The Taser death of Robert Dziekanski, 40, from Poland, at the trigger finger of four RCMP officers in Vancouver International Airport on October 14th, was an event that lowered Canada’s international image below the ‘Bush’ and at the same time snuffed out a son, father and friend. The cries from the public, although quick, were fleeting, with calls for RCMP reviewing their policy on Taser use. Colin Kenny, the Chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defense, is calling for a moratorium of the Taser use. Nonsense! I simply don’t agree. I call for an abolition of the Taser! Period!
Nearly 30 years ago when I patrolled the streets in uniform, all I had for public defense was my wits, handcuffs, flashlight and a Smith and Wesson revolver. Some 28 years earlier my father, who retired as a Deputy Chief for the Edmonton Police Service, was issued handcuffs, revolver, flashlight… the wits he pitched in. Between my father and I, we saw social problems, violence, and the evolution of law enforcement that covered half a century. I am happy to say both of us are here today to tell stories. Do you think for one minute that we did not deal with a personal life-threatening situation?
The use of deadly force is always the last resort and only used when a life is threatened, whether it be the life of the officer or a citizen. In the case of Dziekanski, he was not threatening anyone, it was obvious to me and I assume all that witnessed the event, and that includes millions by now thanks to YouTube, that he was undergoing a form of anxiety attack. From the time the officers arrived and let loose the electrodes, it was no more then 20 seconds after initial contact.
Where was the wit? Where was the dialog? Why did not these big burly officers grab Dziekanski? He was not brandishing a weapon, nor was he swinging at the officers. And if so, a punch in the face is always a risk when choosing law enforcement as a career.
The bottom line, police killed a man, a man that was here to visit our beautiful and peaceful country. If this was the only case of deaths as a result of Taser happy police you could shake an accusing finger at me and say, nay, nay.
However, last month on November 19th, Jerrel Gray, 20, died as a result of being tasered by a police deputy at Fredrick City, Maryland, and in Chicago, IL in 2005, Ronald Hasse, 54, died due to electrocution as a result of being tasered by the Chicago Police.
Misuse of the Taser is also being reported with Allen Helms, 52, of Waxahachie, TX. While suffering from a seizure he was tasered by officers after his girlfriend called paramedics for medical assistance for him.
When police officers arrived before the ambulance, they burst into his bedroom and ‘subdued’ him with 50,000 volts, apparently in an attempt to make him more pliable for paramedics.
In Miami a six-year-old child in an elementary classroom, was tasered by police when the child threatened to cut his leg with a piece a glass. I guess the officer was afraid to approach the brawny sixty pounder.
Another incident in Miami saw a 12 year-old girl tasered after she was caught smoking and drinking by police.
When she tried to run across the street to get away from the officer, she was tasered with 50,000 volts. In this case, Miami Police’s only policy preventing the girl from getting electrocuted at the hands of police would be pregnancy. What ever happened to the footchase?
Back here in Canada, Howard Hyde, 45, died in police custody after he was tasered by Halifax Regional Police which prompted Nova Scotia’s Justice Minister’ call for a review on police use of
the Taser.
In all, unofficial numbers of deaths as a result of Taser electrocution runs at 140 between Canada and the United States (source: The Arizona Republic) since their introduction to law enforcement in 1998.
So who is to benefit from the use of Tasers in law enforcement? Certainly not the victims or their families. Nor the public, as we can see by these few examples that imminent threat to life was not the case. Certainly not the police, because since these Tasers were so easily accessible, by members of what is a noble profession, they have probably destroyed their careers not to mention their state of mind.
So why the Taser, over wits, bravery and balanced enforcement? The answer lies in the shareholders of Taser International, the sole manufacturer and patent holder of the Taser. Rick and Thomas P. Smith, the founders, directly out of university, started the business in 1993 after inventor Jack Cover showed them the light. From the Smiths’ own website, their profile shows no law enforcement experience or military training. They are businessmen, plain and simple, and they had a great idea, a great invention, that could earn them millions. They also had the business education to back them up. In 2001, the success of Taser International took the company public on NASDAQ.
So who is to benefit from the Taser? The success of any sales campaign is to create a need where one did not exist and then fill that need with what your peddling.
There is an old sales maxim. “He’s such a good salesman be could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.” The irony here is very evident. The police are those same eskimos. The ice cubes just happen to be the traditional defense issues of the past. Handcuffs, Flashlight, Revolver, and of course their wits.
