Study urges police to be cautious with stun guns

May 27, 2011
Dave Collins, Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Police officers using stun guns should avoid shooting suspects multiple times or for prolonged periods to reduce the risk of potential injury or death, according to a new U.S. Justice Department study prompted by hundreds of police-involved deaths across the country.

Coroners and other medical experts on the study panel concluded that while the effects of prolonged and repeated stun gun use on the body are not fully understood, most deaths officially attributed to Tasers and similar devices are from multiple or lengthy discharges of the weapons.

The panel reviewed nearly 300 cases in which people died from 1999 to 2005 after police shot them with stun guns, but found that most of the deaths were caused by underlying health problems and other issues. Of those cases, the experts examined 22 in which the use of stun guns was listed as an official cause of death.

The study released Tuesday by the department's research arm, the National Institute of Justice, concludes that it's appropriate for officers to use stun guns to subdue unruly or uncooperative suspects, as long as police adhere to "accepted national guidelines and appropriate use-of-force policy." It also makes several recommendations, including medical screenings for all people shot with stun guns.

The experts also noted that evidence shows the risk of death from a stun gun related incident is less than 0.25 percent, and there's no conclusive evidence that stun guns cause permanent health problems.

"What this study suggests is, indeed, less-than-lethal technologies ... can be effectively used by law enforcement," said John Laub, director of the National Institute of Justice.

Justice Department officials said the study began more than six years ago after Amnesty International and other groups blamed many death of suspects in police custody on stun gun. Both Amnesty International and the United Nations Committee Against Torture have called the use of stuns guns a form of torture in some cases.

More than 12,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide had issued about 260,000 stun guns to officers as of spring of last year, the study said. Of the more than 600 arrest-related deaths in the U.S. each year, there are very few cases in which stun guns are cited the cause or contributory factor, the report said.

Officials at Taser International, the maker of the leading stun guns, said Thursday that there are no peer-reviewed medical studies that have found that prolonged or repeated use of Tasers cause death. In 2009, however, the company advised Taser users to try to avoid shooting people in the chest, because of a very low risk of a health problem.

Alvaro Garzon, a 46-year-old drug and alcohol addiction counselor from New Haven, said the study's cautions about firing stun guns multiple times make sense. Garzon has filed a brutality complaint with New Haven police saying a city officer shot him with a stun gun four times last year during a domestic disturbance call.

"After two times it should be enough," Garzon said in Spanish on Thursday while his daughter, Lina, interpreted for him. "You don't feel good after the second shot. I felt like I was burning inside."

Garzon, who was accepted into a probation program on a charge of assault on a police officer, said he was treated at a hospital for lung problems, and he continues to suffer from the trauma. The status of Garzon's police complaint wasn't immediately clear Thursday night.

Police across the country have faced heated criticism for stun gun deaths.

Connecticut state police are investigating the May 1 death of 26-year-old Marcus Brown, who authorities say was shot with a stun gun by Waterbury police while he was in the back of a police cruiser and handcuffed. Brown's family is calling for federal authorities to investigate; the official cause of death is still pending.

Waterbury police say Brown, who was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 125 pounds, became combative. The officer who shot Brown, Adrian Sanchez, had been placed on administrative duty under normal procedures.

Earlier this month, Connecticut state police released an investigation report that showed how Middletown police last year shot 35-year-old Efrain Carrion 34 times with stun guns to subdue him while responding to a report that he was despondent and violent. Carrion died later that day.

The medical examiner concluded Carrion died of "excited delirium," a cause of death not recognized by many medical groups but one the Justice Department says is well documented. Several officers were cleared of wrongdoing in the incident.

Last year, a jury in Louisiana acquitted former Winnfield officer Scott Nugent, who was accused of shooting handcuffed suspect Baron Pikes eight times with a Taser gun and charged with manslaughter. Pikes later died.

In 2006, police in Green Cove Springs, Fla., shot a 56-year-old woman in a wheelchair 10 times with a stun gun and she died. Police say Emily Marie Delafield was swinging knives and a hammer at relative and police, and officers had tried to talk her into dropping the weapons before they were forced to subdue her. The officers' actions were found to be justified.

Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for Connecticut state police, said police officers never want to get into a situation where they're forced to fire Tasers or other weapons.

"Certainly you're looking for voluntary compliance from a suspect ... but unfortunately that's not always achievable," Vance said.

FRANCE: African immigrant's death by Taser sparks debate

(GIN)—The killing of an African immigrant last week by French police armed with Taser electric stun guns has revived a debate over use of the deadly weapon.

The immigrant, from Mali, whose name has not been released, died after Parisian police shot him twice with a Taser, tear-gassed and struck him with a night stick. Police said the 38-year-old man had attacked officers with a hammer after being asked for identity papers.

French prosecutors have ordered an inquiry to determine the exact cause of death.

The use of the Taser which fires darts carrying a 50,000 volt shock, has caused controversy around the world. A five-year study in Australia published in October found that police there had used Taser guns against people with mental illness in a disproportionately high number of cases.

In June, a Canadian inquiry ruled that officers were not justified in using a Taser gun five times on a Polish immigrant at Vancouver airport in 2007.

“A Taser has never killed anyone,” the director of the Taser’s French subsidiary, Antoine di Zazzo, told the news agency AFP.

Opposition to Tasers is mounting, lead by the French group RAIDH (Intervention Network for Human Rights) and in the U.N. where the Committee against Torture has expressed concern that “the use of these weapons can cause acute pain, constituting a form of torture, and in some cases it can even cause death.”

Amnesty International has also documented more than 351 individual deaths by police Tasering in the U.S. alone since June 2001. Most of the victims were not carrying a weapon.

Another Nail in the Coffin of TASER

OHCHR-UNOG
Committee against Torture
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone Number (41-22) 917-9000
Fax Number (41-22) 917-9006
E-mail to urgent-action@ohchr.org

Another Nail in the Coffin of TASER
By Eddie Griffin
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

When the Fort Worth City Council voted on Tuesday to accept a $2 million settlement in the Taser related death of Michael Jacobs Jr., they cast down their eyes and droop their heads in painful sorrow of this salt in the wound. They wanted to say as little as possible to stir the winds. She was a City eager to heal and move on.

Yet the City would not concede liability into the young man’s death. Maybe, to do so, would expose her to more similar lawsuits. After all, there have been five taser related deaths in the past five years. For to be culpable in one, infers guilt in the other.

Fort Worth Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks spoke for the City and for the community, declaring now to be the time to begin the healing process.

