Police board delays new taser use policy

July 9, 2008
By Jennifer O'Meara, Northumberland News

COBOURG (Ontario) - A police Taser use policy from the Cobourg Police Services Board has been delayed. The board has decided it wants to look at establishing a policy regarding Taser use," said chairman Bryan Baxter. "We've deferred it because there are two or three studies underway."

The police board decided it needs a police policy on Taser use, after an April report on the state of Tasers in Canada from the Canadian Association of Police Boards.

The report recommended police boards work with the service's management staff to make sure training and policies are regularly updated with the latest information; ongoing monitoring is in place so those in charge of policy know how Tasers are being used; and those making the policy are kept up to date on medical research into in-custody deaths.

The board has decided to hold off on forming a Taser policy until several current Canadian studies are completed, especially the Ontario government report due this fall.

"We decided to defer it until we have the benefit of the provincial report," said Mr. Baxter.

Conducted energy devices (CED), or Tasers, are an electro-shock weapon used to stun someone from a distance. According to the report, the device has a great appeal to police because it can incapacitate subjects from a distance, limiting injuries to the officer and suspect. After several high profile deaths of suspects who were shocked, including the man who died immediately after being shocked in Vancouver's International Airport in late-2007, Taser use has become controversial.

Cobourg police senior officers do have a policy for Taser use, said Mr. Baxter. In the local police force, only Cobourg police sergeants and their second-in-command carry Tasers. All Cobourg officers who carry Tasers are retrained every year and have to re-qualify to carry the weapon.

A policy for Taser use and training is expected to come back to the Cobourg Police Service Board later this year.

"We thought it would be prudent to wait," said Mr. Baxter.

Victoria police board approves ‘pain compliance’ use of taser gun

May 16, 2008
By Keith Vass - Victoria News

The Victoria police board needed minimal discussion this week to approve a policy amendment that clears the way for police to use a 50,000-volt Taser shock for 'pain compliance.'

Last month, the Victoria News reported that the department's use-of-force policy governing Taser use was silent on the weapon's 'push stun' mode.

The written policy only endorsed the use of Tasers as a 'force presence' or for an officer to deploy the weapon's barbed probes to disrupt a subject's muscle control.

In push-stun mode, electrical contacts at the weapon's tip are placed directly against a subject.

According to training slides provided to the News by the Victoria Police Department's Taser program co-ordinator, Const. Mike Massine, "the push-stun mode affects the sensory nervous system ONLY, making it a pain compliance weapon that will not cause (loss of muscle control)."

The policy now contains a clause that reads "a push stun can be used to cause localized motor dysfunction or to gain compliance from a subject who is displaying active resistance." Police define 'active resistance' as any situation where a subject is refusing to comply with demands, including turning away or saying 'No.'

In a four-minute discussion at Tuesday's meeting, none of the board's seven members questioned the amendment or what differentiates push-stun use from probe deployment.

Before the board passed the amendment unanimously, provincial appointee Catherine Holt asked for clarity as to whether the terms 'push stun' and 'drive stun' are used interchangeably and was told they are.

Esquimalt Mayor Chris Clement questioned other sections of the policy. In response, interim Chief Bill Naughton said 120 of the force's 220 officers are trained in Taser use. He said the term 'lower lethality' used to describe the Taser indicates "the likelihood of death is remote but possible."

An analysis of 183 Victoria police incident reports from 2005 to 2007 revealed the device was used in push-stun in 57 per cent of all cases where police activated their Tasers. Often, it was used to get a subject already pinned to the ground to produce their hands for cuffing.

Naughton told the board that he expects the Taser policy will need to be amended again after the ongoing Braidwood inquiry into Taser use by police forces in B.C. Twelve other inquiries are ongoing or scheduled across Canada.

See also TASER POLICY GAP WORRYING

See also IN THE LINE OF FIRE

Vancouver Police Board fails to block lawsuit over taser-related death

April 28, 2008
Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed a bid by the Vancouver Police Board to block a compensation suit related to the death of a man who was jolted with a Taser almost four years ago. Robert Bagnell died in police custody in June of 2004 during an altercation with Vancouver police. His family is suing the Police Board under the Family Compensation Act, claiming the Board was negligent in supplying police officers with Tasers, and failed to ensure the stun guns were independently tested and properly maintained. The Board attempted to have the suit dismissed, claiming it had no reasonable chance to succeed, and the city of Vancouver should be the target of any suit. But a lower court rejected the argument, and the B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld that ruling. The appeal court says it’s not obvious that the claim against the Police Board would fail, and the issue should be left to be argued during a trial.

See the Reasons for Judgment

Toronto cops back tasers

March 28, 2008
IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

Tasers are a safe, less deadly way to deal with violent suspects, a Toronto police union official told commissioners after opponents yesterday sought a ban or reduced use of the electric stun guns. "Contrary to the media hype and disinformation, Tasers are a safe and effective direct use of force," George Tucker told the Toronto Police Services Board.

The Toronto Police Association director said there has been "not one single death in Canada from the direct use of a Taser."

After public lobbyists and several board members queried why zappings ranged from "pain compliance" to stun mode, Tucker told the Sun use of force is a last resort, depending on circumstances. Tasers are fired either in response to obvious danger or after efforts to calm a suspect fail and they become agitated, posing a physical threat to themselves or others including police, he said in an interview. Most people don't realize if the ETF is called, "the scene has already escalated to very serious."

