The RCMP has reportedly changed its policy to reduce Taser use to situations where a suspect is “combative” or “actively resistant”. This comes after an interim report issued by Paul Kennedy, the chair of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

The CPC recommendations have addressed one problem; “usage creep”, or police overuse of Tasers, but they continue to ignore the elephant in the room, namely, the dangers of the weapons themselves.

Mr. Kennedy’s report contains no analysis of the nearly 300 deaths proximate to Taser use nor any reference to the fact that there are no testing protocols or safety standards fopr these weapons.

In my view, the report should have recommended a moratorium on Taser use pending electrical safety testing of a random number of the weapons and further rigorous independent study of the potential dangers of the electroshock weapons.

Based on my study of the circumstances surrounding Taser-related fatalities, the following common denominators emerge:

-agitated or distressed victims

-multiple shocks, usually including “drive-stun” application(s)

-no evident cause of death

Getting hit with the Taser’s 50,000 volts is a bit like getting hit by a bolt of lightening; everyone gets knocked down, some survive the experience, while a few don’t, with no apparent medical explanation for the unlucky fatalities.

A lot more work needs to be done, by experts unconnected with TASER International Inc. or its cheerleaders in law enforcement, before these weapons can be considered acceptable.

Here is a list of the last dozen to die, all since Robert Dziekanski succumbed:

October 14, 2007; Donald Clark, Asheville, North Carolina

October 17, 2007; Quilem Registre, 39, Montreal, Quebec (no. 285)

November 2, 2007: Stefan McMinn, 44, Hendersonville, North Carolina

November 18, 2007: Jesse Saenz, 20, New Mexico

November 18, 2007: Jarrel Gray, 20, Frederick, Maryland

November 18, 2007: Christian Allen, 21, Jacksonville, Florida

November 20, 2007: Conrad Lowman, Jacksonville, Florida

November 22, 2007: Howard Hyde, 45, Halifax, Nova Scotia

November 24, 2007: Robert Knipstrom, 36, Chilliwack, British Columbia

November 29, 2007: Ashley R. Stephens, 28, Ocala, Florida

November 30, 2007: Cesar Silva, 32, Los Angeles, California

December 10, 2007: Leroy Patterson Jr., 41, Watson County, Georgia

Frank Joseph Paul, 1951-1998

The Frank Paul Inquiry resumes January 7, 2008, when testimony is expected from the Vancouver Police Department members who had custody of Frank Paul before his body was found.

TASER International, Inc., the Scottsdale, Arizona public company that manufactures the controversial stun-gun of the same name, says that its products have never killed anyone. Aside from the patent falsity of this claim (see, for example, medical examiner Dr. Scott Denton’s conclusion that Ronald Hasse of Chicago died of electrocution from Taser application), it defies common sense. Nearly three hundred people have died shortly after being shocked with the Taser’s 50,000 volt discharge.

According to poker and Playboy proponent TASER International, these were all coincidental deaths, caused by the ingestion of drugs or alcohol or perhaps attributable to “excited delirium”, a weird condition where victims apparently collapse and die at the sight of a blue uniform.

No reputable medical organization recognises the existence of “excited delirium” as a medical condition. If there is such a thing, someone should be able to provide a list of those who have died of “ED” where police were not involved, and another list of those who have died of “ED” where a police Taser was not involved. Unless and until I see these lists, I will continue to maintain a healthy skepticism about TASER International’s claims.

The Frank Paul Inquiry will resume January 7, 2008, Commissioner Davies advised yesterday.

So far, the Inquiry has heard that Frank Paul, 47, a chronic alcoholic homeless aboriginal man, was dragged in and out of the Vancouver Jail on the evning of December 5, 1998, while he was incapacitated and soaking wet. He was put in a police wagon with a man named Oscar Angel, who had been arrested by police about the same time. The wagon drove Mr. Angel to Vancouver DeTox but left Mr. Paul about a block away, in an alley between the 300 blocks of East 1st and 2nd Avenues in Vancouver.

Frank Paul’s body was found there about 2:00 a.m. on the morning of December 6, 1998, by a man searchiing for a missing cat. An autopsy revealed that Mr. Paul had succumbed to hypothermia.

In January, the Inquiry is expected to hear testimony from the driver of the police wagon and the sergeant who ordered that Mr. Paul be taken from the jail.

Frank Paul was a “knob”, according to a police arrest report made earlier on the day before his body was found in a Vancouver alley, the Frank Paul Inquiry heard Monday. The Vancouver Police Dpartment wagon driver who transported Frank Paul to the jail said she didn’t know who wrote the word “knob” next to “H/SIPP”, shorthand for “Hold/State of Intoxication in a Public Place”.

We expressed concern about the state of document disclosure by the VPD, which has provided copies of handwritten notebook entries from just two of the twelve police officers scheduled to testify in Phase 1. The VPD has failed to disclose the CPIC printout for inquiries about Mr. Paul, and failed to deliver any records of radio transmissions between police officers around December 6, 1998, the date he was found dead in a Vancouver alley.

The Inquiry continues.