An exhausted pastor, Kyev Tatum, who has led the mass public awareness campaign which gained national and international attention, sighed with some relief that this part of the battle against tasers was over. Tomorrow, he would take up the matter of the Arlington Police Department and its plan to purchase 300 more stun guns. By no means, for him, was the war over.

Pastor Tatum was drawn into the taser controversy when the Jacobs family called out for help. The Fort Worth Police Department had electrocuted the son of Charlotte and Michael Sr., with a 50,000-volt taser, and nobody was saying anything, not even a word of regret or sympathy. There was no explanation from the police department as to why the officer engaged the weapon for a full 54 seconds upon a young man with mental problems. And, no city leader was willing to condemn the officer without all the facts.

The City was silent and complacent and its populous impervious. Michael Jacobs, Jr. was on his way to becoming just another silent statistic in a string of taser related deaths.

Tatum organized a local chapter of the Southern Leadership Conference (SCLC) and pulled together coalition of other civil rights organizations, including NAACP, LULAC, ACLU, and community activists. The community coalition called for an investigation, and to make the results public.

The medical examiner, upon finding no contributory causes such as drugs or alcohol in Jacobs’ system, declared his death a homicide. But the police department refused to dismiss the officer, and the grand jury refused to indict. There was no recourse except to seek redress by civil suit; otherwise, no one would be accountable for the death of an innocent, mentally challenged young man.

The $2 million settlement is a small penance to pay for a human life, though the largest in city history, but it may pave the way for reconciliation. The Fort Worth Police Department plans to meet with Pastor Tatum and other ministers to “begin the healing process”, and discuss strategies for better policing in the community. There will continue to be disagreement, however, on the usefulness of tasers and their lethality.

There is an axiom here: As the death count rises, the cost of using tasers will go up.

Although the manufacturer of the weapon, TASER International, has been sued over 100 times, it remains largely unscathed. They sell the instruments based upon its claim of non-lethality, and leave municipalities to pay the cost of wrongful deaths.

“Tasers are not only deadly”, Tatum declares. “They are torture.”

Officer Stephanie Phillips did not know that when she continuously engaged the trigger of her taser that 50,000 volts of electricity continued to course through the body of Michael Jacobs Jr., and that she was inadvertently frying him alive, from the inside out. No one ever told her the weapon was lethal. She was never trained to “disengage” the electrodes before electrocuting the subject. Maybe this is why the Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict her. And, she did not violate department policies by using her own discretion to deploy.

Hindsight is 20/20, and many people wish that certain events could be undone. Had the officer known the deadliness of the weapon, she would have ceased engagement. This being the premise, a Star-Telegram editorial emphasized “better training” as a resolution to taser death.

Not so. Teaching an officer how to use discretion in the field, when deploying the weapon, is no guarantee against abuse, nor does it mitigate the fact that the taser itself is an implement of torture. But proving torture, on the other hand, is much harder than proving the cause of death. By its very definition, a torturous act must be one that horrifies the social consciousness of humanity. And yet we, as a nation, have been conditioned into accepting the Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) as non-lethal and harmless.

We discount the fact that they have been used on pregnant women such as Valreca Redden and claimed the life of the 6-month unborn child of Hannah Rogers-Grippi, that they have been used on senior citizens in their 70s and 80s, against the wheel-chair bound and mentally ill, and that the death count in the U.S.A. and Canada now stands at 481.

What is more, there is now mounting evidence that tasers cause serious and permanent injuries. A young victim is tasered over a minor incident, falls flat on his face, unable to catch himself, and breaks out his front teeth. He sues and wins. And, it has been reported, that those who have been tasered and survived, have “never been the same” since, having suffered neurological brain damages.

These are the risks, and no one is without fair warning.

[Post Note- The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice is soliciting "Alternatives to Conducted Energy Less-Lethal Devices", to wit Tasers (R)]

The handwriting is on the wall: The days of tasers are coming to an end.


http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-nail-in-coffin-of-taser.html

Letter to the President of the United States

To: President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC, USA 20500

Subject 21st Century Electronic Lynching

Mr. President,

This letter was written to express the protests of concerned Individuals, Civil Rights Organizations and activists who complain that our civil rights have been so eroded that it is now acceptable Police policy to use cruel and unusual punishment on a Citizen without due process of law. We the undersigned Citizens, Citizen Groups and Civil Rights Organizations, protest that the 4th, 8th, and 14th amendments of the constitution are being systematically violated by Police Officers using electronic torture devices on Citizens and non-Citizens.

Representatives of the company that manufacturers electronic torture devices lied to Police Officials when they told them that the devices had been tested and were found to be non-lethal. They bragged instead about the excruciating agony and terror caused by their use. It is impossible for the manufacturer to have tested these electronic torture devices with electrodes shot at different depths under a victims skin, and in all possible places on the human body, and for the extended times experienced in the field, also they could not have tested the devices on victims with various medical, physical and mental conditions. Had this happened there would have been many deaths of the test subjects. Instead, the company in effect used Police Officers as lab assistants and the public as lab rats for their tests, then they harvest Para-Medic and Medical Examiners Reports all for free. They scammed an all too willing law enforcement community with half truths and outright lies. The best estimate that we can find to date indicates that thousands of victims have suffered cruel and unusual punishment and 476 victims were tortured and died after being electrocuted with an electronic torture device in the US and Canada. Medical records prove many victims suffer neurological damages after being electrocuted with an electronic torture device by a Police Officer.

Michael Patrick Jacobs Jr., a bipolar 24-year-old black youth, who needed medical attention was tortured for 54 seconds with 50,000 volt electrodes shot into his neck and chest. He was not a criminal. His 21st Century Electronic Lynching was declared a homicide by the Tarrant County, Tx. Medical Examiner. After his taser torture death the taser manufacturer sent bulletins to all Police departments to direct Officers not to shoot a victim in the chest area to avoid causing cardiac arrest. This was after 12 years of vehemently denying that tasers could be lethal and after 424 prior taser related torture deaths. The inaccuracy of the devices gives Police Officers little control over where they will be shot into the flesh of a victim so each use is playing Russian Roulette with a victims life.