Defenders have insisted deaths from a Taser would be instantaneous and those who died had other conditions.

Opponents told the board fears increased after the death of a man the RCMP zapped in October at Vancouver airport.

"There is a lot of confusion about what it is and the circumstances of their use," said Tan Goossen, of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations. "What is the criteria for officers to use them?"

Graeme Norton, of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, demanded an independent body review of all stun gun use plus restrictions for their use only to stop "serious, imminent threat and peril to life." In a letter, Andrew Buxton, head of the local Amnesty International branch, demanded "a moratorium on Taser use."

Since their introduction here and elsewhere, Buxton said police shootings have dropped, but Taser use has risen as officers get into the "habit" of using them.

Blair wants the province to change regulations to permit Tasers for all front-line officers. It has 454 of the 50,000 volt, hand-held devices, which are issued only to trained supervisors and Emergency Task Force (ETF) officers, he told the board. "They are always trained to use the use-of-force option that is ... less lethal."

Tasers were used in 368 cases last year -- the largest number 52 times in Parkdale and 43 in downtown Toronto. Scarborough ranked highest as a district for Taser use.

Toronto taser use doubles, report shows

March 26, 2008
Robyn Doolittle, Toronto Star

Police officers used Tasers 404 times during 368 incidents on Toronto streets last year, a new report shows. That number has more than doubled since 2006, but so has the number of officers armed with the electroshock weapons.

Two years ago, 88 officers were armed with Tasers and the controversial weapons were used 174 times in 156 incidents. In the same year, the Toronto Police Service launched its Taser pilot project. It was deemed a success, and the police services board approved Taser use for all front-line supervisors. By the end of 2007, 454 front-line supervisors and Emergency Task Force officers were armed with the device.

The report also breaks down the way in which Tasers were used. Last year, Tasers were fully deployed – meaning police fired darts – 46 per cent of the time, compared to 37 per cent of the time in 2006. A Taser is considered used if it is pulled from its holster.

"What's not in the report, but is becoming apparent in speaking to officers who are authorized to use Tasers, they are seeing many cases where they don't have to use them," said police spokesperson Mark Pugash. "The mere fact that someone knows the officer has it acts as a de-escalating factor."

But John Sewell of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, a community watchdog group, says something else is not in the report. "I'm very concerned. It obviously means they're using the Taser an awful lot more, more than twice as often," he said. "We're going down the road of other police services that have had Tasers – the RCMP and police in the States."

Records recently released to the CBC and The Canadian Press indicate that Taser use by Mounties has more than doubled since 2005. Throughout the country, RCMP officers drew the weapons more than 1,400 times in 2007. That's up from 597 in 2005.

"The issue is in this service we have very clear guidelines on when and where the Taser is to be used," Pugash said. "Certainly, the question people are entitled to ask is: Are your policies and procedures being followed. The answer is overwhelmingly – yes."

The report, prepared by Chief Bill Blair, will be presented to the police services board tomorrow.

BY THE NUMBERS
94% of situations effectively de-escalated in 2006
90% of situations effectively de-escalated in 2007
270 of 352 subjects perceived to be in crisis in 2007 report
77 subjects perceived to have a mental disorder in 2007 report
52 incidents – most incidents of Taser use (by 14 Division)

Toronto taser news - a delay or a victory?

From the March 6, 2008 edition of the Toronto Police Accountability bulletin:

Toronto Police Accountability Coalition had a successful public meeting on tasers on February 6. The speakers Andy Buxton, chair, Amnesty International Toronto organization; Naomi Klein, author of `The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'' and David Reville, advocate and builder of the psychiatric survivor movement.

In spite of a major snow storm sweeping into the city three or four hours before the meeting, about 70 people attended, and the discussion was lively. We agreed that when the next opportunity next came at City Hall, many of us would attend to stress the need to not allow more general police use of tasers. A video of the forum can be found here.

The next occasion arose very quickly: the chief put the matter of buying tasers for all front line officers on the agenda of the Toronto Police Services Board meeting for February 21. His report listed the taser's advantages - fewer officer shootings; fewer and less severe injuries all round; fewer public complaints; less police liability; and improved officer morale. It also claimed the taser causes no permanent harm or serious side-effects, although after the October death of Robert Dzerkanski in the Vancouver airport - he was repeatedly tasered - there's serious doubt about that.

Eight individuals quickly notified the Board they wished to speak in opposition to the matter. Then the chief quietly removed the report from the agenda. Mark Pugash, director of communications for the police, says it was a simple matter of the chief being out of the city at the time of the meeting, but apparently there is no date for which the matter has been rescheduled.

Will the matter resurface? The Board may be badly split on the issue - Board chair Alok Mukherjee has openly expressed his concerns about tasers. The Minister of Community Safety may have privately said he is not eager to approve the regulation needed to expand taser use in Ontario. Perhaps finding the necessary $8.6 million is a problem. We know there is strong and vocal public opposition.

For now, it means the Board is not going ahead with supplying tasers to all front line officers. Perhaps there should be a moratorium on taser use in Ontario; perhaps tasers should be restricted to the specially trained officers on the Emergency Task - those seem to be two strong options.

Police and tasers: hooked on shock

February 11, 2008
by Naomi Klein

The past couple of weeks have been rocky on the stock market, but one company that hasn't been suffering too much is Taser International. At the end of January, its stock jumped by an impressive 8 per cent, and it's even higher today.

