasers after laboratory tests found some Mountie stun guns were not performing properly.

Internal RCMP notes obtained by The Canadian Press say 15 per cent of the older M26 model Tasers and one per cent of the newer X26 models did not test within technical tolerances.

Draft statistics provided by the force say that as of December, 149 M26s and 60 X26s from across the country had not performed within specifications.

The Tasers that did not meet tolerances "were destroyed and replaced by divisions," says a December briefing note to RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, released under the Access to Information Act.

In addition, the draft figures indicate several RCMP divisions had either replaced or planned to retire more than 200 other M26 stun guns.

The RCMP declined to provide additional updates, saying the force would publish the final test results this spring.

It's "inherently problematic" that the RCMP, which has been using Tasers for more than eight years, didn't test the devices before putting them in the field, said Rob Holmes, president of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

"It should have been done from the get-go."

Serious questions of stun gun reliability first arose in December 2008 when a scientific review commissioned by the CBC and French-language Radio-Canada concluded that four out of 41 guns tested actually discharged more electrical current than Taser International says is possible.

In some of the test firings the police weapons delivered 50 per cent more current.

Last June, Elliott ordered all Tasers in the RCMP inventory be tested. A short time earlier, he directed all divisions to pull their M26s from service until testing could confirm they were operating within specifications.

The RCMP's testing protocol was developed in January 2009 by MPB Technologies, an independent electronics lab, with input from the government-run Canadian Police Research Centre, Carleton University scientists and stun gun manufacturer Taser International.

The RCMP has long maintained the Taser contributes to officer and public safety when properly used in appropriate situations by well-trained officers.

Critics say police use the powerful devices to make unco-operative people comply with orders even when they don't pose a threat to officers or bystanders.

The force is working on an overhaul of its Taser policy following recommendations from inquiries prompted by the death of air passenger Robert Dziekanski.

Dziekanski, en route to British Columbia from Poland to join his mother, Zofia Cisowski, died in October 2007 after being hit with a Mountie Taser at the Vancouver airport.

A video of the confrontation filmed by a fellow passenger, in which an agitated and disoriented Dziekanski is zapped repeatedly, was seen by millions of people -- stirring public outrage and widespread re-examination of stun gun use.

The RCMP recently apologized to Cisowski and agreed to a financial settlement.

The RCMP's Taser destruction and retirement program represents a shift towards the newer-model stun gun, seen as more technically reliable than the older version.

As of mid-March there were 1,114 M26 Tasers in use by the RCMP, down from 1,623 when testing began, and 2,262 X26 Tasers in the Mountie inventory, up from 1,561.

Former judge Thomas Braidwood, who led a B.C. public inquiry on Taser use, said while the guns can kill or gravely injure people, they can also be a valuable option for officers.

In an initial report, Braidwood said police should use a Taser only when someone is causing harm to another or there's a possibility they will imminently do so. He also recommended that stun guns be tested periodically.

Alberta has declared that Tasers used in the province be tested annually and that any new ones be scrutinized before being put into service.

"As a result of the guidelines issued by B.C. and Alberta, a long-term strategy will have to be developed for ongoing testing," says the RCMP briefing note.

Taser International did not respond to a request for comment on the RCMP-commissioned lab tests.

B.C. transit police release video of taser incidents

March 6, 2010
CBC News

Metro Vancouver's Transit Police Service on Friday released video of nine incidents in which its officers deployed Tasers in response to a CBC freedom of information request.

CBC originally requested videos of 10 incidents from 2007 and 2008 in which transit police used stun guns while making arrests.

According to police, an independent investigation by B.C.'s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner has since concluded that in nine of the incidents, the person who was hit with the Taser either assaulted or actively resisted the officers before police used the stun gun. The commissioner's finding cleared the way for the police to release videos of those incidents, transit police Insp. David Hansen said.

One other case remained under investigation, so the video of that was not released.

Four of the incidents involved people who were initially stopped for fare evasion, but police say that in each of those cases, the person was resisting arrest or assaulting an officer before the Taser was deployed.