Mr. President, there is no more cruel and unusual punishment than being slowly electrocuted with 50,000 volts of electricity delivered under the skin. Please take the time to count down 54 seconds to understand just how long Michael Jacobs and thousands of others have suffered the agony of electrocution. The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the 4 seconds of agony suffered by a convicted felon, before death occurred in the electric chair, was cruel and unusual punishment, and unconstitutional. Electrocution has been abandoned as a means of execution. Michael Jacobs who was convicted of nothing, cruelly and senselessly suffered the agony of being electrocuted with over 20 times the voltage (and pain) used in the electric chair, with a 50,000 volt barb shot into his neck and chest, for 13.5 times longer than a convicted criminal had to suffer in the chair before death happened. He suffered 54 seconds of agony before his young healthy heart was caused to fail. He is survived by two Fatherless Children and a grieving Mother and Father who blame themselves for calling for help to medicate their son and got him tased, tortured to death instead. Michael Patrick Jacobs Sr. wishes the Police had shot his son in the leg instead of torturing to him death. He said "at least he would still be alive." Google his name for the full story.

The complete Michael Patrick Jacobs Junior test is readily available to anyone who doubts that being tased for 54 seconds is cruel and unusual punishment and torture. Ft Worth, Texas has a Police Officer that is expert in administering it.

The 9th District Court made the ruling this past September that a taser could only be used when an Officer's life or the life of someone else was in danger. Police Officers train and by instinct do not use a taser in a life threatening situation, they use a lethal weapon just as they trained for and always have. This is backed by FBI records and we agree that a Police Officer is justified in using lethal force in defense of his life or to prevent harm of an innocent life. That said, any time a Government Official intentionally takes a citizen's life that act must be investigated and evaluated as to it's constitutional validity. In the 9th District Court ruling, the Judge declared that the use of electronic torture devices (tasers) causes severe pain and terror. By the very definition, severe pain and terror constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The United Nations declared that the use of a taser against a victim is "a potentially lethal form of torture".

After the famous case of the Polish immigrant who was tortured to death in a Vancouver, British Columbia airport for failing to comply with police orders, the Canadian government made the ruling that tasers could only be used in life threatening situations. Again Police Officers do not use tasers in life threatening situations. On the news this evening a Police Officer shot a Pit Bull that was attacking him. He didn't use his taser.

The use of water boarding on terrorists was condemned by you, and high ranking members of The Democratic Party, as torture while it was being done on George Bush's watch and water-boarding produces no physical pain and is mild compared to electrocution with 50,000 volts of electricity under the skin. Our troops are sacrificing their lives every day for the avowed purpose of eliminating the use of torture and terror by our enemies while torture and terror is being inflicted on our own Citizens daily by Police Officers, without due process of law. No one is fighting for these tortured, terrorized Citizens. 41 percent of the torture deaths resulting from taser use in 2009 were black men and boys.

Mr. President, an 84 year old Grandmother and 10 year old children have been tortured with a taser by Police. One little 10 year old child was taser tortured in her home by an Arkansas Police officer because she refused to take a shower before bed time. Tear down this wall and end this terrible atrocity. 84 year old Grandmothers should not be made to live in fear and cringe each time they see a Police Officer. Be the President that is remembered in history as the President that ended barbaric torture and terror in the USA. Set the standard for all the world and issue an executive order outlawing the use of torture of any kind and especially electrical torture. Outlaw the possession, manufacture, sale, and/or use of electrical torture devices in the USA by anyone, including Police Officers, our Military and the CIA here and abroad. Return the dignity and respect to this Nation that we once had.

Signed
Kyev Tatum SCLC President
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Texas
sclctarrantcounty@yahoo.com
kyevtatum@yahoo.com

Signed
Hector Carrillo LULAC District Director
League of United Latin American Citizens
hcarrillo29@hotmail.com

Signed
Deryl Muhammad--Representative
Nation of Islam
derylmuhammad@yahoo.com

Signed
Drew X
Chairman New Black Panther Party
drewx2003@yahoo.com

Signed
Tom Franklin
Pastor New Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
The Taser-Torture-Death Memorial Site
frenklinart@aol.com

Signed
Marcus Hardin SCLC Texas
Strategist, Researcher, Historian
mhardin104@aol.com
http://truthnottasers.blogspot.com/

Signed
Friendship Rock Missionary Baptist
A. Scott Harper
asharper35@yahoo.com

Signed
Eddie Griffin (BASG)
eddiegriffin_basg@yahoo.com
http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/

Signed
Julie Walker
Prevent Dangerous Harm Inc.
jwalker@preventdangerousharm.com
www.preventdangerousharm.com

$10m earmarked for police 'tools of torture'

May 23, 2009
By MARTIN KAY - The Dominion Post

The Maori Party says giving police Tasers will arm them with "tools of torture", even though its MPs must vote for the Budget to fund them.

Police Minister Judith Collins said yesterday that $10 million would be set aside in Thursday's Budget to provide all police districts with the 50,000-volt stun guns in the next three years.

The funding would pay for all aspects of the deployment, including the weapons, audio-video cameras attached to Tasers to film their use and training. It would bring the number of Tasers to 720. About 3500 officers would be trained to use them.

At present, just 44 Tasers are available in the four police districts, including Wellington, where they were trialled before last year's decision to issue them nationally. Increasing the availability of the guns was announced last week, but not the level of funding.

Police say the weapons are necessary to provide a non-lethal response to violent offenders, but critics say they have the potential to be misused, with Maori and the mentally-ill most at risk.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture expressed concern this week about New Zealand police being issued with Tasers, saying they caused severe pain that was a "form of torture".

Maori Party police spokesman Hone Harawira said the party, which is in a confidence and supply agreement with National, supported the UN findings.

"The last time I checked the job description of this country's police force I didn't come across any duty to torture people. We realise there are dangerous people out there, but we also know there are innocent people out there, and therefore we don't want tools of torture in the hands of police or anyone else."

Despite concern about the national rollout of Tasers, the Maori Party will have to vote in favour as its deal with National means it must support Budgets.

It is not the first time the agreement has seen the party vote for measures it does not agree with. Before Christmas, it was forced to back National's first round of tax cuts, despite figures showing they would deliver less to low income workers over time than those planned by Labour.

A disproportionate number of low income workers are Maori.

Ms Collins said "rigorous rules" would be in place to govern the use of Tasers.

Police Association vice-president Stuart Mills said the weapons would "save lives and prevent serious injuries".

"Tasers give officers an effective means to protect themselves, and the public they serve, without being forced to resort to lethal force." [Where have we heard THAT before??]

Canada urged to improve human rights record

Among other recommendations, the United Nations Human Rights Council is urging Canada to review its policies on police use of taser weapons.

February 3, 2009
By Laura MacInnis, Reuters

Canada should strengthen its domestic violence laws and stop religious discrimination against Muslims, a U.N. body heard on Tuesday.

Germany, Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China are among the other countries facing a review this month, under a less than year-old process that is meant to ensure all U.N. members are held to account for their rights records.