Matthew McKay, a stock analyst at Jeffries & Co. in San Francisco, cites a simple cause: news that the Toronto Police Services Board plans to buy 3,000 new Taser electroshock weapons, at a cost of $8.6 million for gear and training. If the deal goes ahead, tasers would become standard issue weaponry for all of Toronto's frontline officers, right next to their handcuffs and batons.

On Wednesday night, I participated in a public forum about the prospect of a fully taser-armed police force, organized by the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition. One speaker, who had a history of psychiatric illness, told the room: "We're worried because we're the people who are going to get shocked."

It's a concern grounded in experience. According to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair's own analysis, in 2006, city cops deployed the devices in 156 incidents. In all but nine, the subject appeared "to have a mental disorder" or was in some sort of "crisis."

Several speakers at the forum pointed out that $8.6 million would be better spent keeping people out of crisis — by opening more beds and providing better mental health and addiction services. Instead, four homeless shelters were closed last year, at a loss of 258 beds.

But the most troubling remark of the evening was this: "Why is this happening now?" The timing is indeed baffling. It was only three months ago that video of the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport caused an international furor. The tragedy exposed the most prevalent misconception about tasers: that they are used primarily as an alternative to guns. As former Toronto mayor John Sewell told me, "the taser is not the thing that replaces the gun, it's what replaces all the other things that police might do other than use a gun, like talk to you."

That certainly appears to have been the case with Mr. Dziekanski. When the RCMP approached him, they made no attempt to calm the unarmed Polish man, or to discover the source of his extreme agitation. Within 25 seconds, he was getting zapped.

Mr. Dziekanski's death also put a spotlight on the other post-taser deaths, the ones not caught on film. According to Amnesty International, 310 people in North America have died after being shocked with a taser since 2001.

Were these deaths caused by the device or by something else? Taser's aggressive lawyers make it tough to know. The company has been hit with roughly a hundred wrongful death and injury lawsuits and claims it hasn't lost one yet. But in August, Bloomberg News reported on "several mysterious dismissals" — instances where the plaintiffs asked for the cases to be thrown out. Though Taser denies paying off all its accusers, it admits to paying in some, "where the settlement economics … were significantly less than the cost of litigation."

Taser has consistently claimed that something else is causing the deaths. The company points to a report saying that that death by electrocution happens within seconds. Yet in many cases, subjects have died minutes, even days, after being shocked.

A recent study may explain the discrepancy. Trauma researchers at Chicago's Cook County Hospital conducted an experiment on 11 pigs, zapping each for 40 seconds; then zapping them again 10 or 15 seconds later. (This mimics how tasers are actually used, since Amnesty reports that those who have died after being Tasered were frequently "subjected to multiple or prolonged shocks.") The study found that all the pigs exhibited heart problems after the shocks and two of them died of cardiac arrest, one three minutes later.

Taser CEO Rick Smith has brushed off the study, saying human research is more relevant. However, according to Bob Walker, one of the lead researchers, it shows "that the effect of the taser shot can last beyond the time when it's being delivered."

So back to that question: Why now? In addition to the troubling new scientific evidence and the disconcerting lawsuits, there are several public investigations in Canada that are still ongoing. In addition to those sparked by the Dziekanski death, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia are all conducting taser reviews.

Surely it would be wise for Toronto's police chief to wait for those findings before ordering a seven-fold taser increase. But something more powerful than reason appears to be at play here, and I believe it has to do with the seductive promise of no-touch policing.

No other method of controlling unruly suspects offers police the same kind of all-encompassing, instant effect. Talking, calming, negotiating are all messier and take time. Other physical techniques put officers' own bodies at risk.

Then there is the taser. The company boasts that its technology, which allows electrified darts to be fired from more than 10 meters away, "temporarily overrides the command and control systems of the body." At the push of a button, even the strongest, angriest subject drops to the floor. In a way, firing a taser is the maximum power one person can exert over another. As an Ottawa Police officer reportedly said after tasering protesters at the ministry of immigration back in 2003: "Less mess, more fun."

Few would argue with an officer's right to use an electroshock weapon when lives are in danger and the only alternative is a gun. Many Toronto police officers, particularly those on the Emergency Task Force, clearly use them with restraint.

Yet there is also plenty of evidence that some officers get hooked on shock. In Edmonton, in 2001, reports of taserings averaged less than once a week. Three years later, they were coming in daily. In another part of the country, a mother in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia called police when she and her 17-year-old daughter were having an argument. Three officers showed up and tasered the teen in her own bed. In a recent court ruling, the judge called these actions "very disturbing and disconcerting."

It may well be possible to prevent shock-happy policing with tighter controls. Yet, despite repeated calls for stricter regulations for police, Taser International is racing to get its devices in the hands of civilians, marketing the product as not just safe but fun. In the United States the company has been aggressively pushing its line of C2 "personal protectors" — available in pink, leopard print, and in holsters with built-in MP3 players. (The weapon is nicknamed the "iTaser.") Tupperware-style taser parties are springing up in the suburbs of Arizona.

Taser International is a company whose executives present themselves as serious experts in public safety. Yet it has launched this foray into fashion at the very moment when the safety of its devices is being questioned on multiple fronts. Valentine's Day is coming and Taser's website is busily hawking the C2 in flaming red. "Love her? Protect her," goes the slogan.