All of the incidents happened in 2007 or 2008, when police policy allowed officers to use stun guns when dealing with "non-compliant" individuals. They were recorded either by cameras on the weapons themselves or transit surveillance cameras.

Transit police policy has since been re-worded to restrict officers to using the stun guns only when dealing with someone who is "actively resistant."

Police also said that since the change, there has only been one incident in which transit officers used a Taser, and that case involved a man armed with a butcher knife.

Public scrutiny of the use of Tasers grew following the death in October 2007 of Robert Dziekanski, who died after being stunned several times by RCMP officers at the Vancouver airport.

Tasered - A Documentary

Watch it HERE.

CBC - Doc Zone

Ten years ago, the Taser® was hailed as the defining breakthrough in modern policing – a weapon that would allow police to subdue “even the largest and scariest people on the planet” without engaging in violent confrontation … a 21st century weapon that would temporarily incapacitate 100% of the time, but never kill.

‘Non-lethal’ declared the company’s promotional material in 1999. The company’s word was enough. Police departments embraced the new and promising technology.

A decade later, more than 400 people have died in North America ‘proximal to Taser use.’ That is raising doubts about those early claims. Human Rights groups clamor for more independent research into the weapon and national standards for its use. Newspaper editorials demand the kind of testing that they say was not done those ten years ago. Today the Taser is described as ‘less-lethal’ and capable of causing of injury.

There have been other setbacks for the Taser. In Canada, three public inquiries have been called into its use. One has already declared the Taser capable of causing serious injury and even death but, paradoxically, also declared society safer with the weapon in use than without it.

The other two inquiries will report in 2010. But will those inquiries make a difference? In the ten years since Tasers were introduced, the weapon has made its way into police departments in almost 45 countries – some 15,000 forces worldwide. Taser International, the weapon’s American manufacturer, boasts that it is the force option most used by police. Each and every day, some 500 people are tasered.

And its use is spreading. In 43 U.S. states, civilians can buy a Taser in retail stores or at sales parties in their own homes.

Tasered takes a comprehensive look at the Taser after ten years. The documentary examines the Taser from within a major Canadian metropolitan police department – the Calgary Police Service (CPS). They have been using Tasers for more than 4 years. And they’ve been keeping what are arguably among the most comprehensive ‘use of force’ statistics in North America since they adopted its use.

We tell the story through the CPS Use-of-Force Officer, Acting Inspector Chris Butler, an internationally recognized expert. Butler is a Master Taser® Instructor, certified by Taser International. He has even published on the topic. He is thoughtful and reasoned. He defends the Taser but is not blind to potential problems. Problems, he says, that can largely be avoided with proper training.

We follow CPS Recruit Class 185 as it undergoes that training. We are there as these soon-to-be officers learn to fire their Tasers – it takes less than an hour. We watch as they line up for what has become a rite of passage in many police forces: to be tasered voluntarily in the back just to experience how it feels.

We show how the probes leave the weapon and embed into a target’s skin. But the slow motion images reveal something else – the little-known, police accountability features built into the weapons: AFIDs – small confetti-like tags – that immediately identify who fired the weapon and the built-in electronic data port that shows how often.

That how often could be the difference between life and death says San Francisco cardiologist and electro-physiologist Dr. Zian Tseng. Tseng says any healthy person can die from even the minimum 5-second jolt of a conducted energy weapon if the shock is directed at the chest and occurs at the most vulnerable point in a heartbeat. But he cautions that prolonged shocking carries significant additional risk because it leads to a buildup of lactic acid that can cause heart failure.

Dr. Christine Hall begs to differ. ‘Excited Delirium’, not the Taser, is the likely explanation for death after tasering. Hall is Canada’s foremost expert on the condition, often cited by coroners and medical examiners to account for deaths for which there is no obvious cause. Many more doctors dismiss it as a convenient excuse for Taser International to explain deaths after tasering.