In its first examination under the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, Canada was also urged to do more to improve the welfare of its aboriginal citizens and to review its policies on police use of Taser weapons, following the 2007 death of an unarmed Polish man at the Vancouver airport.

The Canadian delegation told the 47-member state forum "no country, including Canada, has a perfect human rights record."

"It is important that every country open their human rights records to scrutiny, both domestically and internationally," Canada's deputy justice minister John Sims told the session in Geneva, where both the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and Human Rights Council are based.

The reviews could help the nearly three-year-old Human Rights Council gain credibility as a watchdog for wrongdoings.

Since its launch in 2006, the Council has held special sessions on Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan's Darfur crisis, and Israel.

The Council's predecessor, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, was seen to be largely ineffective.

Canada faced questions about its anti-terrorism laws, including a controversial "special advocate" measure in which a court-appointed lawyer with high security clearance stands in the place of certain detainees in their hearings.

Sims said the practice was meant to protect highly sensitive information while ensuring detainees get fair treatment.

"This programme special advocates will be challenged and will work its way through the Canadian court system. It will, in this way, be tested for how well the government has struck this important balance," he said.

On racial and religious profiling, he said that it was not used as it was contrary to the law. Canada's "bias-free" recruitment of police meant its force included racial or ethnic minorities less likely to engage in such practices, he said.

Addressing the concerns raised that it should ratify more human rights treaties, Sims said that Canada chose not to join the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007 because it was too vague on some issues.

"We are aware that Canada's position has generated a number of adverse reactions. I wish to stress, however, that Canada remains committed to fulfilling its human rights commitments to aboriginal peoples in Canada," he said.

The U.N. panel also said Canada ought to accede to U.N. treaties on enforced disappearances, the rights of migrant workers, and an optional protocol to the anti-torture pact.

No pain, no gain??

Steve Tuttle, Director of Communications, Taser International: "It doesn't hurt ... Don't get me wrong, it's uncomfortable. It kind of feels like hitting your funny bone 18 times per second throughout your whole body."

Tom Smith, Chairman and CEO, Taser International: likened the jolt of electricity to hitting your funny bone, times 20. “It’s certainly not a pleasent experience, but you're very aware of what’s going on."

Police Officer Wynn Robison, Rexburg, Idaho: "It's a very intense pain. I never want to do that again."

Joe Diaz, attorney representing tasee Timothy Beck: "The Taser was the most excruciating pain he ever felt in his life."

Mike Todd, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police: “I couldn’t move. It hurt like hell.”

Paul Kennedy, Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP: "This device causes intense pain."

Alan J. Keays, reporter for the Times-Argus (Vermont): "My hands were sweating and I'm told my face turned extremely pale moments before I endured my most painful experience yet as a reporter ... All I could see was red, and the pain was like an extreme migraine headache and how I imagine a whack in the back with a baseball bat would feel."

Amnesty International: "Taser fires 50,000 volts of electricity through the subject, causing collapse, intense pain and loss of control of their bodily functions."

United Nations Committee Against Torture: "The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture."

Taser guns 'weapons of torture'

September 25, 2008
BBC News

Lawyers described the Taser as a torture weapon

Taser stun guns have been described as torture weapons and a judge has been urged to ban them immediately.

Lawyers acting for an unnamed Belfast child have won the right to a judicial review of the Police Service of Northern Ireland using the weapons.

On Thursday, they asked for an interim order at Northern Ireland's High Court banning their use until after the outcome of the hearing in January.

They argued their medical effect on "vulnerable people" remains unclear.

Twelve of the Taser stun guns were bought by the PSNI in January for use in a pilot scheme. Since then the weapon has been used once.

A lawyer described stun guns as "weapons of torture" and claimed that a proper equality impact assessment had not been carried out.

"The use of this weapon relies on pain as a means of ensuring compliance. Under UN conventions there can be no lawful reason for the use of torture," she said.

Lawyers for the police said it was about balancing the risk to the public and the target.

Mr Justice Morgan adjourned the hearing until a copy of the relevant equality impact assessment could be provided to the court.

France’s 20,000 local police to carry stun guns

September 25, 2008
Expatica.com

PARIS -- France's 20,000 local police officers will be able to carry Taser stun guns under a decree published Tuesday, despite calls from human rights groups for the weapon's use to be suspended.

Municipal officers will join the national police and gendarmes in using the weapon, which packs a 50,000-volt punch that can paralyse targets from up to 10 metres away, and is intended as an alternative to handguns.

Local mayors will have to apply for individual permits for each officer, who will receive a Taser blast as part of their training, under the decree published in the government's official gazette.

Many officials see it as a safer alternative to the handgun, which local officers have been authorised to carry since 2000.

According to the head of Taser France, Antoine Di Zazzo, 346 mayors have expressed an interest in the newest Taser X26 model, which has a built-in camera to record the scene each time it is used.

To date, 4,615 Tasers have been issued to France's national police and gendarme force.

According to police chiefs, Tasers were used 280 times without causing serious injury, cutting handgun usage by 15 percent in 2007.

But France's opposition Socialist Party is firmly opposed to rolling out the Taser to local police.

Amnesty International says that more than 290 people have died around the world after being zapped with a Taser and is demanding a moratorium on the weapon's use while a full investigation is conducted.

Taser France says the figures do not apply to the Taser X26 model.

A United Nations committee ruled in November 2007 that the Taser's use constitutes "a form of torture" which can result in death.

The UN criticism followed a string of deaths in the United States and Canada that occurred after police used Tasers to subdue people, including a Polish man who was filmed dying after being stunned at Vancouver airport.

Taser responded by saying the UN committee was "out of touch with modern policing".

Decree authorises use of tasers by French local police

September 23, 2008
France 24 International News

France's 20,000 local police officers will be able to carry Taser stun guns under a decree published Tuesday, despite calls from human rights groups for the weapon's use to be suspended.

Municipal officers will join the national police and gendarmes in using the weapon, which packs a 50,000-volt punch that can paralyse targets from up to 10 yards (meters) away, and is intended as an alternative to handguns.

Local mayors will have to apply for individual permits for each officer, who will have to receive a Taser blast as part of their training, under the decree published in the government's official gazette.

Many officials see it as a safer alternative to the handgun, which local officers have been authorised to carry since 2000.

According to the head of Taser France, Antoine Di Zazzo, 346 mayors have expressed an interest in the newest Taser X26 model, which has a built-in camera to record the scene each time its used.

To date, 4,615 Tasers have been issued to France's national police and gendarme force. They were used 280 times last year without causing serious injury, cutting handgun use by 15 percent, according to police chiefs.