This is what corporations do: whatever they can get away with to sell more product. From Taser International, we should expect nothing less. From our police we have a right to expect much more.

Naomi Klein is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

TPAC sponsoring a forum on tasers - February 6

From the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition
Bulletin No. 39, January 21, 2008

Forum on Tasers, February 6

Toronto Police Accountability Coalition is sponsoring a public meeting:

"The Shock of the Taser," A discussion of the police use of shock and stun guns Wednesday February 6, 2008 7.00 pm Town Hall, Innis College St. George and Sussex Streets, one block south of Bloor

Speakers:

* David Reville, advocate and builder of the psychiatric survivor movement.
* Naomi Klein, author of `The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism'
* Andy Buxton, chair, Amnesty International Toronto organization

Moderator: Anna Willats, Toronto Police Accountability Coalition.

Please tell your colleagues and friends about this public meeting.

Taser International Comes to Toronto

The stakes for Taser International are huge. If the company can get the Toronto police force to agree to spend $8.6 million to equip every member of the force with a taser, it will be able to go around to every other police force in Canada and say: the largest force in the country thinks every officer should have a taser - why not your force too? Chief Bill Blair is on side, and has recommended the purchase, but the Toronto Police Services Board seems to have some reluctance to proceed.

So it was a real coup for Thomas Smith, chair of Taser International, to be invited by the Board to make a presentation at police headquarters on January 17 about how great his product is. What more could someone ask for when they are looking at a $8.6 million sale?

TPAC objected, writing Board members that, "Giving a possible supplier such a privileged vantage point . is improper. It is the continuation of the cosy relationship that Taser International seems to have with others who have spoken in favour of the use of its product, such as deputy coroner James Cairns (who has appeared at the Board supporting the purchase of Tasers.) As reported by the Globe and Mail on November 30, 2007, Taser International paid for Dr. Cairns' expenses to speak in favour of Tasers at one conference." TPAC suggested that Taser should rent its own space to make its pitch. No Board member responded to our objection.

Smith made his pitch with a slide show for about 45 minutes, at which point there were questions (or rather hostile speeches) from the audience. Two points stand out from his presentation. First, he continually talked about how the taser could stop someone from attacking an officer. But an incident where an officer is under attack from someone is very rare. Toronto data shows that about 98 per cent of all tasers are discharged in regard to someone who is in a state of mental crisis, only rarely being a threat to a police officer (see TPAC Bulletin No. 35, May 2007.) So the device is best used, according to Smith, for something that very rarely occurs.

Second, Smith made the point that the two day training done by Taser deals only with how to work the gun, not with situations in which it should be deployed. Thus training does not include such matters as assessing the nature of the problem, the different kinds of approaches that might be taken (such as talking to the person), or so forth: Smith said that was a matter for the local force to decide on. But Toronto's chief has not been willing to release the policy or protocol about taser use, so we don't know when it might be used. As one speaker noted, if police are trained properly, then they won't use the taser.

Questioners at the meeting raised several interesting points. While most police officials suggest that tasers are used instead of guns, it seems they are most often used instead of a lesser kind of intervention (such as talking) as was tragically demonstrated in the Vancouver airport incident last October. So it seems entirely likely that equipping all officers with tasers will result in an increase in the incidents of use of force by police. As well, more than 80 per cent of the people who are tasered are unarmed.

Alok Mukherjee, chair of the Police Services Board made it clear that the reporting recommending the purchase of tasers for all Toronto officers will be coming before a Board meeting in the near future.

EDITORIAL: Rein in those tasers

January 19, 2008
The Globe and Mail

At a public forum organized by the Toronto Police Services Board on Thursday, Thomas Smith, co-founder of Arizona-based Taser International Inc., found himself placed on the defensive by members of the public opposed to the weapon. Patti Gillman, the sister of a man who died after being tasered by Vancouver police in 2004, told Mr. Smith that her brother, Robert Bagnell, was unarmed and was no threat to police or to the public when he was fatally shot with the stun gun. There was little Mr. Smith could really be expected to say in response to such information. His company merely manufactures the 50,000-volt weapon. Taser International doesn't decide how and when to use it. That's left to the discretion of individual police officers. And that's part of the problem.

Tasers are held up by police as a relatively safe alternative to handguns. Yet they are often used in cases where police would never have pulled handguns. It is inconceivable, for example, that police would have used handguns in the case of the 17-year-old Ottawa high-school student tasered last month because he was acting strangely near a busy road. The boy said he was distraught over a breakup with his girlfriend, but was out of the traffic and had his hands up when he was tasered by police.

The same surely can be said of 16-year-old Randy Fryingpan, who was tasered six times in just over a minute by Edmonton police in 2002. The boy was drunk, and sleeping in the back seat of a friend's car. He was tasered when he failed to respond to an officer's orders to get up. A judge later described the incident as cruel and unusual punishment. The same applies to the 2004 Edmonton police tasering of Hector Jara, who was given jolts even though he had surrendered to police and was lying face down on the ground after a car chase. The courts said that Mr. Jara was "completely at [the police's] mercy" when he was twice tasered and that police actions in that case were "irresponsible."

