Toronto police call for public debate/broader public discussion on arming more officers with Tasers

April 20, 2012
Natalie Alcoba, Postmedia News

TORONTO — Toronto police Chief Bill Blair is calling for a public debate about equipping officers responding to situations involving emotionally disturbed people with Tasers.

The chief made his comments following a police services board meeting Thursday in which residents, activists and people who have suffered from mental illnesses pleaded for changes to the way officers handle such incidents.

The death of Michael Eligon, who was shot by Toronto police after leaving the psychiatric ward of Toronto East General Hospital, has roused public outrage — to the point where one physician said she will now think twice about calling officers for someone in an agitated state.

Eligon, 29, was carrying two pairs of scissors at the time of the shooting in February.

"I can't say with some certainty — or any certainty — that Taser was the answer (in the Eligon case), I don't know," Blair said. "But I think it's worthwhile to have the broader public discussion about the use of conductive energy devices" or any technology that "would enable us to resolve these very difficult, very dangerous situations, as safely as possible."

Peter Cuthbert, executive director of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said he's in favour of such a debate taking place.

"The CACP would welcome the opportunity to participate in that discussion," he said.

Cuthbert declined to comment on the operational policy of a specific police force, and said the organization would have its committee debate the issue before going public with a position on the matter.

In Toronto, only tactical officers and supervisors are equipped with Tasers. Cuthbert said the policy is similar for most police forces across the country.

An investigation into the death of Eligon, who had been roaming the neighbourhood in a hospital gown, socks and a toque, cleared the officer of any wrongdoing, but a coroner's inquest has since been called.

Police reported that of the two million calls officers responded to last year, 17,000 were for emotionally distressed people.

In all, 6,664 people were apprehended under the Mental Health Act.

The topic of Tasers did not come up during Thursday's board meeting. Speakers mainly called on Toronto police to move away from a "control" approach to one that "de-escalates" the situation and demanded better training.

Former Toronto mayor John Sewell, head of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, also urged police to expand its mobile crisis intervention teams, which pair nurses with police, so that they operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, instead of just part-time and in select divisions.

"Toronto police need to pay more than just lip service to de-escalation," said Douglas Pritchard, a witness to the shooting of Eligon, who has joined a group called Never Again. "Why are people still dying in Toronto for lack of appropriate crisis response?"

The board asked Blair to report back on recommendations by a mental-health subcommittee, and to review procedures used to respond to incidents involving the mentally ill.

Former Toronto mayor faced Taser in 2010

March 3, 2011
Henry Stancu, Toronto Star

Former Toronto mayor John Sewell was one of 226 people to face the business end of a police Taser in 2010.

The Toronto Police Services Board listened Thursday as he described his unexpected encounter with a Taser-toting Toronto officer.

“It should happen to every member of this board. It would change your opinions about how this weapon is used,” Sewell told them.

“I believe this is what happens a lot of the time.”

He was responding to a report by Chief Bill Blair that states while 545 Toronto officers packed Tasers in 2010 fewer people got zapped or had the weapons pointed at them than the year before.

The X-26s Taser has been issued to emergency task force members and supervisors in high-risk units such as the holdup, drug and fugitive squads.

“Officers are using good judgment under difficult circumstances and making appropriate decisions to use the minimum force to resolve often tense and dangerous situations,” Blair’s report states.

Sewell’s situation last October was hardly dangerous. The former mayor, who heads the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, was outside an apartment building with a man police were coming to arrest on a criminal harassment charge stemming from a relationship breakup.

An officer ran at them pointing the device and shouting: “You’re under arrest. You’re under arrest.”

After they both identified themselves, the man, who Sewell was representing as a lawyer, was forced to the ground by three officers and handcuffed.

“The (chief’s) report says the use of the weapon was effective. What it did was terrify us. Does that mean this in fact is happening a lot of the time?” Sewell asked the board.

Despite his experience, Sewell would rather see police use Tasers over lethal firearms, but calls for better training and restrictions on their use.

He did not file an official complaint, but the board members agreed to accept his deputation for their consideration.

