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On November 18, 2007, a 20-year-old man in [[Frederick, Maryland]] died after being tasered.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/taser.death/</ref>
On November 18, 2007, a 20-year-old man in [[Frederick, Maryland]] died after being tasered.<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/taser.death/</ref>

==Criticism==
While their intended purpose is to circumvent the use of lethal force such as guns, the actual deployment of Tasers by [[police]] has resulted in more than 180 deaths (2006 figures)<ref name="Parker">Parker Waichman Alonso LLP, [[Associated Press]], Jun 14, 2006. [http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/11882 Justice Department to review TASER deaths.] Retrieved December 3, 2007.</ref> in the years since Tasers came into widespread use, thereby leading to calls for an official safety review and prompting legislators in the U.S. to file several bills clamping down on them.<ref>KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH, AP file, [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4464516.html Houston & Texas News.] Retrieved 12-03-2007.</ref> Despite the growing controversy, study funded by the U.S. Justice Department asserted that majority of people tasered from July 2005 to June 2007 suffered no injury. However, the head of the U.S. southern regional office of [[Amnesty International]], Jared Feuer, said that 277 people in the United States have died after being shocked by a Taser between June 2001 and October 2007, which has already been documented. He also noted that about 80 percent of those on whom Taser was used by U.S. police were unarmed. "Tasers interfere with a basic equation, which is that force must always be proportional to the threat," Feuer said. "They are being used in a situation where a firearm or even a baton would never be justified."<ref name="Dunham">William Dunham, [[Reuters]], October 8, 2006. [http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN0523646320071008] retrieved December 7, 2007. </ref> It has been pointed out by spokesperson for [[Taser International]] that if a person dies from a "tasering" it is instantaneous and not days later.<ref name= "Taser_Kroll">Mark W. Kroll, [http://www.taser.com/research/Science/Pages/TASERBlameForInjuries.aspx Why do certain anti-police groups blame TASER for injuries or death], last updated November 6, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2007.</ref> TASER announced that it is "transmitting over 60 legal demand letters requiring correction of... false and misleading headlines." <ref name="primenewswire"> Prime Newswire issued November 16, 2007[http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/primenewswire/131648.htm] </ref>


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 17:51, 9 December 2007

For the company, see TASER International. For controversies related to the use of Tasers, see Taser controversy.
The M-26 TASER, the United States military version of a commercial TASER.

A Taser is an electroshock weapon meant to stun a targeted subject from a distance. There are a number of controversies surrounding its use.

Tasers were introduced as a less-lethal weapon with the intention to be used by police to subdue fleeing, belligerent, or potentially dangerous suspects, often when a lethal weapon would have otherwise been used. However, tasers have not proven to unequivocally reduce gun usage. For example, the Houston Police Department has "shot, wounded, and killed as many people as before the widespread use of the stun guns" and has used tasers in situations that would not warrant lethal or violent force, such as "traffic stops, disturbance and nuisance complaints, and reports of suspicious people." According to the analysis of the first 900 police Taser incidents by the Houston Chronicle, no crime was being committed in the process and no person was charged.[1]Template:Electroshock

Name

The trademarked name Taser is an acronym for "Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle".[2] Arizona inventor Jack Cover designed it in 1969 and named it after the science fiction teenage inventor and adventurer character Tom Swift[3].

Function

Modern taser-type weapons fire small dart-like electrodes with attached metal wires that connect to the gun, propelled by small gas charges similar to some air rifle propellants. The maximum range is 10 metres (33 feet). Earlier models of Taser needed the dart-like electrodes to embed in the skin and superficial muscle tissues layers; newer versions of the projectiles use a shaped pulse/arc of electricity that disrupts nerve and muscle function without needing the metal prongs on the projectile to penetrate the skin. Early models had difficulty in penetrating thick clothing, but the 'pulse' models are designed to bring down a subject wearing up to a Level III body armor vest.

