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Thursday, May 07, 2009
Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason calls for Taser ban
Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason is calling on Solicitor General Fred Lindsay to ban the use of Tasers by law enforcement personnel in Alberta.
Mason’s call for a ban follows news of another fatal RCMP Taser incident, which has claimed the life of a man from Brooks.
Opposition to the use of Tasers is growing across the country, especially among civil liberties groups like the BC Civil Liberties Association.
Posted by Matthew Johnston
Posted by westernstandard on May 7, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Unfortunately, these C-libs lack the same thing most activist types calling for reform do: a viable alternative. By all means, let's go back to shotguns. They drop people very reliably. Mind you, the fatality rate approaches 100%, but hey, at least it's not a Taser, whose fatality rate is a measly 0.15%.
Cops used to have a very effective hand-to-hand weapon in the form of the blackjack, but C-libs fought hard to outlaw those, too. So now instead of a crack on the elbow it's a chemical in the eyes or a bullet to centre mass. Yessir, we have the C-libs to thank for all sorts of improvements.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-05-07 2:31:28 PM
Getting close with a stick requires the officer to commit to the act. It's not a point and gamble situation. Not to mention when it comes to drunks, you might not remember getting zapped, or at least not remember getting tased WELL the next day. But you do feel the black eye and bruised shoulder blade for the rest of the week.
0.15% is a lot when they zap everyone they see, a good friend of mine was out with his pastor ministering in Edmonton when the pastor stepped off a curb to get around a large group of smokers outside a bar. An Edmonton police officer shot him in the back with a Taser without saying a word. Later the officer claimed the pastor was drunk and disorderly (as if that's justification). That's highly unlikely considering the man has never had a drink in his life. Even though there were five witnesses the officer got completely off the hook.
Canada's police forces are ripe with systemic corruption, elitism and disrespect for the citizenry.
I favor clubs over electrocution because it requires the officer to commit and get close and involved. Exactly the thing Tasers are supposed to eliminate, and that eliminates the need for self control. "Hey there's no consequence or risk to me, ZAP, gee hope that doesn't screw up his nervous system for years, or the rest of his life, oh well I'll get off even if it does"
Posted by: Pete | 2009-05-07 4:03:46 PM
As Shane says then what are the police supposed to use? I do not place blind confidence in the police, knowing that they are a mixed of human beings: some trying to do their job correctly and others less so. Still this is over-reaction. Rather than demanding a ban on tasers, deal effectively and timely with cases of misuse and abuse.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-05-07 5:53:20 PM
Although I'm appalled by the misuse of tasers in the country, the problem isn't tasers themselves but rather the policies for their use.
When a taser is used on an elderly man who's parked illegally because tasers are thought to be "completely safe" for use in any situation, that's obviously a bad thing.
But if tasers were banned and an officer who feared for his life was forced to shoot and kill someone rather than tase them into submission, this is obviously a bad thing.
There needs to be a happy medium here.
A taser should be seen as a better alternative to using a gun in a high-risk situation, not a safe tool for use in any scenario. If the police enacted and enforced such a policy I think it would solve most of the problems we currently see with taser incidents and abuse.
Posted by: Janet | 2009-05-07 6:03:14 PM
Grant was a very good friend of mine,i am still grieving and in shock,but i urge you to go to: no more tasers dot com and sign the petition,Grant was a good person in distress,he did not deserve to be slain in this manner,no one does, ban the tasers and vote harper and his pc trash like our solictor general out .period.
Posted by: Patrick Arsenault | 2009-05-07 8:21:33 PM
Alain,Grant and i and others would and would have gladly liked the rcmp to fire a warning shot in the air and or then shoot us in the leg,atleast we gotta chance to survive a leg wound,how about a projected bean bag or net?,pretty hard to survive electric chair worth of tazing,cops have carried pistols for years,why not use em.
Posted by: Patrick Arsenault | 2009-05-07 8:48:22 PM
"As Shane says then what are the police supposed to use?"
Common sense, proper training, procedures, intelligence, good judgement...for starters. Killing innocent people with tasers while allowing a psycho to run around with a severed head until he "calms down" doesn't seem to fall under any of the above categories.
Posted by: Realist | 2009-05-07 10:04:08 PM
It seems that cops are simply foregoing dialog, and going straight for the taser. Back before they had tasers, the threat of deadly force was taken more seriously by anyone confronted by a cop. Now, it's just a macho game of who can stand up to the highest voltage.
Maybe, if they were taken away, cops would be forced to use their heads a little more. It's no big deal to me, but it would be a shame to see them lose another line of defence.
My nephew is in mountie school, and was tasered, and pepper sprayed. He found both rather unpleasant. He said if anyone were to pepper spray him, while on duty, he'd empty his clip into him. Apparently, you only have a couple of seconds to react before you're blind and helpless.