In his report, Blair said the weapon was used 236 times in 210 cases, with 95 incidents (45.2 per cent) resolved by officers merely pointing the devices, but not firing.

By comparison, Tasers were used 307 times in 273 incidents in 2009. In 45.4 per cent of those cases, people complied when the devices were just shown.

No deaths resulted from Taser use and only three minor injuries occurred, including cuts to a chin, lip and cheek when jolted subjects fell to the ground, the report states.

In about half the cases, officers used Tasers when they felt a person’s behaviour was threatening and 29 per cent of the incidents involved armed suspects, the report says.

“Upon review, some of these incidents were life-saving events (including suicide attempts), and most certainly officer injury was avoided,” Blair said in his review.

Last May, two handcuffed men were threatened with a Taser by an officer trying to get information from them.

Police cruiser cameras showed Const. Christopher Hominuk, 37, pressing a Taser against a man’s neck and pointing it at another man’s groin.

Hominuk, who pleaded guilty to threatening bodily harm, is to be sentenced June 14.

Toronto police taser reporting

November 3, 2008
Toronto Police Accountability Coalition
Bulletin No. 43

In September the Toronto Police Services Board rethought how it might ensure it got full information on the use of tasers by Toronto police. TPAC threw in its ideas based on the fact that almost all those on the receiving end of the taser in Toronto are those in mental or emotional crisis. TPAC asked that police report on whether the person showed signs of distress, and whether and when the mobile crisis intervention unit was called. (TPAC believes the intervention of the MCIU is much preferable to taser use.)The Board was inconclusive about what changes would be made - everything seemed to be referred back to the chief for further comment.

But what is clear is that no report reporting form will capture the full range of how the taser is used. One case that happened two years ago recently came to light in the courts, when a judge dismissed charges of cocaine trafficking because the suspect was tasered while lying naked on the floor, his hands handcuffed behind him. Another case came to light when a civil action was started - police had tasered an autistic man lying in bed who was not obeying police orders to get up and put his hands in the air. Neither of the details of these incidents was included in previous reports. Perhaps we need to include in the standard reporting format some pretty simple questions, such as: was the person clothed or naked? In handcuffs? In bed?

The state of taser use in Canada remains shamefully muddled. It is more than a year since the death of Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver airport after being tasered, but the public inquiry is still to begin. Meanwhile, the RCMP has released a report on taser use, basically asking that RCMP officers be more careful. That depressing report can be found at http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ccaps/cew/kiedrowski_report_e.htm

49% back taser ban: Poll

May 23, 2008
By BRETT CLARKSON, SUN MEDIA

Almost half of Canadians want a ban on cops using Tasers, a new study has found.

The Angus Reid Strategies poll of 1,006 Canadians across the country found that 49% favour a moratorium on police usage of the controversial stun guns.

And nearly three in four Canadians -- 74% -- are against the civilian use of Tasers for personal safety, according to the poll.

The poll was released Wed -nesday, the same day Toronto Police tactical officers used a Taser on a 30-year-old Scarborough man who allegedly stabbed another man in the chest three times.

Sgt. Rob Tobin said Emergency Task Force officers were called to a Reidmount Ave. condo building near Sheppard Ave. and Kennedy Rd., where they found a man armed with a knife and a 36-year-old victim.

The alleged stabber was jolted with a Taser before he was arrested and charged with attempted murder. The victim was recovering in hospital with non-life threatening injuries yesterday.

"It just debilitates people from doing any harm to themselves or to us," Tobin said. "It's a very effective tool."

The poll also found 57% of respondents in B.C. favoured a moratorium on Taser use by law officers. In Ontario, about 46% supported the same. About 10% of Ontario residents were unsure while 45% opposed a ban. A total of 43% of Canadians opposed a ban, while 8% were unsure.

Across the country, only 23% of respondents think stun guns should be allowed for civilian use. In Ontario, 78% oppose the idea of average citizens being allowed to carry the weapon.

Last year, according to Toronto Police, local cops deployed Tasers 404 times and fired the weapon 187 times.

While Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair wants 3,500 frontline officers equipped with Tasers at a cost of nearly $9 million, not everybody is convinced it should be a part of every cop's arsenal.

Former Toronto mayor John Sewell, a member of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, said the video of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, who died after being Tasered by Mounties at Vancouver Airport, has caused the Canadian public to become apprehensive about the high-voltage weapons.

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.

Toronto police seeking to amend regulations to allow tasers for all officers

At its next meeting on Thursday February 21, the Toronto Police Services Board will consider a report from the Chief of Police containing a recommendation that the Board write to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to amend the regulations to allow for the expansion of TASERS to front-line police officers. The report will be item 5C on the agenda to be posted on the Board's website, click on agenda. (The Feb 21 agenda was not posted by Wednesday afternoon.)

The meeting is at 1:30 PM in Committee Room 2, second floor, Toronto City Hall.

If you would like to deliver a deputation to the Board at this meeting, call the Board secretary, Deirdre Williams at 416-808-8094, or email her at Deirdre.Williams@tpsb.ca . If you cannot attend, please send a letter to the Board using Ms Williams' email.

When we held the taser forum at Innis College on stormy and snowy February 6 (about 75 people attended), there was general agreement that we would ask as many people as possible to speak at a city hall meeting about tasers if one could be arranged. This opportunity has come up (more quickly than expected), and we hope you'll speak. The more people who speak up, the more chance we have of stopping this recommendation. Just voice your opinion, loudly and clearly, and tell the Board whatever information you think it needs to know.

John Sewell for
Toronto Police Accountability Coalition

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.

`Why talk when you can shock,' says taser opponent

February 7, 2008
Robyn Doolittle, Toronto Star

Tasers are not a replacement for guns; they're a replacement for talking, said author Naomi Klein at a town-hall meeting last night. "If it happened in a cell, we would call it torture and if it happens on the street we should not be afraid to call it torture," said Klein, who is the author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

The discussion on the police use of shock and stun guns was held at the University of Toronto in response to Toronto police Chief Bill Blair's request that 3,000 officers be armed with electroshock guns.

When RCMP officers used a Taser on Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver International Airport last October, they did so within 25 seconds of their arrival on the scene, Klein said. Dziekanski died shortly after.

"Why talk when you can shock?" she said. "Tasers are not a replacement for guns. They're a replacement for everything else ...they're a replacement for talking; for negotiating."

As many as 20 people in Canada and 290 in the United States have died after being shocked by a Taser, said the chair of Toronto's Amnesty International chapter, Andy Buxton, who also sat on the panel.

Taser International has said the weapon it manufactures is safe. But during clinical trials, people who are zapped are in a calm, healthy state. "That's not how it is in real life," Buxton said.

Of the 310 people in North American who died after being shocked with a Taser, people were often intoxicated or high on some kind of drug, such as cocaine. The majority had been in an altercation with police, had had force used on them and many were tied up in some way.

"Something in that whole witches' brew all together (is unsafe) and we don't know what," Buxton said. "And until all the facts are on the table, (Amnesty International) is asking police in Canada and the United States to put a moratorium on the use of Tasers until we know whether or not they're safe," he said.

Buxton also cited statistics that show officers can become addicted to using Tasers. He used the example of the Edmonton police force, where Taser use increased from an average of once a week to once a day.

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.

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 seeking approval to equip ALL OFFICERS with Tasers

July 7, 2007
Betsy Powell, Toronto Star

"The chief disagrees with the recommendation from a coroner's jury that the tasers, if issued, require "full accountability features including the video recorder." He cites the size, the cost and the fragility of the video equipment, which will "only add to the already high rate of unit failure." He says 25 per cent of Toronto's tasers have been returned to the manufacturer for replacement. In its most recent semi-regular bulletin, the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition referred to a website called www.truthnottasers.blogspot.com established by a Vancouver woman after her brother died in 2004 after police used a Taser."

Contrary to this article, while my brother died in Vancouver, I'm not a Vancouver woman. I'm an Ontario taxpayer. It's ironic that, if this $8.5 million taser purchase is approved, my tax dollars will help to finance it.