Dr. Michael Webster is among the skeptics. The police psychologist and former cop is critical of the company that manufactures the weapon. Webster says the company’s propaganda has led to the tasering of sick old men in their hospital beds, jaywalkers and drunks. We will show an abundance of examples of police tasering individuals for traffic violations, for disrespect or simply to save time while making an arrest.

And we visit a Taser Party where the weapons are sold like so much Tupperware. Leigh and Tim McCoy have been selling consumer Tasers in the Atlanta, Georgia area for almost two years now. Taser International says the C2 Model has the same power as the police X-26 with a few important differences. It’s designed to deliver a full 30-second jolt and is capable of being cycled for a full 25 minutes.

That worries Jared Feuer of Amnesty International, USA. Describing the Taser as a “potentially deadly device”, the human rights group’s spokesman also calls the weapon a “potentially perfect domestic abuse tool” because it leaves no marks or scarring. Amnesty International has been lobbying for national standards for Taser use and to stop the selling of the civilian version.

In 2009, a new generation of Taser weaponry® was introduced. The company claims that the devices are safer, pack less of a jolt and self-adjust the current to the lowest effective levels and that the probes diffuse more of the electricity on the skin, not in the muscle tissue.

As of yet no independent testing of these statements is planned.

Tasered is produced, directed and written by Lynn Raineault for CBC’s DOC ZONE. Executive Producers are Matt Gillespie and Joe Novak.

Mounties Under Fire - January 21, 2010 on CBC

CBC-TV’s Doc Zone Presents The World Broadcast Premiere of Mounties Under Fire on Thursday, January 21 at 9:00 pm (9:30 NT)

Given unprecedented access to the RCMP during its darkest days, filmmaker Helen Slinger and Bountiful Films reveal a flawed force in the throes of painful self-examination.

Mounties Under Fire, premiering on CBC Television’s Doc Zone on Thursday, January 21 at 9 pm (9:30 NT), is a gripping journey into the heart of the RCMP during a period of profound crisis. Notorious for closing ranks, the Mounties open up to documentary cameras, revealing a painfully flawed organization fighting for its life.

It’s been a most difficult decade for Canada’s national police force. Faith in the RCMP has been shaken – by Maher Arar’s betrayal, the pension scandal, harassment cases, and too many deaths on duty. And especially by the captured-on-video taser death of Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport, and the Braidwood Inquiry into that death. A 2009 Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll found over 60 per cent of Canadians don’t buy the RCMP version of the events at Vancouver airport that lead to Mr. Dziekanski’s death. That number jumps to 71 per cent in BC, where it happened.

Woven into the big picture - and sometimes colliding with it – are the very human stories of young recruits still willing to step into a force under heavy fire. During some of the RCMP’s darkest days last winter, documentary filmmaker Helen Slinger and Bountiful Films were granted unprecedented access to Depot, the fabled RCMP training academy in Regina. There, Slinger followed a troop of idealistic new recruits during their six months of basic training. Mounties Under Fire profiles: Alex Rouhani, from Gatineau, Quebec, by way of Paris and Tehran; Emily Schmidt, from Cranbrook, British Columbia; and Steffan Manuel, from Grand Bank, Newfoundland. Will these three recruits survive the challenges, and the culture of Depot, to become Mounties?

The camera’s remarkable access doesn’t end at Depot. From top brass to beat cop, Bountiful Films captures a force in the throes of painful self-examination, struggling to get back to its core values.

Filmmaker Slinger was struck by the frankness with which senior RCMP responded to the film. “When commenting on the intimate view of the force that resulted from the open access we were able to negotiate, one senior Mountie said it all: ‘Riveting, but it hurts.’”

Bountiful Films was formed in 2001 by Helen Slinger and Maureen Palmer, to produce Leaving Bountiful, the story of one woman’s courageous flight from the fundamentalist Mormon polygamous colony of Bountiful, British Columbia. Since then, Bountiful Films has specialized in documentaries which capture compelling characters as they confront contemporary challenges. Recent titles include How to Divorce & Not Wreck the Kids for CBC’s Doc Zone, the Bully’s Mark, Polygamy’s Lost Boys and Alexandra’s Echo, for Global Television. In 2010 Bountiful will deliver two new films. With rare and exclusive access to hours of videotaped therapy sessions, When the Devil Knocks for CBC's The Passionate Eye promises to be a spellbinding journey into one of psychiatry's most intriguing conditions, Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Cat Craze for Doc Zone explores our fascination for cats, and the crisis created by that obsession.