Drive Stun

A Taser making an electrical arc between its two electrodes

Some Taser devices, particularly those used by police departments, also have a "Drive Stun" capability, where the taser is held against the target without firing barbs, and is intended to cause pain without incapacitating the target. Taser defines "Drive Stun" as "the process of using the EMD weapon as a pain compliance technique. This is done by activating the EMD and placing it against an individual’s body. This can be done without an air cartridge in place or after an air cartridge has been deployed."

A Las Vegas police document says "The Drive Stun causes significant localized pain in the area touched by the Taser, but does not have a significant effect on the central nervous system. The Drive Stun does not incapacitate a subject but may assist in taking a subject into custody." [4] Video footage of the "Drive Stun" has been captured in the UCLA Taser incident and the University of Florida Taser incident.

It is also known as "dry tasing," "contact tasing," or "drive tasing".

Users

Tasers are currently in use by a number of police forces worldwide to try to reduce firearms-related deaths. The Phoenix Police Department reported that officer shootings had dropped due to the use of Taser technology as an alternative to deadly force.[citation needed] Taser use in this department increased from 71 in the year 2002 to 164 in the year 2003. In addition, the number of officer-involved shootings decreased by seven during this time period. In Houston, however, police shootings did not decline after the deployment of thousands of tasers.[1]

Although tasers were originally proposed as alternatives to lethal force, they have entered routine use as a method to gain compliance at times when the use of firearms would not be considered.

Safety concerns

While they are not technically considered lethal, some authorities and non-governmental organizations question both the degree of safety presented by the weapon and the ethical implications of using a weapon that some, such as Amnesty International, allege is inhumane. As a consequence, Amnesty and other civil liberties organizations have argued that a moratorium should be placed on taser use until research can determine a way for them to be safely used.[5] Amnesty International has documented over 245 deaths that occurred after the use of tasers. [6] Police sources question whether the taser was the actual cause of death in those cases, as many of the deaths occurred in people with serious medical conditions and/or severe drug intoxication, often to the point of excited delirium.[citation needed] Critics of taser use, however, argue that "excited delirium" is not a valid medical term and is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.[5] Tasers are often used as an alternative to attacking the suspect with a baton or shooting him with firearms, both of which have a much higher chance of serious injury and death than the taser,[citation needed] even using the highest estimates of possible taser-related deaths. The term "less-lethal" is being used more frequently when referring to weapons such as tasers because many experts feel that no device meant to subdue a person can be completely safe. The less-lethal category also includes devices such as pepper spray, tear gas, and batons. There has been one case report in the medical literature of a person suffering spinal fractures after being shocked by a taser.[7] The US National Institute of Justice has begun a two-year study into taser-related deaths in custody. [8] The U.N. has declared: "TASER electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill"[9]

Tests

On Tuesday, 5 July 2005 Michael Todd, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, England, let himself be shot in the back with a taser, to demonstrate his confidence that tasers can be used safely. This was videoed, and the video was released to the BBC on 17 May 2007. He was wearing a shirt and no jacket. When tased, he fell forward onto his chest on the ground, and (he said afterwards) the shock made him helpless; but, soon after, he recovered completely.[10][11][12]

Although tests on police and military volunteers have shown tasers to function appropriately on a healthy, calm individual in a relaxed and controlled environmnent, the real-life target of a taser is, if not mentally or physically unsound, in a state of high stress and in the midst of a confrontation.[5] According to the UK’s Defence Scientific Advisory Council’s subcommittee on the Medical Implications of Less-lethal Weapons (DoMILL), "The possibility that other factors such as illicit drug intoxication, alcohol abuse, pre-existing heart disease, and cardioactive therapeutic drugs may modify the threshold for generation of cardiac arrhythmias cannot be excluded.” In addition, taser experiments “do not take into account real life use of tasers by law enforcement agencies, such as repeated or prolonged shocks and the use of restraints". [13]

Notable taser deaths

A 2004 CBS News report described 70 deaths believed to be caused by the Taser, including 10 in August 2004 alone.[14] Amnesty International has reported this number at 150 since June 2001.[15]