Deaths as a result of police taserings, such as those of Mr. Bagnell or Robert Dziekanski, the Polish newcomer tasered to death by the RCMP at Vancouver International Airport last Oct. 14, are still relatively unusual. But police taserings are not, and would become even more a matter of routine if police in Toronto and many other jurisdictions in Canada had their way.

That fact must weigh heavily in the assessment by the Toronto Police Services Board and the Ontario government of the request from Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair to spend $8.6-million to equip and train every front-line officer in Toronto with a taser. Mr. Blair believes that wide dissemination of the taser among officers is a way to "save lives." In some instances it might. But the tasers also cost lives, and risk imposing other costs, including jeopardizing public confidence in the police. Civilian authorities should be highly dubious about making Mr. Smith's frightening device ubiquitous.

Taser executive faces tough questions

January 18, 2008
UNNATI GANDHI, Globe and Mail

As Toronto police consider spending millions on stun guns, forum audience comes armed with critical research

The packed auditorium listened in silence as the co-founder of Arizona-based Taser International Inc. explained at a public forum in Toronto last night the science behind the stun guns, but it was during the 75-minute question period that Thomas Smith found he had to defend himself from stinging accusations.

Mr. Smith, who was in town as the Toronto Police Services Board weighs a request by Police Chief Bill Blair to spend $8.6-million to equip and train every front-line officer with a taser, was confronted by the sister of a man who died after being tasered by Vancouver police.

He was also presented with an offer to stun an elderly man right then and there, and was caught off guard by audience members armed with research.

"Are tasers risk free? No. ... The reality is that there [are] still studies to be done, we encourage them, we work with them, we want them to be done because it's going to continue to answer those questions," he told the standing-room-only crowd.

If Chief Blair's request is approved by the civilian oversight board, the move would see the number of tasers deployed by city police rise significantly from the current 500 or so, and make the Toronto force the first in the country to have the stun guns so widely available.

Speaking to reporters after the heated question period, Chief Blair defended his position on the use of tasers as an alternative for guns.

"In the hands of a properly trained officer, properly directed, supervised and accountable for its use, those things can save lives and I want them accessible to my front-line officers for those circumstances where they can reduce injury to my people and also reduce injury to the public."

During the forum, Patti Gillman, whose brother, Robert Bagnell, died after being tasered by Vancouver police in 2004, said she was speaking on behalf of the more than 300 North Americans who have died after being shot by the guns since 2003.

"[My brother] was unarmed, he was of no credible threat to police or to the public and there were 13 police officers there the night that he died," she said. "I know that most thinking Canadians would concur that the use of tasers was not only unjustified the night my brother died, but was also likely unjustified in the majority of cases."

Ms. Gillman - who lodged a formal complaint after learning that a veteran Victoria police officer who played a pivotal role in a 1998 pilot program that led to his force adopting the weapons permanently had received several payments from Taser International since 1999 - asked Mr. Smith how many other Canadian police officers had been paid by the company.

Mr. Smith responded: "We also compensate officers when they train, for their time to train. I don't know if any Canadians were among those."

Ken Wood volunteered to be stunned in front of the crowd.

"Everything that I see that you do in your studies is basically physically fit, gung-ho military types saying, 'Go ahead, taser me.' You don't know my health history, you don't know who I am, I'm Joe Average on the street."

Andy Buxton, chair of Amnesty International Toronto, asked Mr. Smith about research on tasers conducted by Amnesty and other independent organizations. Mr. Smith repeatedly responded that he had not seen the data and so he could not comment.

Then, Mr. Buxton asked: "Are you familiar with research that suggests that 20 per cent of all use of tasers are in what you refer to yourself as pain compliance mode [set to inflict pain to get a subject to co-operate]?"

"I'm not familiar with that specific study," Mr. Smith responded.

"Those were your own statistics, Mr. Smith, from your own website," Mr. Buxton said.

Taser chief faces criticism amidst push to equip police with devices

January 18, 2008
Natalie Alcoba, National Post

TORONTO - The chairman of Taser International faced a barrage of criticism last night at a public meeting in Toronto amidst a push by the police chief to equip all front line officers with the device.

“The problem that you got with your product, sir, is not the science,” said one man. “It’s the fact that it goes to human beings with human frailties who will make the mistake of over-using it and they’ll kill someone.”

Chairman of the board and co-founder Thomas Smith conceded that Tasers are not risk-free and have been listed as a “contributing factor” in about 20 to 30 in-custody deaths.

A 2005 review by the Canadian Police Research Centre on the safety of Tasers concluded that “definitive evidence does not exist” that there is a causal relationship between the use of a Taser and death, although Amnesty International has linked at least 17 deaths in Canada to its use.

“Any confrontation between people has inherrent risk,” Mr. Smith told the crowd. “This is in our minds the safest way to end that confrontation, but it’s not the magic bullet. There is nothing out there that is 100% ... this is just one more tool in the tool box.”

The meeting was organized by the Toronto Police Services Board to answer questions about Taser, formally known as a conductive energy device that fires two darts that shock and immobilize someone, as the police board contemplates expanding its use in Toronto. Chair Alok Mukhurjee pointed to the “intense public interest” around the safety of the device that followed after a Polish immigrant died last year after being Tasered in Vancouver International Airport.

Following recommendations from two coroner’s juries, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair plans to equip all front line officers with Tasers as a way to “save lives.” The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police last year passed a resolution asking for the same thing.