Mounties Under Fire is written and directed by Helen Slinger, and produced by Slinger, Maureen Palmer and Sue Ridout. Narrator is Ann-Marie MacDonald. Director of Photography is Steve Rendall; Editor is Tim Wanlin; Music by Michael Friedman and Edward Henderson; Sound Design by Larry Baker and Location Sound by Ed Seneshen. For CBC’s Independent Documentary Unit: Linda Laughlin, Senior Producer; Michael Claydon, Area Executive Producer. Mark Starowicz is Executive Director, Documentary Programming.

Mounties Under Fire is produced by Bountiful Films in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with the participation of the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry, the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC, and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program.

RCMP officer who fired Taser at Robert Dziekanski sues CBC for libel

November 4, 2009
Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The RCMP officer who fired his Taser at Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver's airport the night the Polish immigrant died has filed a libel lawsuit against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In a writ of summons filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Const. Kwesi Millington asks for damages from the CBC and claims the network's publications and broadcasts have defamed him.

Millington was one of four officers who confronted Dziekanski at the airport in October 2007, and he fired his Taser within seconds of arriving on the scene.

The incident gained worldwide attention after amateur video of the altercation was released, which appeared to contradict official accounts from the RCMP.

In the writ, which doesn't specify what the CBC published or broadcast that was defamatory, Millington says his reputation has been seriously injured, he has suffered embarrassment and distress, and has been brought into public ridicule.

The writ contains allegations that haven't been proven in court and the CBC could not immediately be reached for comment.

A public inquiry examining Dziekanski's death wrapped up last month.

24th Annual Gemini Awards

And the Gemini for Best News Magazine Segment goes to...

Frédéric Zalac, Kris Fleerackers, Doug Husby, Georges Laszuk, Alex Shprintsen
CBC News: The National

The Taser Test

CBC grabs 5 B.C. journalism awards

CBC News and Radio-Canada took home a Webster award for:

Best feature television story of the year, won by Radio-Canada's Frédéric Zalac and Alex Shprintsen for their investigative report that found the charges emitted by Tasers often exceed the manufacturer's specifications. The Webster was the sixth award won by the pair for their investigation.

The Webster awards are handed out by the Jack Webster Foundation each year to recognize the best work by B.C.-based journalists.

Tasers overused and unreliable

September 24, 2009
John Lapsley, McGill Daily

Polytechnique professor condemns taser lethality, inconsistent performance

A lecture held at McGill Monday night warned that overuse and risk of malfunction make tasers far more dangerous than previously believed.

Pierre Savard of the École Polytechnique de Montreal led the audience through his research on the effects of electric stimulation on the human heart, demonstrating that use of electric stun guns can at times cause fatal complications.

“For many subjects with individual susceptibilities, the taser is in fact lethal,” Savard said, pointing out that individuals with heart disease and drug users face greater risks.

“The taser shock is analogous to the stress test hospitals give heart patients to test for defects,” Savard said. “These shocks stimulate flexors, extensors, and every nerve ending in the body.”

According to Savard, the danger present in these so-called “non-lethal weapons” is further exacerbated by what he saw as the RCMP’s gross overuse of tasers.

Savard illustrated this point with instances in which police used stun guns to wake up a subject sleeping on a bench and to pacify a grandmother who was making too much noise at a nursing home.

“It’s so easy to silence a subject [with a taser],” Savard said. “Too many policemen use it like the mute button on a remote control.”

Savard, a professor of electrical and biomedical engineering, began his investigation into taser safety after the October 2007 death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski. Dziekanski could not understand English and became lost shortly after arriving at Vancouver International Airport. After an agitated Dziekanski threw a computer and small table to the ground, RCMP officers tasered him five times. Dziekanski died almost immediately.