In October and November 2007, four individuals died after being tasered in Canada, leading to calls for review of its use. The highest-profile of these cases was that of Robert Dziekanski, a non-English speaking man from Poland who died in less than two minutes after being tasered by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers at Vancouver International Airport in mid-October 2007.[16][17] The tasering was captured on home video and was broadcast nationally.[18] This was followed by three further death-after-Tasering incidents in Montreal, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Chilliwack, British Columbia, leading Amnesty International to demand Taser use end in Canada, as it had records of 16 other such deaths in the country. [19]

Robert Guerrero, 21, of Texas, died after being tasered. Police took this action against him when he was found hiding after illegally hooking up electrical equipment.[20]

On November 18, 2007, a 20-year-old man in Frederick, Maryland died after being tasered.[21]

Criticism

While their intended purpose is to circumvent the use of lethal force such as guns, the actual deployment of Tasers by police has resulted in more than 180 deaths (2006 figures)[22] in the years since Tasers came into widespread use, thereby leading to calls for an official safety review and prompting legislators in the U.S. to file several bills clamping down on them.[23] Despite the growing controversy, study funded by the U.S. Justice Department asserted that majority of people tasered from July 2005 to June 2007 suffered no injury. However, the head of the U.S. southern regional office of Amnesty International, Jared Feuer, said that 277 people in the United States have died after being shocked by a Taser between June 2001 and October 2007, which has already been documented. He also noted that about 80 percent of those on whom Taser was used by U.S. police were unarmed. "Tasers interfere with a basic equation, which is that force must always be proportional to the threat," Feuer said. "They are being used in a situation where a firearm or even a baton would never be justified."[24] It has been pointed out by spokesperson for Taser International that if a person dies from a "tasering" it is instantaneous and not days later.[25] TASER announced that it is "transmitting over 60 legal demand letters requiring correction of... false and misleading headlines." [26]

References

  1. ^ a b The Taser Effect: Two years after HPD armed itself with the stun guns, questions linger over how and how often the weapon is being used Jan. 14, 2007
  2. ^ Talvi, Silja J. A. (November 13, 2006). "Stunning Revelations". In These Times. Retrieved 2006-12-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Langton, Jerry (December 1, 2007). "The dark lure of `pain compliance'". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
  4. ^ Use of the Taser - Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
  5. ^ a b c "In depth: Tasers". CBC News. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  6. ^ County police getting Tasers May 23, 2007
  7. ^ Police Officer Suffers Spine Fractures at Taser Demonstration September 4, 2007
  8. ^ Justice Department looks into deaths of people subdued by stun guns July 13, 2006
  9. ^ http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22814674-5001028,00.html?from=public_rss
  10. ^ Chief constable hit by Taser gun 5 July, 2005
  11. ^ Top cop tastes a Taser May 17, 2007
  12. ^ BBC News Player - Police chief shot with taser May 18, 2007
  13. ^ Amnesty International’s continuing concerns about taser use (in the USA) 2006
  14. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/12/earlyshow/main648859.shtml
  15. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/taser.death/
  16. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/10/18/bc-taser.html
  17. ^ http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071025/airport_death_071025
  18. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/14/bc-taservideo.html
  19. ^ http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iQp9AiPFhnRBQzgeSh2Yn4ZNvJBQ
  20. ^ http://infowars.com/print/ps/police_back_tasers.htm
  21. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/taser.death/
  22. ^ Parker Waichman Alonso LLP, Associated Press, Jun 14, 2006. Justice Department to review TASER deaths. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
  23. ^ KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH, AP file, Houston & Texas News. Retrieved 12-03-2007.
  24. ^ William Dunham, Reuters, October 8, 2006. [1] retrieved December 7, 2007.
  25. ^ Mark W. Kroll, Why do certain anti-police groups blame TASER for injuries or death, last updated November 6, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  26. ^ Prime Newswire issued November 16, 2007[2]
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