But France's opposition Socialist Party is firmly opposed to rolling out the Taser to local police.

Amnesty International says that more than 290 people have died around the world after being zapped with a Taser and is demanding a moratorium on the weapon's use while a full investigation is conducted.

Taser France says the figures does not apply to the Taser X26 model.

A United Nations committee ruled in November last year that the Taser's use constitutes "a form of torture" which can result in death.

The UN criticism followed a string of deaths in the United States and Canada that occurred after police used Tasers to subdue people, including a Polish man who was filmed dying after being stunned at Vancouver airport.

Taser responded by saying the UN committee was "out of touch with modern policing".

One step closer to a police state?

August 7, 2008
By John W. Whitehead
Tri-State Observer, Pennsylvania

"Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation." - George Orwell, 1984

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Compliance weapons, also known as non-lethal or non-deadly weapons, have become the rage in law enforcement.

On paper, these weapons seem like a welcome alternative to bloodshed, especially if it means protecting law enforcement officials from dangerous criminals and minimizing civilian casualties.

Yet as we have seen with tasers, the dangers posed, especially to defenseless non-criminals, cannot be lightly dismissed. And as technology makes possible the widespread availability and acceptance of these weapons, o­ne also has to wonder about their impact o­n police practices and the exercise of civil liberties.

Tasers, for example, are designed to cause instant incapacitation by delivering a 50,000-volt shock. Currently used by roughly 12,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S., tasers have been hailed by law enforcement officials for their effectiveness in subduing targets. However, concerns about their misuse are growing. For example, Amnesty International reports that in instances where these hand-held electronic stun guns are used, 80% of the time they are used o­n unarmed suspects. In 36% of the cases, they are used for verbal non-compliance, but o­nly 3% of the time for cases involving 'deadly assault.'

Another non-lethal weapon with the potential to do untold damage is the 'LED Incapacitator' (LEDI). LEDIs will soon be in the hands of thousands of policemen, border agents and National Guardsmen. Designed like a flashlight, this light saber (also dubbed a barf beamer and a puke saber) is intended to totally incapacitate its targets by emitting multiple light frequencies and colors that confuse the brain, resulting in symptoms ranging from discomfort and disorientation to temporary blindness and nausea.

It has been suggested that LEDIs be installed in prisons so that riots can be stopped with the flip of a switch. Police vehicles with large versions mounted o­n top for riot control have also been proposed. But if LEDIs can be so easily employed o­n a mass scale and mounted o­n buildings, there is little that would stop police from dispersing even a mildly rowdy, but legal, political protest and shutting down entire city blocks with virtually no resistance.

Devices such as LEDIs facilitate a non-dramatic, palatable use of force. Indeed, the Department of Homeland Security has praised the LEDI device for its potential to peacefully apprehend boarder jumpers, resistant suspects and control riotous crowds. (Homeland Security has also expressed interest in yet another non-lethal weapon in the form of security bracelets, aka 'taser bracelets,' which could be used to control crowds, quell protesters and inflict pain compliance o­n suspects from a distance.)

But there is a serious problem with non-lethal, non-deadly weapons: how they are used or abused largely depends o­n the individuals and agencies operating them. For example, many police forces around the world unabashedly use tasers as compliance weapons rather than as alternatives to deadly force. In these countries, tasers are more often used against passive resisters and stubborn individuals, while more deadly force is reserved for armed offenders. Consequently, abuses are o­n the rise and opposition to tasers is mounting worldwide, especially given the sharp increase in sudden deaths accompanying use of the stun guns. In fact, in late 2007, the United Nations Committee Against Torture declared that the use of tasers constituted a form of torture.

Also, we know very little about these non-lethal weapons. For instance, despite assurances from Homeland Security that LEDIs cannot do any real damage, the research is still out o­n the long-term effects of many of these non-lethal weapons. As with tasers, which have resulted in nearly 300 deaths over the past few years, LEDIs might cause greater than expected damage to individuals who are especially susceptible to their effects.

Moreover, non-lethal weapons such as LEDIs may not reduce the number of shootings by police. In Houston, Texas, for example, the introduction and routine use of tasers did not reduce the number of people shot, killed or wounded by the police. Nevertheless, while the use of non-lethal weapons such as tasers and LEDIs may not necessarily reduce the number of civilian casualties, they have been largely accepted as the humane alternative to deadly force because they make the use of force appear far less dramatic and violent than it has in the past.

Contrast, for instance, the image of police officers beating Rodney King with billy clubs as opposed to police officers continually shocking a person with a taser. Both are severe forms of abuse. However, because the act of pushing a button is far less dramatic and visually arresting than swinging a billy club, it can come across as much more humane to the general public.

Without citizen awareness and outrage, a major check o­n the abuse of police power is lost. As we have seen with the use of tasers, this empowers law enforcement officials to resort to non-lethal weapons in situations where previously no force would have been used at all, such as routine traffic stops or peaceful protests. And as force becomes easier and more common, with police neutralizing masses of people for the slightest disturbance and o­nly facing relatively minor repercussions, constitutionally protected protests will be rendered useless.

There are also totalitarian ramifications to be considered. Governmental coercion is largely restrained by the fact that people will resist governmental violence that crosses a certain threshold. But when the threshold is subtle and justified under the rubric of being more humane or combating terrorism (as in requiring airline passengers to wear taser bracelets), it becomes more difficult to find the outrage necessary to oppose it.

Lest we forget, government domination is not usually accomplished by methods so dramatic that they spark a backlash from citizens. Thus, the real threat to freedom posed by such non-lethal weapons is a governmental system of coercion so well designed that it does not breed revolt.

Plans to sign UN torture protocol sparks taser debate in Australia

August 7, 2008
ABC News, Australia

The Federal Government's decision to sign the Protocol to the UN's Convention Against Torture has the potential to put Australia's police in a difficult position.

The UN Committee Against Torture says the use of Tasers "causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture".

The Taser is an electronic stun gun with a 50,000-volt punch, that paralyses its target. They are used by police in several Australian states and one high-profile lawyer says the Government's decision to sign up to the UN protocol could make their use illegal.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says Tasers are now being used by police in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. Police in Victoria are campaigning for them too.

Mr O'Gorman says they are used every day. "[There was] an incident on the Gold Coast recently where the police were chasing a fellow who hadn't stopped for some mundane reason," he said. "They couldn't catch up with him so they Tasered him. The use of the Taser, which is touted as an alternative to the police drawing their gun and shooting, is being used in ordinary, everyday, mundane, policing situations."

He says very little parliamentary scrutiny has been applied to the decision to issue police with Tasers, but the signing of the protocol against torture could change that.