Dziekanski’s death spurred a Michener Prize-winning CBC-Radio Canada investigation into taser safety, which found that at least 10 per cent of the stun guns currently in use in Canada malfunction outside of manufacturer specifications, putting subjects at greater risk of death.

Several individual police forces in Canada launched concurrent investigations that supported CBC-Radio Canada’s findings.

Based on these studies, groups like Amnesty International and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP stepped forward, condemning taser overuse and urging a moratorium on stun guns until further research could be done.

Taser International, the sole manufacturer of tasers, responded dismissively to these studies.

Peter Holran, the company’s spokesman, called it regrettable that “false allegations based on scientifically flawed data” could raise such concerns and reaffirmed the quality of Taser International’s products.

Savard was concerned by Taser International’s lack of transparency. Savard noted that medical instrument manufacturers have “traceability,” meaning that a defective medical instrument can be traced piece by piece back to the raw materials, allowing selective safety recalls. Weapons manufacturers also undergo strict objective scrutiny from outside safety agencies. Tasers, however, qualify as neither medical instruments nor weapons, and are therefore subject only to the manufacturer’s testing standards.

Savard quipped, “If it’s not a weapon and it’s not medical equipment, it’s a toy.”

Tasers, however, still rank among police officers’ safest methods of applying force.

Savard cited a 2006-2007 study of Calgary police officers’ force interactions which demonstrated that out of all non-lethal force methods, stun gun interactions least frequently necessitated medical attention for the subject or the officer.

Savard himself admitted that tasers are among the safer means of subduing suspects, but firmly reiterated that more research into stun gun lethality, and more transparency in the manufacturing process are necessary if police officers are to continue using them on suspects.

Taser unveils new 'semi-automatic' model

July 29, 2009
Josh Wingrove, Globe and Mail

Days after British Columbia's Braidwood commission recommended tighter rules around the use of tasers, the American manufacturer of the devices rolled a new product off the line that it says will “fit in” to the province's new guidelines.

Taser International debuted its X3 model Monday, the first new conducted energy weapon the company has released since 2003. The X3's main selling feature is its ability to fire three pairs of electrified probes in quick succession without reloading – giving an officer with a taser the chance to simultaneously zap up to three suspects. Older models, which have only one pair of probes, must be reloaded after each shot.

The Braidwood recommendations, released last Thursday and adopted almost immediately by the province, said that a taser should be discharged once, and not for more than five seconds. A second discharge, it recommended, should only happen if it will be “effective in eliminating the risk of bodily harm.”

Taser International says its new X3 – four years in the making – has a more consistent pulse than its predecessor, the X26.

The new weapon also tracks, second by second, the amount of energy being discharged into a target's body, the company argues. Its earlier model only tracked the time and total duration of a discharge.

“The log just on its own would be phenomenal for courts and [in light of] some of the controversy in Canada,” Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle told The Globe and Mail.

“The Taser X3 is the most sophisticated handheld weapon ever developed,” Rick Smith, the company's chief executive officer, added in a statement.

The X3's debut in Arizona came as Alberta announced Monday it would restrict the use of conducted energy weapons. The Alberta government is expected to release details of its new rules for police later this week. Three months ago, the province scrapped 50 tasers, or 12 per cent of its inventory, after tests showed they weren't working properly.

Taser International's promise of an improved “pulse calibration system” also comes on the heels of an award-winning CBC and Canadian Press investigation that found 10 per cent of tasers tested were either defective or behaved unexpectedly. Some gave out a higher charge than they were meant to.

The company has disputed the testing methodology of CP, the CBC, the province and the Braidwood commission, in which Mr. Tuttle believes “politics outweighs the science.”

Taser International argues its new model is safer than the previous “proven and widely accepted” device. Mr. Tuttle told The Globe that while the timing of the X3's release and both the B.C. and Alberta announcements was coincidental, the features of the X3 will be useful in adopting the Braidwood recommendations.

“In light of the Braidwood commission, this is only a benefit to have the X3 come out, in terms of timing,” he said. “This will be helpful … the byproduct of it [the timing of the X3's release] is that it does fit in to some of the [Braidwood] recommendations.”