The provincial Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services “has adopted a very cautious approach to expanding the use of Tasers” and will wait on pending studies before making its decision, a spokesman said yesterday. Currently, only supervisors, perimeter and tactical officers can carry the device in Ontario.

After the presentation, Chief Blair maintained that Tasers “can save lives” when in the hands of a properly trained officers. “I want those accessible to my front line officers for those circumstances where that can reduce injury to my people, and also reduce injury to the public.”

He said Toronto officers are guided by a “strict policy” that tell officers “precisely when it’s appropriate to use [a Taser].”

Currently, the force equips about 500 supervisors and tactical officers with the device. Chief Blair said those officers are not always available in the “critical situations” where a Taser could, he said, change the outcome of a confrontation. He noted that there are many more steps before the devices land in officers’ hands, since laws must change and the city and province must commit to paying the $8.6-million it will cost to equip and train all officers with the Taser.

During his presentation, Mr. Smith likened the jolt of electricity to hitting your funny bone, times 20. “It’s certainly not a pleasent experience, but your’e very aware of what’s going on,” he told the crowd that appeared captivated at times, skeptical at others.

Patti Gillman, whose brother Robert Bagnell who died in Vancouver in 2004 after being Tasered twice, said she spoke for the 350 people in North America who have died after being shocked with the device. (I said 315 people, not 350!)

Andy Buxton, chair of the local branch of Amnesty International, voiced concern over the potential for abuse. He said that if officers had to be equipped with Tasers, it should be instead of, not in addition to, guns.

Taser maker to appear at Toronto police board meeting

January 15, 2008
CBC News

A full house is expected at Thursday's Toronto Police Services board meeting, where Taser International will make a pitch suggesting the city should equip all of its front-line officers with the stun guns.

The board is grappling with the question of whether to spend $8.6 million to outfit every officer in Toronto with a Taser.

Tom Smith, the head of the Arizona-based company that makes the Taser, has been invited by the board to explain why it should spend the money on the controversial policing tool.

John Sewell, a former mayor of Toronto who now heads a local police watchdog group, isn't pleased with the board's decision.

"I think it's wrong for the Toronto police board to sponsor a meeting where he's the only speaker and he's going to tell us how terrific his product is," said Sewell.

But Alok Mukherjee, head of the board, said the meeting won't be just a sales pitch, as Taser International will have to convince the public as well as the board.

"What we are doing is simply having an open forum where people can ask all the questions they have. And I have heard that it will be a fairly tough session for him."

Thursday's meeting starts at 5 p.m. at police headquarters.

Mukherjee said that although the meeting will be open to the public, space will be limited.

Taser boss to speak at Toronto police forum

January 15, 2008
TIMOTHY APPLEBY AND CAROLINE ALPHONSO, Globe and Mail

How many volts from a taser does it take to stun a person? How many to kill one? What if the target's clothing is wet? And what if he's stoned on cocaine?

Few are better poised to field such questions than Thomas Smith, chairman of the board and co-founder of Arizona-based Taser International Inc., North America's overwhelming market leader in the production and sale of stun guns.

And in an unusual and probably lively public forum Thursday evening, Mr. Smith will get the chance to provide some answers.

The event, which will take place at police headquarters, has already attracted criticism.

Offered by the company and arranged by the Toronto Police Services Board, Mr. Smith's presentation comes as the civilian-oversight board weighs a request by Police Chief Bill Blair to spend $8.6-million to equip and train every front-line officer with a taser.

The move follows recommendations last year in Toronto by two separate inquest juries looking into the deaths of people killed in confrontations with police. It would see the number of tasers deployed by city police rise significantly from the current 500 or so.

In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, Chief Blair vigorously advocated the use of tasers as an alternative to guns.

"I think it is a device that, in the hands of a well-trained police officer clearly instructed on its appropriate use and properly supervised and fully accountable for its use, has the capacity to save lives," he said.

"That's been our experience."

In Toronto, there has not been a single serious injury resulting from tasers, Chief Blair said, noting that officers receive double the training prescribed by Taser International.

"And I can recount for you literally dozens of occasions where lives have been saved because of the use of a taser."

But should their use widen? Not everybody is impressed with what are formally known as "conductive energy devices," which fire darts that deliver a five-second shock and immobilize the muscular system.

Amnesty International has long urged a moratorium on tasers until further research clarifies the risks. In December, the RCMP narrowed guidelines governing taser deployment after a series of confrontations in British Columbia and Nova Scotia that saw three people die after being shocked by stun guns.

But what chiefly bothers John Sewell, a former Toronto mayor and veteran police critic, about Thursday's session is what he terms "the cozy relationship" between Taser International and those who endorse its products. Giving Mr. Smith such "a privileged vantage point" to promote his company is plain wrong, Mr. Sewell said yesterday.

There were no apologies from the protagonists.

Neither Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle nor police board chairman Alok Mukherjee responded to messages seeking comment.

Toronto police watchdog protests taser presentation

January 14, 2007
Betsy Powell, The Toronto Star

A watchdog group is calling on the Toronto Police Services Board to cancel an appearance at police headquarters Thursday by the head of Taser International Inc. “We believe that the Board agreeing to host this event is inappropriate,” John Sewell of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition wrote in a letter delivered today to the board.

On the heels of two inquest juries recommending their expanded use, Chief Bill Blair has submitted a report to the board requesting that all front-line officers be equipped with the devices manufactured by Taser International. It’s estimated that would cost $8.6 million.