"It clearly is extremely painful. The United Nations have said that it is a form of torture so the Federal Government has got to grab this whole issue with both hands and address the widespread growing use of Tasers in at least three of the eight state and territory police services in this country," Mr O'Gorman said.

He expects the signing of the UN protocol will strengthen the legal argument against Tasers in Australia, and says it puts the onus on the Federal Government to take action on the issue.

"Deaths in Australia are inevitable. There is clear evidence that the use of Tasers leads to death," he said.

"The fact that Australia is now signing up to the UN protocol, which describes Tasers as a form of torture, just means that this has a degree of urgency which needs to be addressed by at least the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, which is an overarching body which looks at these sorts of issues over the country."

Getting Tased - Part 1

June 13, 2008
By Molly Priesmeyer, The Minnesota Independent

How Taser International expects to make millions from fear mongering, slick marketing and the Republican National Convention

A Taser shock has been called the “longest five seconds of your life.” It incapacitates the nervous system. It causes a loss of bowel and bladder control. It produces a 50,000-volt shock from up to 10 yards away that pulsates through the body and causes every muscle fiber to recoil and stiffen. Yet Taser International and the Minneapolis Police Department stress that the Taser is an extremely safe non pain-compliance tool. “It saves lives,” they insist.

Despite these reassurances, in November a United Nations Committee ruled that Taser use constitutes a “form of torture” that can result in death. And just this week a federal jury in San Jose found the company responsible for the death of a 40-year-old man, awarding his family more than $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages. It was a landmark case, the first of at least 69 wrongful-death lawsuits filed against Taser that the company has lost.

The family's victory caused Taser’s stock to plummet 12 percent on Monday. Taser scrambled to reassure Wall Street with a specious PR campaign emphasizing that the jury found Taser "only" 15 percent responsible for the man’s death. Reassuring Wall Street, after all, is paramount to Taser International's ongoing success: Analysts are banking on Taser’s earnings jumping 50 percent this year.

While Taser is hoping to reach that figure by expanding its reach in the consumer and overseas markets with more “fashionable” Tasers, the company continues to capitalize on the fear of 9/11 and the police departments that have grown increasingly militaristic because of it. Recently, the St. Paul Police Department purchased 230 additional Tasers, so that it will have one each for all of its 370 officers, just in time for the Republican National Convention. And earlier this week it was announced that 3,050 New York Police Department sergeants, or about 10 percent of NYPD officers, are adding the M-26 Taser to their belts.

From a 'deadly-force alternative' to something like a punch in the gut

One reason for Taser’s increasing windfall has been that the company has turned its original weapon-focused marketing initiative upside down by insisting the Taser is a hand-held lifesaver. Retired Minneapolis police officer Michael Quinn was a part of one of the first groups of MPD officers to get trained on stun guns. “It appeared like a useful tool,” Quinn says. “But even then the department as a whole was concerned about abuse of the weapon.” Quinn spent more than 20 years in the MPD and is author of "Walking with the Devil," a book about the police code of silence.

At the time of Quinn's stun-gun training, the leading manufacturer of such devices -- the company that would go public in 2001 as Taser International -- was on the verge of bankruptcy. After failing to tap the consumer market with products like the Auto Taser, an alternative to The Club that locked on steering wheels and came equipped with a motion-sensor alarm, the company began aggressively marketing its new stun gun, the Taser, to law-enforcement agencies. By the end of 1998, more than 100,000 Tasers were sold in the United States. Since then, more than 400,000 Taser devices have been sold to U.S. law-enforcement officials.

“I kept tabs on the Taser and went to a number of demonstrations,” Quinn says. “The Taser first came out as an option to the use of deadly force. In the case where there was extreme risk to yourself or somebody else, Taser was a great option.”

Quinn remembers watching sales and training videos that detailed only uncommonly dangerous scenarios as examples when the Taser should be deployed. “When you saw the original sales videos, they used pretty extreme cases, like ‘Here’s a guy wielding a machete we can’t get close to, or here’s a guy wielding a knife or another weapon.' They were able to Tase him from a distance and not get hurt,” Quinn recalls.

“It used to be put below deadly force, but not a long ways below that, on the use-of-force continuum,” Quinn continues. “Now it’s slid down that force continuum, where at some agencies if someone presents even a verbal resistance and says I am not going to go with you, officers are justified in using the Taser.”

According to an MPD manual revision (pdf) from April 2006: “The use of Tasers is normally considered to be at the 'hard empty hand' level of force [kicks, punches, or other striking techniques] or above on the MPD’s Use of Force Continuum. This level of force is approved for aggressive resistance and above. Tasers shall not be used on passive subjects or as a come-along tool.”

The MPD also says that “Tasers may only be used on children, visibly frail persons, women who are known to be pregnant, and people with known heart problems when other hard empty-hand control methods have failed or deadly force is justified.”

The St. Paul Police Department's requirements regarding Taser use are even less specific. The Taser Usage Procedures (pdf) sent to Minnesota Independent do not outline a use-of-force continuum nor any approved level of force. Instead, the procedures mostly pertain to protocol for filing required paperwork after the device is deployed. Repeated calls to the St. Paul Police Department asking for more specific information on guidelines related to Taser use were not returned.

Taser training videos: Not for public consumption

Taser International would not make its current marketing and training materials available to Minnesota Independent for review. “A lot of our marketing is personalized,” spokesperson Peter Holran says. “We tailor it to the client’s needs.” Holran would also not make available the marketing materials his team provided to the St. Paul Police Department in advance of the RNC.

“There was nothing out of the ordinary with the order,” he says. “They did their due diligence and decided to purchase the 250 Tasers. The info that we would have provided them is all on the Web site and supports the testing of the product,” he says.

However, Holran acknowledges that the police training videos are not actually available for public viewing. “The full eight-hour course is not available,” he says. “It provides tactics and training we do not want out to the general public for safety reasons.”

Holran insists that Taser International and its training videos play no role in determining an agency’s use-of-force guidelines for Tasers. “What we provide in our training courses and in the general instructions is how it is used,” he says. “Whatever the agency’s policies are would determine how you take someone into arrest,” he says. “That is not what Taser dictates.”

Yet Taser does show what the company considers “typical scenarios” in its training materials. Recent police academy graduate Justin Richards has seen the most recent videos during his training last semester at the Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Center in St. Paul. Gone are the machete-wielding psychos, and in their place are people throwing around smart talk and attitude.

“We watched videos where people were getting Tased,” Richards says. “Three-hundred-pound guys being ornery and combative, and once they get Tased they are done. They put their hands behind their back and are ready to go.”