He said the triple-fire capacity could be used to either target more than one suspect – firing the prongs into three people at once – or to fire a second pair of prongs at a lone suspect when the first miss.

An officer with an X3 can fire “in a semi-automatic fashion, hit two probes into one suspect, two shots in another, two shots in another,” Mr. Tuttle said. “Now you don't have to reload, which is hard to do under a dynamic scenario. You can take that second shot. You can take that third shot.”

The $1,799.95 (U.S.) X3 also includes improved resistance to the elements, including “short-term water submersion,” the company said. Police forces will be offered the chance to trade in their old models and upgrade to the X3, the company said.

CBC and The Canadian Press win Michener for joint Taser analysis project

Frédéric Zalac SRC; Jim Bronskill Canadian Press; Governor General Michaëlle Jean; Esther Enkin CBC

The Michener Awards Foundation
Ottawa, June 10, 2009 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press (CP) have won the 2008 Michener Award for a joint project that analyzed and reported on the use of Taser stun guns, David Humphreys, President of the Michener Awards Foundation, announced today.

In a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Her Excellency The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, presented coveted Michener Award trophies to Esther Enkin, executive editor of CBC News and Jim Bronskill, national reporter of The Canadian Press for their joint entry. They were among eight news organizations honoured at the ceremony. The Michener Award is presented annually for journalism that makes a significant impact on the public good.

June 11, 2009
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — A joint project that produced a multimedia analysis of Taser stun guns and their use by the RCMP has won the 2008 Michener Award for CBC/Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press.

The prestigious award that is named after former governor general Roland Michener is given out based on the degree of public benefit generated by the print and broadcast entries submitted. The winner was announced Wednesday.

One Canadian Press-CBC joint study of more than 3,200 incidents in which Mounties fired the powerful stun guns between 2002 and 2008 showed officers used the Taser multiple times in almost 43 per cent of cases.

Another joint effort found the Mounties were censoring key information that must be recorded each time officers draw their weapons.

As well, a separate CBC/Radio-Canada investigation found some stun guns deliver a stronger jolt than they should.

The Canadian Press-CBC project produced stories for newspapers, websites, radio and television.

Other finalists chosen by the Michener Awards Foundation were Le Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe, the Globe and Mail, the Hamilton Spectator, Toronto Star and Winnipeg Free Press.

Ed Struzik, a reporter with the Edmonton Journal, won the 2009 Michener-Deacon Fellowship for a project on arctic sovereignty.

The fellowship will allow Struzik to join an expedition of geologists who are building a case for Canada to claim an arctic area the size of three prairie provinces.

CBC taser test results

This is worth another look ... the most comprehensive and ***independent*** electrical test of tasers ever conducted in the world was done by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.


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PART 2 OF 2:

RCMP boss and Solicitor General pick busy news day for Taser revelations

June 1, 2009
By Charlie Smith, Georgia Strait

Call me cynical and jaded, but I am somewhat suspicious about the timing of two Taser-related news stories today.

In the first instance, Solicitor General and former RCMP officer Rich Coleman ordered the immediate recall of 578 older-model M-26 Tasers.

Coleman's announcement came conveniently after the last witness appeared at the Braidwood Inquiry on May 26.

Final arguments will begin on June 19 at the inquiry, which is probing the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International Airport in 2007 after being stunned five times by a Taser.

The solicitor general also chose one of the busiest news days in recent memory.

The morning began with General Motors seeking bankruptcy protection.

There was also an Air France plane that went missing over the Atlantic, with all the passengers and crew presumed dead.

Here in Vancouver, there was a riveting tale of a high-school student being arrested, allegedly with a hit list of students and staff at Templeton secondary.

If Coleman's spin doctors in the public-affairs bureau wanted to ensure there would be minimal coverage of the Taser announcement, they picked the right day to leak the news. It ranks up there with TransLink holding its annual general meeting on election day.

