Should The Use Of Tasers Be Banned? ( Archived) (69)

Taser death in Canada sparks heated debate around the world
A number of countries are testing or using the stun guns – raising questions about whether their use is routine in some cases – and whether they should be banned.

By Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar
from the December 4, 2007 edition


The death of a Polish man at Vancouver International Airport has sparked an intense debate in Canada over the increasing use of Tasers by law-enforcement officials. Concerns over the use of these electric shock guns has mounted in several other countries after a UN Committee on Human Rights recently labeled their impact "torture."

Nine investigations, including one by the Polish government, have opened into the death of Robert Dziekanski, a Polish national who died Oct. 14 almost immediately after he was Tasered by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RMCP) at the Vancouver International Airport, reports CanWest News Service. Polish officials said the aim of their inquiry was to verify whether Canadian police "involuntarily caused the death of a Polish citizen."

Criticism of the incident rose after a video of the incident was posted on YouTube Nov. 14, reports the New Statesman.

The clean-cut stereotype of a Mountie in a tomato-red uniform may linger internationally, but the RCMP's domestic reputation has been shaken. The officers captured on film have been removed from active duty; others replacing them at the Vancouver airport have been verbally abused and had rubbish thrown at them.

On the Saturday after the video's release, nearly 300 people arrived at the airport for a memorial service for Dziekanski.

The incident led to one senator calling for Canadian police to stop using Tasers, while police officials defended their actions, reports The Canadian Press.

Officials claim the electric shock guns, which emit up to 50,000 volts, are not the cause of death in such deadly incidents. A conference last week focused on such factors as "excited delirium," reports The Globe and Mail.

However, the key issue is excited delirium, a collection of symptoms that is quickly becoming the leading explanation offered when a person dies in police custody or after a taser is used….

Critics, who include civil-liberties groups and plaintiffs in myriad lawsuits against both Taser International and police departments, say the condition is actually a vague collection of descriptors designed to protect police officers from allegations of wrongdoing. But there are virtually no such critics at this conference….

Civil liberties activists are pointing to a report by the UN Committee Against Torture last week that called the use of Tasers "torture." The committee said it was "worried that the use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use."

The UN report provoked reaction in Australia, where Queensland police defended their trial use, reports The Brisbane Times.

Officials there said Tasers had been used in 93 incidents since the trial period began in July, and their use "was to resolve dangerous situations without injury."

(Cont'd)

In New Zealand, where a one-year trial of one model of the weapon has just ended, the Green Party urged the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to withdraw the $NZ780,000 (about $594,000) invested in the American firm, Taser International, Radio New Zealand reported.

Taser International officals dismissed the UN comments, suggesting that the committee was " 'out of touch' with the realities facing law enforcement agents," reports Australian news channel ABC.

Taser has cited research that shows that the electric-shock weapons are safe. Amnesty International, however, recently called for a suspension of Taser use pending further study, and a commitment to greater training of law-enforcement officers.

The organization's report cites increases in Taser-related deaths, and says that Tasers continue to be used in the US as a routine force tool rather than as weapon of last resort.

According to Amnesty, more than 150 people have died in the US after being struck by Tasers since June 2001. In 23 cases, coroners listed the use of the Taser as a cause or contributing factor.

More than 11,000 agencies in the US deploy TASER brand technology. Some 3,500 of these agencies give Tasers to all their patrol officers, according to the company.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed before his election in May to buy a Taser for every policeman and gendarme in France, a market for at least 300,000 guns, reports Agence France-Presse.
There are already about 250,000 of the stun guns in use, mainly in North America, but about 70 other countries are buying or trying Tasers -- including Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, said [Taser representative Antoine] di Zazzo.

In Britain, where beat cops don't have guns, home secretary Jacqui Smith has said that all police should have Tasers, and the weapons were "more effective for subduing suspects and caused less harm than traditional batons," reports The Telegraph.

Mrs Smith told Police Review magazine that she "could see a day" when all officers were armed with stun guns. "If police officers could be prevented from injury because they are able to subdue someone more quickly than with other methods, then it would be viable," she said.

The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, has called for all officers to be equipped with stun guns.

Use of Tasers in Britain has risen since 2003, according to a report in the online magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Nope Cops with tasers should be banned.

Personally I think anything that can cause death and is suppose to be used in place of lethal weapons shouldn't be used in anything but a life or death situation...They seem however to be using them in regular arrest and control situations and there have been many needless deaths!!!!!!!!!

Well there is two ways about this, in my view.

The way law enforcement has become all over the world is that; everybody is a suspected homeland terrorist, We can be shot by a real bullet and not get a chance to say we are innocent, Or get tase'ed and go thru some pain, but, at least live to talk about it.

Welcome to the New World Order, where the U. N. controls what everybodies country should do. Look it up in your local archives at your local library, you might even find more things than you hear about.

Infowars. com
Prisonplanet. com

Learn the truth. org

Well unfortunately the issue is that people are not living to tell about it...There have been several deaths related to tasers which are suppose to be a non-lethal weapon used in place of lethal force....However it's quite apparent they aren't as safe as what they are claimed to be!!!!!!!!

Well, if they would simply stun and temporarily immobilise then they could be useful, rather than having to shoot someone, I guess. But they are causing deaths..... not good!!

After all..... how does the user know if the person they are trying to apprehend has a medical condition or not? Could be all it needs to induce a fit, heartattack, stroke and the like...??

I wonder how many lives have been saved by using tazers? Were tazers not used, real guns and bullets would be, yes there are tragic circumstances in everything we see and do, but we also need to look at the other side of the coin.....................I'm sure the police would rather tazer someone than shoot them.....just my two cents worth

I agree with both you rose and you also Jacko...There probably have been lots of lives saved...BUT perhaps it's the situations they are being used in....regular arrest and control vs. non-life threatening situations that may be the issue!!!!!!!!

I'm also sure there are other forms of non-lethal weapons that could be utilized rather than the taser...