Posted by: dp | 2009-05-07 10:33:46 PM
Our modern society is fraught with perils to law enforcement unimaginable to police or the general public only a generation ago.
Today our streets are populated by runaways, the seriously mentally challenged whom we no longer institutionalise, immigrants cultured in violent refugee camps, well armed and organised gangs, career criminals, losers doped out of their minds on any number of designer chemicals and all this flowing on a surprisingly sizable undercurrent of juvenile anti-police sentiment as hyperbolically illustrated by Pete.
What Brian Mason, Pete, Patrick and many others need to understand is that the police are not the enemy of society or an unholy collaborative of power addicted thugs abusing their authority but are rather largely comprised of highly trained, dedicated and professional men and women who in a beautiful act of selfless penance, risk their lives and dedicate much of their personal time in the service of their communities and conversely deserve considerably more respect then they receive.
Now I personally don't care how you know specifically that the guy creating the disturbance is really a good father/brother/friend/son and in your opinion a close candidate for Sainthood and that somehow the police should magically know this too.
But I'm sure your kind is the same that would be the first to go bonkers if your little Johnny was disciplined by the school, a coach or a neighbour. We all know of that modern sanctimonious type that masquerades one transgression in favour of pursuing another.
I believe that police officers should not be expected to play games trying to decipher who is harmless and who is dangerous when dealing with irrational, uncooperative or aggressive folks. That sort of analysis is probably best left to the neo hippies who really haven't the foggiest what those in uniform experience on a daily basis.
Nope, if you want to make a stand against authority or get so out of your gourd that rational thought is impossible and then favour expressing yourself in a threatening manner to the police - then I believe you deserve to writhe on the end of an electrical line taking your chances on your 1:100000 shot of dying so that police officer your confronting can go home to their family safe and alive at the end of a shift.
Posted by: Darren Richard | 2009-05-08 12:17:54 AM
hOW LONG SHOULD IT TAKE TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF GUN OR TASER? How many uses of each,in the last five years,how many deaths,how many wrongful deaths until we know more remember that when an officer draws a sidearm he's prepared to use it, and his training is to shoot at the body not the leg or arm.
Posted by: Goff Tayler | 2009-05-08 11:30:31 AM
Janet makes an excellent point which is that tasers are only a tool. Any problem has to do with the person using one, and that is where the focus should be. In a way people are making the same mistake with guns with some demanding a ban instead of holding the user responsible and accountable. It seems that far too many people to-day have this knee-jerk reaction about any mishap in that without further thought they demand that the government ban whatever.
Posted by: Alain | 2009-05-08 11:32:38 AM
I can remember a policeman as one who commanded respect due to his ability to take control of a situation efficiently and fairly. Common sense and competence through experience were important requirements and crazy as it sounds, so was size!
Seeing these little "policepersons" strutting around with tazers in their shaking hands,makes me nervous. Where they are, I don't want to be. Similar to being in bed with a Porcupine!
Posted by: Kevin | 2009-05-16 8:03:29 PM
Behind a mask of eloquent words Mr.Darren Richard has just voiced his support for a fascist nation. No pathetic appeal to pathos regarding officers and there family lives justifies senseless death.The rhetoric you employed such as "your kind" clearly exemplifies your elitist and extremely bias viewpoint.Individuals that take the time to stand up for our dwindling personal freedoms should be praised and not relegated into the twisted box of generality you are trying to create.
It seems that the individuals forgetting that we are all humans tends to be the officers who as you put it "should not be expected to play games trying to decipher who is harmless and who is dangerous". Thats part of the job my friend and sentiments like that lead to a 1984 Orwellian nightmare.
Your argument that police are highly trained is also a complete fallacy.Trained how to brutalize civilians maybe but most officers don't even have a college degree.The problem here is lack of education not the taser itself. Although because the taser lends it self to extreme misuse I feel it should be removed until there are some brains on the force. Recently I read an article in the new york times stating that over 70 percent of officers do not have a college degree and that same 70 percent was responsible for over 81 percent of all civilian complaints.
Instead of arguing over tasers we should be arguing for increased training for police officers so they respond to the situations Darren brought up with intelligence instead of the increasing jackboot brainless shoot first ask questions later knee jerk response that is so prevalent in our society today.
Posted by: Caleb | 2009-07-24 4:03:20 PM
Tasers have become a tool to force compliance rather than what their original intention was, to repalce the need to use deadly force.
Posted by: Scott Carnegie | 2009-07-24 8:12:11 PM
And cops formerly used deadly force, as a last resort, to force compliance. They had the power to shoot fleeing suspects. Or did you think that they passed a joint to the suspect and formed a calming circle while singing "Kumbaya"?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2009-07-24 9:22:19 PM
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