Meanwhile, RCMP Commissioner William Elliott also showed a similar knack for timing his Taser-related revelation of the day.

Before the Senate defence and national security committee in the late afternoon in Ottawa, Elliott declared: "We are very sorry for Mr. Dziekanski's death, and are committed to learning as much as possible from this terrible event."

Elliott promised senators that there will be "further change" in the RCMP's policy regarding Tasers.

This comes after CBC Radio-Canada reporter Frederic Zalac exposed last March how the Mounties actually loosened the rules on the use of the stun guns by lifting a restriction on multiple uses.

Elliott told senators today that it wasn't the RCMP's intention to allow Mounties to make more liberal use of their Tasers.

Perhaps the RCMP's spin doctors have advised Elliott that allowing the force to zap suspects several times might not be such a good idea--particularly while this is being examined as part of the high-profile public inquiry into the death of Dziekanski, who himself was the recipient of five jolts.

CAJ Award winners announced

VANCOUVER, May 23 /CNW/ - The Canadian Association of Journalists, Canada's only national professional organization for reporters, editors, producers and photographers, announced the winners of the annual CAJ Awards for journalism tonight at the association's Awards gala dinner held in conjunction with its annual national conference. The CAJ's top award for investigative journalism in Canada, the Don McGillivray Award for Investigative Journalism was presented to Steve Buist of the Hamilton Spectator for his entry A Pig's Tale. The CAJ awards are Canada's only recognition for the best in investigative journalism across the country.

The winners in the OPEN TELEVISION (greater than 5 minutes) category are:

Frédéric Zalac, Alex Shprintsen, Kris Fleerackers, Georges Laszuk, Sandra Bartlett, Susanne Reber
The Taser Test
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CBC News: The National

The Michener Awards

The Michener Awards Foundation recently announced six finalists for the 2008 Michener Award "for meritorious public service journalism."

The finalists are: a joint entry from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and The Canadian Press (see below); Le Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe; The Globe and Mail; The Hamilton Spectator; the Toronto Star; and the Winnipeg Free Press.

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, will host the Michener Awards ceremony at Rideau Hall on June 10 where the winner of the 2008 Michener Award will be announced and the Michener-Deacon Fellowship will be presented.

The Michener Award, founded in 1970 by the late Roland Michener, then Governor-General, goes to a news organization. The judges’ decisions are heavily influenced by the degree of public benefit generated by the print and broadcast entries submitted for consideration.

A collaboration between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Société Radio-Canada (SRC) and The Canadian Press is one of the six 2008 finalists for this prestigious award:

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Société Radio-Canada and The Canadian Press: The three news organizations teamed up to undertake a multimedia analysis of Taser stun guns and particularly their use by the RCMP. They collaborated on data analysis, identification of vital trends, interviews and preparation of stories for newspapers, websites, radio and television. A scientific analysis by CBC & SRC found that more than 10 per cent of Taser units tested were either defective with some discharging significantly more electrical current than the manufacturer’s standard.

CBC: Your Best Stuff - Thumbs up: Top 5 most recommended comments

May 8, 2009
CBC

Taser use continues to be a divisive issue, provoking strong reaction in Canadians across the country.

Over 800 of you weighed in on the story of a Southern Alberta man who died after an RCMP officer used a stun gun to subdue him, though investigators say it's "unclear whether the device was successfully deployed."

Read more.

Here are your top five most recommended comments.

713 recommend: “From the article: "Police gave few details, but said they used a Taser on the man.... "The adult male then experienced medical distress and was immediately provided with emergency medical assistance."
Sorry RCMP - WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU!

We all now know that: "Provided with emergency medical assistance" is code for kneeling on someone's back until they stop breathing.

I sure hope there is dashcam video footage or civilian video footage, because, as we know, anything a RCMP spokesperson says when someone is killed with a Taser is nothing more than deceitful lies.” — effects

690 recommend:
“I used to work for Nortel. If one of the phones ever killed anyone the entire product line would have been recalled. Phones aren't suppose to kill anyone.