Sewell, a former mayor of Toronto, said it is “improper” to give “a possible supplier such a privileged vantage point” where he can say “exactly how great his product is.”

“We have no problem with Mr. (Tom) Smith hiring a hall and making the pitch for his product. What is improper is for the Board to provide the venue and the support for this company. This kind of support means the Board is aligning itself with the interests of Taser International Inc. This is wrong.”

Last week, board chair Alok Mukherjee said in an email to the Star that the meeting was arranged after he held discussions “with various people in light of the incidents in Vancouver and elsewhere.” The most high profile incident happened at Vancouver airport last year when a Polish man died after being shocked by RCMP officers using Tasers.

“When the offer was made to me to have Tom Smith come here, I thought it was a great opportunity to have a public event where curious as well as concerned folks could hear directly from him and also have him respond to their questions,” Mukherjee said. “So, this is more by way of a public information and interaction session.”

Mukherjee added he hoped the meeting “will be educational for Board members also and help them think through the related issues.”

Toronto taser plan on hold, more information needed: Police board

July 11, 2007
Tamara Cherry, Toronto Star

Toronto police Chief William Blair's plan to equip all officers on the street with Taser guns was put on hold Tuesday, when the police board said it wouldn't go to the province for funding without more information.

Judge denies attempt to dismiss taser lawsuit

December 20, 2006
PETTI FONG, Globe & Mail

Vancouver -- A B.C. Supreme Court ruling has struck down an attempt by the Vancouver Police Board to dismiss a lawsuit against police by the family of a man who died in custody after being shot with a taser gun.

The family of Robert Bagnell, who died on June 23, 2004, are suing the board claiming the force was negligent in purchasing and supplying officers with tasers.

The police board argued that its functions are purely legislative and there is insufficient proximity between the board and members of the public whose family members are harmed by individual police officers using tasers.

Justice Catherine Wedge said she does not accept the board's argument that its role is similar to a municipality and dismissed the police board, which is chaired by Mayor Sam Sullivan, to extricate itself from the lawsuit.

Abuses aside, taser guns save lives

November 27, 2006
Rosie DiManno, The Toronto Star

"Dr. Jim Cairns, the province's deputy coroner, gave evidence in support of Taser use at the inquest. It was Cairns who, as consultant to the province and the Toronto Police Services Board, reviewed Taser incidents, concluding that the 14 Canadian deaths — four of them in Ontario — had been caused by drug overdoses, with excited delirium implicated, and not the electric jolt administered. Tasers were not even a contributing factor, the veteran coroner determined. "If you die from electric shock, from a Taser, you die within seconds," Cairns told the Toronto Star yesterday. "You don't die five minutes later or 10 minutes later." The Toronto Police Services Board reversed its original opposition to Tasers, largely because of the persuasive findings presented to them by Cairns."

My brother died about two minutes after being tasered - does that count, Dr. Cairns?

Peter Rosenthal, lawyer for the Vass family, was quoted in another article in the Toronto Star as saying that, at the Vass inquest, "excited delirium was pushed on the jurors who couldn’t quite resist all that pressure.”

Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says

December 17, 2004
Jeff Gray, Globe and Mail

Toronto police board urged to buy more stun guns, told medical safety review not needed

After you read the headline story above (Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says), consider this: Deputy Coroner Dr. Cairns admitted to me in a March 2005 telephone conversation that he had NOT seen autopsy or pathology results on my brother, nor had he seen autopsy or pathology results on any of the other people who had died outside of Ontario, before publicly concluding that tasers had been cleared of causing the deaths. I had heard him say that on CBC's Ontario Today, as Toronto police considered adding more tasers to their arsenal. This was before the cause of death had even been released in many cases. On the telephone, Dr. Cairns said to me: “it is my personal opinion that, unless a person dies immediately after being shot with a Taser – not 5 minutes later, not 30 minutes later, but immediately – then the Taser did not kill them.” I asked Dr. Cairns, on behalf of my family, to please refrain from including my brother’s death in his statistics, until such time as the official cause of death had been released. He did not respect my request. He went on to publicly declare on radio and television and in newspaper reports that:

None of the Taser-related deaths in Canada can be attributed to the Taser stun gun being used;

All of the deaths in Canada were determined to have been caused by cocaine-induced excited delirium;

All of the deaths in Canada were caused by cocaine overdoses;

Tasers have been cleared of causing any of the deaths in Canada; and

All nine (at that time) people would have died anyway.

To date, none of the deaths in Canada for which final results are available has been attributed to the taser (several have in the US). Nor, in the final analysis, was my brother's death. However, I know that Dr. Cairns has been consulted for his opinion on deaths which have occurred in RCMP custody over the last couple of years, including two that I'm aware of: Paul Saulnier in Digby, Nova Scotia and Kevin Geldart in Moncton, New Brunswick. Neither was attributed to the taser. Dr. Cairns has seemingly become Canada's "expert", the "go-to-it-guy" on tasers and their non-relation to the deaths of people. He also makes himself available for speaking engagements at Taser International and excited delirium-related conferences. You can bet that he's received one of the hundreds of pamphlets the weapon's manufacturer mails out to coroners each year to help them identify excited delirium.