As part of his training, he chose to be Tased. “If you are going to use it on people, I think you should experience it for yourself,” he says. The shock, Richards says, hurt like hell.

“It hurts bad,” he says. “I have a pretty high pain tolerance. I’ve had torn ACLs and broken bones. As soon as it hits you, your muscles lock up. You think 100 percent clearly though everything, which is both good and bad.”

Richards says he hasn’t had to use a Taser at his new job in Anoka County, but he thinks it’s an important tool for officers to carry. “It saves lives,” he says. “In certain situations, basically you are going to be Tased or get shot.”

A company claim of 'thousands of lives' saved

Despite Taser International's loss in court this week and the fact that Amnesty International says the Taser has contributed to more than 350 deaths in the United States and Canada, the company continues to insist its products save lives. The company’s tag line is “Protect Life,” turning the axiom of “self-protection” into a touchy-feely notion of protecting all.

“The way it saves lives,” Holran says, “is that it reduces the escalation of force. If someone takes a fighting stance or someone presents resistance, officers need to take the next step. If you are in that situation where that policy deems it can be used, if it used correctly and with good training, it ends the conflict immediately. And that saves lives.”

The company’s press kit says that “Taser devices have saved thousands of lives and have greatly reduced the injuries that officers and suspects would typically encounter when using hands-on techniques, fighting, punching, kicking and swing batons to stop suspects from hurting themselves, the public or other officers.

Taser doesn’t cite any study in its press kit that can back up its “thousands of lives” claim. Instead, the company attaches news stories where Tasers were used on people in danger of harming themselves. In one case, the company notes, a Taser was used to subdue a suicidal man who slashed his wrists with a razor and shouted at police to shoot him.

In fact, there is not a single independent study that provides conclusive evidence that Taser saves lives of officers or suspects. A 1999 study on police use of force released by the National Institute of Justice suggests Tasers have had little more than perceived effect in reducing officer and suspect injuries. The study of 26 agencies found that in a period spanning 1995 and 1996, prior to Taser’s widespread use by police departments, that about 10 percent of officers using force suffered injury, with less than 1 percent being serious. About 38 percent of the subjects were injured as the result of police use of force, including approximately 1.5 percent with major injuries.

In a Seattle Police Department study in 2002, one year after implementing the M26 Taser, 32 percent of subjects suffered injuries. Thirteen percent of those injuries occurred subsequent to Taser deployment, often from falling to the ground. And officers suffered injuries 18 percent of the time.

Since the beginning of this year, Taser use has contributed to 34 deaths. Four have occurred in June. And two have occurred in the Twin Cities.

Seven Coloradans have reportedly died as a result of Taser shocks.

Taser seller sues Amnesty International

March 5, 2008
ABC News

The French reseller of Taser stun guns, dogged by scandals over Taser-linked deaths in Canada and the United States, has taken Amnesty International to court for harming its reputation.

In May last year, the French branch of Amnesty issued a statement claiming that a Taser gun had been put up for auction on eBay and that 220 US deaths had been linked to the Taser gun.

Following a complaint from SMP Technologies, which has imported and supplied Taser guns to the French army, police and gendarmerie since 2004, Amnesty later said it had sent out the statement by mistake.

Upon investigation, the rights group said the object for sale on eBay had turned out to be a publicity gadget, not a Taser gun.

According to SMP's lawyer, Catherine Hennequin, Amnesty agreed to publish a clarification but has yet to do so eight months on, and has continued to claim that deaths were linked to the weapon's use.

Amnesty's lawyer Simon Foreman says his client was mistaken about the eBay sale, but not about the "dangerous nature" of the Taser itself, accusing SMP of taking legal action "with the sole aim of intimidation".

Amnesty International says around 300 people have died around the world after being zapped with a Taser and has called for the weapon's use to be suspended while a full investigation is conducted.

The Taser packs a 50,000-volt punch that can paralyse targets from up to 10 metres away. The United Nations Committee against Torture ruled in November that its use constitutes "a form of torture" which can result in death.

The UN criticism followed a string of deaths in the United States and Canada that occurred after police used Tasers to subdue people, including a Polish man who was filmed dying after being stunned at Vancouver airport.

A verdict in the French trial is due on March 11.

Tasers: torture devices or Christmas presents?

November 27, 2007
Melissa Blasius, 12 News

As Taser International launches a holiday sales campaign for its newest consumer model, the United Nations issues a scathing report about the law enforcement version of the weapon.

The U.N. Committee Against Torture wrote in a report about Portugal this month, “The Committee was worried that the use of Taser X26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted torture.” The committee also commented about the possibility of death in some cases. The committee is a watchdog for prisoner rights around the world.

Taser International founder Tom Smith characterized the U.N. as “out of touch” with active, modern law enforcement. He defended the device, saying it reduces injuries to suspects and officers in 40 countries. He adds Taser executives will travel to Washington, D.C., this week in an effort to get United Nations officials to reassess the weapon.

Smith says he is concerned how the U.N. report could impact sales. The company recently launched a Christmas campaign to advertise the new consumer Taser, called the C2. It’s marketed as a self-defense device, especially for women. It comes in unintimidating hot pink and several other colors. It’s also not shaped like a gun and costs about $350 dollars. Both the C2 and X26 use the same voltage. They have different ranges and pulse cycles.

Canadian uproar over Tasers mirrors U.S., with several recent deaths

November 26, 2007
The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON - When Florida student Andrew Meyer was stunned with a Taser gun this fall at a campus session with Senator John Kerry, the dramatic video footage made all the networks. And it re-ignited debate in the United States about the use and dangers of the brand-name guns that zap people with high-voltage electric shocks.

Now, with the deaths of four Americans who were tased in the last 10 days, there are new demands to ban them. All told, there have been six deaths in the United States since Robert Dziekanski died last month at Vancouver Airport in a highly contentious case that's provoked a national debate about the weapons in Canada.

That concern is mirrored south of the border. "People are paying attention," said Jason Disterhoft at Amnesty International U.S.A. "It seems like people are worried and rightly so."

If the issue has resurfaced as a top-of-mind for U.S. government officials, rights groups and cops, it has been prominent here for the last few years. Amnesty has consistently raised concern about the use of Tasers in routine law enforcement situations or as a weapon of first resort. The group has been calling on police departments to suspend use of Tasers or at least limit them to situations involving the threat of death or serious injury. Tasing someone who is not violent and poses no threat to himself or others constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, says Amnesty.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture singled out Tasers at a Geneva conference last Friday, agreeing that the most popular model caused so much pain that using it "constituted a form of torture." "At the least, we'd like to see law enforcement use it only when lethal force is the only alternative," said Disterhoft.