Neither are tasers. Why has this product line not been recalled? Why do the police insist on using this product which is defective x% of the time. Why does our government let the company continue business, and let the police continue use a defective product?” — reddwarf

550 recommend:
“""The adult male then experienced medical distress and was immediately provided with emergency medical assistance. The male was transported to Brooks Hospital where he later died," police said. "

TRANSLATION: The man began acting wonky, so they tased him a couple more times, then realized that he probably needed an amulance.” — Intelics

525 recommend:
“Somehow, I feel sure the RCMP will say that the man who was "observed to be injured", died of his injuries, not their taser. I also supsect that the RCMP "investigation" started with a look around to see if anyone recorded the incident, so they could confiscate the evidence. Of course, we could wonder why an injured man needed to be tasered. We could demand that the police stop killing people with this particular toy. We could fuss and debate on CBC about the wretched system that always exonerates or protects the police, no matter what they do. (they'll still do it) Such is the state of the public's lack of trust in the RCMP” — zedinbc

494 recommend:
“You can be sure that the RCMP will check very carefully to see whether there was any video of the incident before they decide what story they will put out.

Let's see, pick one:

1. He was holding a dangerous weapon, and WE FEARED FOR OUR LIVES.
2. He was in excited delirium.
3. We didn't actually TASER him. He was, um, hit by lightning yeah, - in two places centimetres apart, which left little red welts.” — Michael W

EDITORIAL: Put Tasers down for now

April 25, 2009
Calgary Herald

W hen independent tests conclude more than one in 10 Tasers malfunctions, and with at least 25 Canadians dead after being shot by police stun guns, the prudent course of action is to halt the use of these weapons. Immediately.

Not in Alberta. Solicitor General Fred Lindsay continued to emphatically defend Tasers, even while confirming a Herald exclusive showing 12 per cent of those tested functioned outside of the manufacturer's specifications.

"I have not seen any evidence yet that would indicate that even though some of them are out of spec, there is any increased safety risk in using them," Lindsay told reporters Thursday. What kind of evidence is he looking for?

An independent Ontario firm tested 412 of Alberta's stun guns earlier this year. Fifty were flawed, and should never have been put in use. Now the remaining 735 will all be tested.

To get conclusive evidence, there would have to be more Taser-related deaths to study. Only then could a direct link be established.

But the province can't wait for such an actuality. Lindsay has sufficient reason to put the use of these conducted electricity weapons on hold, at least temporarily. Perhaps governments should even consider retiring them altogether from the arsenal. They are proving to be far less than initially billed, when first rolled out across the country.

Test results from other provinces and the RCMP consistently show a 10 per cent failure rate. If Tasers can't even be guaranteed to work within specifications, how can the public be assured they are pumping out a safe amount of electricity?

Even the theory pegging the malfunctioning weapons to an aging model no longer applies. Eight of the flawed guns in Alberta were newer models. Such results, along with compelling testimony from the fatality inquiry into the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, undermine Lindsay's defence of the status quo.

Canadians simply no longer trust what the police establishment has to say about Tasers. Lindsay's assurances would be more convincing if he made public the details of the Tasers used in the two fatal incidents in Alberta. Have those guns been tested, and did they or did they not meet the specifications?

A malfunction rate of 10 per cent is unacceptable. The province needs to write an ironclad testing policy that will catch the faulty weapons before they are distributed.

At the RCMP, Commissioner William Elliott needs to reinstate rules governing the protocol of multiple discharges, this time with clear restrictions. Each discharge is 50,000 volts, and at that rate, police can't afford to be trigger-happy.

Yet, according to the shocking testimony coming out of the inquiry into Dziekanski's death, they are too quick to zap their suspects. Police initially said Dziekanski was only shot twice, whereas the weapon was actually deployed five times. Equally disturbing, the inquiry learned pepper spray could have easily been used instead.

This is telling, since Tasers were sold to the public as a last resort to lethal force. As the world now knows, in the case of Dziekanski, it was used seconds after four burly Mounties first made contact with the distraught man.

Short of major improvements -- in function, policy and police behaviour -- the next obituary written should be that of the stun guns.