See also: Coroner finds man didn't die from taser, where Dr. Cairns said that had Peter Lamonday died in the parking lot where he absorbed the shots, the powerful stun gun could be considered responsible.
See also: How can you justify using a taser 12 times - "After this huge fight that often goes on, they suddenly go quiet and tranquil. It seems as though they're getting a second wind. In fact, they're not. They're dying at that point," says Cairns.
See also: Drugs, not taser, caused Kingston man's death - A mere two days after Samuel Truscott's death, Dr. Cairns was able to "state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in his death."
See also: Fantino gets Taser issue revived

Fantino gets taser issue revived

December 17, 2004
Catherine Porter, The Toronto Star

The Toronto Police Services Board will reconsider arming more officers with stun guns after a top forensics expert insisted Tasers can save lives.

Ontario's Deputy Chief Coroner James Cairns told board members that Tasers are typically used to subdue delirious people who could die if not taken to hospital and treated.

Without access to Tasers, police are forced to use guns, as people in such a state are almost superhuman and impervious to pepper spray and clubbing with batons, Cairns said.

"There is evidence that the Taser has definitely saved lives," Cairns told the board, which only last month voted against equipping about 500 more officers with stun guns until further medical research is done.

Board member Alok Mukherjee said he had been "almost convinced" to change his vote on the stun guns, and the board unanimously decideed to readdress the issue again next month, rather than in the spring.

"We all want to save lives," Mukherjee said.

Three months before he's being forced to leave his command, Fantino said he was so shocked by the board's decision on Tasers last month that he was raising the issue again and had asked Cairns to address the board.

"I do not want to have the unnecessary death of a mentally ill or emotionally disturbed person on my conscience," Fantino said. "Nor do I want one of our police officers to have to live with the knowledge that he or she had to kill someone whose life could have been saved."

The Toronto Police Service currently has 24 Tasers, limited to the tactical and emergency-response units. Fantino has requested the board buy 539 more for his front-line supervisors, at a $1.1 million price tag.

The guns are used by police forces across North America to disable aggressive people by shocking them with a current of up to 50,000 volts.

Cairns dismissed Amnesty International Canada's contention that the stun guns have precipitated the deaths of nine Canadians over the past year and a half.

Going one by one through each fatal case, Cairns said they all had been caused by cocaine overdoses. Although the subjects had been shocked with a Taser, the weapon didn't cause the deaths, he said. All nine would have died anyway, he maintained, and in two cases they were almost saved by Tasers, as police could quickly get them to hospital.

"Tasers give a person an electrical shock. People who die from an electrical shock do so immediately," he said, adding that in all cases the victims died hours after being hit with a Taser.
Cairns' report will go to the city's medical officer of health, who has been asked to report back to the board in January. If approved then, Fantino said he was sure he could find $1.1 million in next year's already tight police budget proposal.

Expand Taser use, report urges

November 16, 2004
JEFF GRAY, Globe and Mail

But board chairwoman calls for study of long-term health effects of stun guns

A Toronto Police report says front-line sergeants should be given Taser stun guns to subdue suspects, but the chairwoman of the Police Services Board says more study is needed before the controversial weapons are rolled out.

The report, on the agenda for Thursday's Police Services Board meeting and signed by Chief Julian Fantino, dismisses safety concerns about the Taser, which uses an electrical charge to subdue suspects. Currently, only members of the force's emergency task force tactical squad are armed with the devices, usually used to deal with people the police refer to as "emotionally disturbed persons" -- often those who are drug-addled or mentally ill.

"Certainly, in my view, before we move too far down this road, we need to examine the long-term health effects of Taser use," said Councillor Pam McConnell, the police board chairwoman. She said she hopes to ask the city's medical officer of health for a report on the risks of Taser use.

The board is expected to receive the report, but not take any action on it.

The police report recommends buying more than 500 stun guns -- which deliver their electrical charge via a wire that hooks onto a suspect's clothes or skin -- at a cost of just over $1-million.

The report argues that front-line supervisors on patrol, not just the tactical squad, should have Tasers because by the time the ETF arrives -- sometimes 20 minutes or more after the call comes in -- it can be too late.

In one case, the report says, officers in 14 Division "were held at bay for over twenty-five minutes by an emotionally disturbed man brandishing a large knife" before the ETF arrived with Tasers at the ready. "At one point the man was literally chasing officers around a police vehicle in an attempt to force officers to shoot him," the report reads.

The report also suggests that the Toronto Police Service could be opening itself up to lawsuits if it fails to put Tasers in the hands of more officers, because the force could be held liable for deaths or injuries that would have been prevented had a Taser been handy.

Although used by thousands of police forces around the world and across Canada, including most in the GTA, the Taser remains controversial.

The RCMP, the Edmonton Police Service, the Calgary Police Service and the Vancouver Police Department allow front-line supervisors to use the weapons, and the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety recently changed its rules to allow front-line supervisors in the province to use the devices.

A major front-page article in a July edition of The New York Times investigated the safety record of Tasers and said 50 people in the United States have died since 2001 after being stunned by the devices. But the company that makes the weapons countered that the causes of death were drug overdoses, restraint asphyxia or other factors -- not the Taser.

The Toronto police report says no deaths have been conclusively linked to the Taser, "despite initial sensational media reports."

In the GTA, the Taser was ruled out as a factor in the death of 29-year-old Jerry Knight, a drugged-up and out-of-control boxer, subdued by Peel Regional Police using the device in July.