Meyer, for instance, was still posing questions to Kerry after his time ran out and he resisted attempts by university police to remove him. After yelling out: "Don't tase me, bro," he got a blast from the stun gun as he lay on the ground, with one arm handcuffed. Two of the policemen were placed on paid administrative leave and Meyer agreed to 18 months of probation to avoid criminal charges of resisting arrest.

In Utah, an officer recently tased a driver who refused to sign a speeding ticket. A patrol car's dashboard camera caught it on tape and the incident became popular on YouTube. The officer is under investigation, accused of being too quick to pull out the Taser.

Other recent U.S. cases have been far more grave, including the death Nov. 18 of 20-year-old Jarrel Grey, who died in Frederick, Md., after a sheriff's deputy tried to break up a late-night brawl.

Black leaders are calling for a ban on Tasers, at least until there's a clear policy on how they're used by cops. That's something police want as well, saying it's not right to send officers out to make split second decisions without proper guidelines and training.

Those vary significantly across the country among some 12,000 police departments that use Tasers.

"My sense is there is no cogent policy nationwide," said Rich Roberts at the International Union of Police Associations in Sarasota, Fla., which is developing a research project on Tasers. "I'm afraid the same thing may apply to training. My fear is too many departments may be (explaining) the technology and that's it." What cops need to know, said Roberts, is exactly where the Taser belongs in the "force continuum," so it will be used appropriately. But it should "absolutely" be part of the police arsenal, along with pepper spray, batons and guns, he said.

Since it isn't classified as a firearm, it's exempt from federal firearms requirement and regulations. There's still no agreement in the United States on whether Tasers, wihich release 50,000 volts of electricity, can actually kill or whether the victims had pre-existing conditions.

The manufacturer, Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., concedes on its website that the technology is not risk-free but the company says no deaths have been definitively linked to the product.

Dziekanski is recorded as the 18th person in Canada to die in recent years after being hit by a Taser, while Amnesty says 280 people have died since July 2001 in the United States, where the devices can also be used by civilians in many states. That works out to roughly the same rate of deaths per capita in both countries.

"Nobody really knows exactly why these people are dying," Amnesty executive director Larry Cox told CBS News. "It may be because they have a heart condition. It may be because they're on drugs. It may be because of some other factor that we don't know about. The important thing is, they are dying after they are Tasered. That cannot be denied, no matter how you spin the language."

Last month, Wake Forest University released an independent study of injuries associated with Tasers, saying they're relatively harmless and pose minimal risks. Dr. William Bozeman, a lead researcher, added the device isn't a "magical sort of thing that can't hurt anybody ever."

The U.S. Justice Department is expected to release a major report on Tasers next year. And some government officials are already hoping to replace it. The Homeland Security Department, for instance, is looking at creating a new non-lethal weapon called the LED Incapacitator.

It would use high-intensity light-emitting diodes to temporarily blind people and make them dizzy.

Amnesty International: A taser victim's penalty 'should not be death'

November 26, 2007
David Edwards and Jason Rhyne

Police use of Tasers to subdue suspects can rise to the level of torture, according to Amnesty International USA's executive director, Larry Cox, whose organization is calling for a moratorium on the electroshock devices.

Cox appeared on CBS's Early Show to discuss a dramatic spike in Taser-related deaths -- a total of six people died after being Tasered in separate incidents last week in the US and Canada -- and to urge the continued study of potential dangers he says are inherent to law enforcement reliance on Tasers.

"You have people who are often in custody, and when they are in custody and it's being used repeatedly on them, it's hard to describe it as anything else but torture," said Cox. Amnesty International USA first raised concerns that some Taser practices amounted to torture in 2006.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture voiced a similar opinion about Tasers last Friday, commenting that one stun gun model "constituted a form of torture" by inflicting considerable pain.

Asked about the UN statements, Cox said that the panel's characterization of some Tasering as torture carried significant weight.

"It means that it's a very serious thing because the UN does not lightly use the word torture," he said. " These are people that have seen torture around the world, they've seen the worst kinds of torture...And because we know from our own experience that electroshock often is used as a form of torture deliberately. You're shooting 50,000 volts of electricity into people; it's extremely painful."

Taser International, the manufacturer of the TaserX26, the specific stun gun cited by the UN, denies that its device has ever been directly responsible for a death. Cox said that although there was not yet definitive proof, more study of the incidents was needed.

"Nobody really knows exactly why these people are dying, we only know that people are dying after they are Tasered," said Cox. "When we started doing our first study, 70 people had died in the United States. Now it's nearly 300 people who have died in the United States. They're Tasered and then they die. We're calling for a study to find out exactly why."

Although he acknowledges that other circumstances may contribute to Taser deaths, the Tasers themselves were undeniably a contributing factor.

"It may be because they have a heart condition, it may be because they're on drugs, it may be because of some other factor that we don't know about," he added. "The important thing is they are dying after they they are Tasered. That cannot be denied, no matter how you spin the language."

Cox said that one reason for the pervasive use of Tasers by police forces was the perception that the device was not particularly dangerous.

"It's been billed as something safe and easy," he continued. "So it's natural that police who are in very difficult situations -- and are worried for their own lives -- may tend to use it too easily."

Answering claims made by some police authorities that a ban on Tasers would force officers to resort to potentially more dangerous weapons such as batons and pepper spray, Cox stressed that whatever the method employed by authorities, it should be fundamentally safe.

"We also want there to be a safe way to subdue people. I think that's very good," he concluded. "But we have to study this and find out that this is really safe. The penalty for resisting arrest should not be death."

Tasers a form of torture, says United Nations

November 24, 2007
Herald Sun (Australia)

TASER electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill, a UN committee has declared after several recent deaths in North America. "The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture," the UN's Committee against Torture said.

"In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events,'' the committee of 10 experts said.

Three men, all in their early 20s, were reported to have died in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being Tasered by Canadian police. The man, Robert Dziekanski, 40, fell to the ground and died after the police officers piled on top of him. There have been three deaths in Canada after the use of Tasers over the past five weeks.

The company that makes the weapons has said that similar deaths have been shown by "medical science and forensic analysis'' to be "attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the Taser".

The UN committee made its comments in recommendations to Portugal, which has bought the newest Taser X26 stun gun for use by police. Portugal "should consider giving up the use of the Taser X26,'' as its use can have a grave physical and mental impact on those targeted, which violates the UN's Convention against Torture, the experts said.