Wednesday, July 23, 2008

TN! of the Week: Const. Adam Cheadle, Winnipeg Police

Let's be clear about this right from the start: NOBODY deserves to die at age 17, comprende?

Yet there's one officer that keeps up the good-old rant for Taser: Constable Adam Cheadle of the Winnipeg Police Service.

Here's the bit that got him nominated:

"[Tasers are] another less-than-lethal option for them to utilize," he said.
Well, sir, is there any decency in you? How DARE you to call the taser less-than-lethal, right after this 17 year old boy died from it!?!

Actually that wasn't a rhetorical question. Let him answer it for himself (CBC News, December 17, 2007):
"Tasers are not meant to replace firearms," Cst. Adam Cheadle, the service's use of force co-ordinator, said in a recent interview. "The Taser is on the same playing field as a baton or [pepper] spray."
Let me see if I got that right:
- Don't feel like using your baton today? No problem. Use a taser.
- Too many people at the airport to use pepper spray (wink, wink)? No problem. Use the taser.

Is this Constable serious? Can't he see how inhumane his standards are? Doesn't he now 361+ people who have died after being tasered?

When a Constable starts training inhumane standards for using the taser, and has the guts to repeat the false claim that the taser is less-than-lethal right after the latest Winnipeg taser death, I'm left no other (100% non-lethal) choice than to congratulate Cst. Adam Cheadle with his nomination for taser nazi of the week.

Congratulations!

LINKS
- CTV: Winnipeg Police kill 17 year old boy with less-than-less-than-lethal taser
- CBC: Don't feel like using your baton today? NO PROBLEM!
- Getting it Right: We at the Vancouver RCMP prefer the taser because we're just not very fond of using pepper spray; it hurts the officers eyes and all.

9 comments:

Skinny Dipper said...

I do hear police saying that the Taser is an alternative to a firearm with bullets. If that is the case, would the police at Vancouver International Airport have shot Robert Dziekanski using a gun with bullets?

The problem with the Taser is that police are using it in cases of non-compliance when there is no threat to life. For example Vancouver transit fare-evaders who have tried to run away have been tasered. Perhaps the police should have fired bullets at those fare-evaders.

I thought we had problems with pepper spray.

Erik said...

I do hear police saying that the Taser is an alternative to a firearm with bullets. If that is the case, would the police at Vancouver International Airport have shot Robert Dziekanski using a gun with bullets?.

Exactly! So which one is it, police officers? Replacement for firearms with bullets, or the replacement for baton and pepper spray? Or both?

I don't think it was appropriate for this Winnipeg Constable (I'm putting it mildly here) to repeat the false claim that the taser is "non-lethal" when the dead body of a 17 year old shows otherwise.

See here for more about the Taser-Nazi Awards.

Erik said...

that should have said "that the taser is less than lethal" but who knows the difference?

E.

Chrystal Ocean said...

While the use of 'Nazi' in your headline is over-the-top, I do agree with the substance of your concern. There is a solution which few, including police organizations and the feds, are considering. Uncovered at the Braidwood inquiry which is taking place in BC, the solution is to reclassify tasers as firearms and hence deadly.

Erik said...

Hi Crystal, thank you for commenting.

Indeed, the word nazi IS over the top, but intended as such. This article explains why I chose the title "Taser Nazi of the Week". No award has been sent out, since it is a purely fictituous award.

About the content: I completely agree with you, reclassifying is a step into the right direction.

Personally, I don't think tasers belong in traditional police forces because the possibility of abuse is high.

Police are supposed to catch the "bad guys", not electro-torture and/or kill them: we've got an judicial apparatus for dealing with what right or wrong, right?

If police officers are too scared to "neutralize" a 17 year old knife carrying boy WITHOUT the taser, then these officers need to question themselves why they signed up for the job to begin with.

Policing is hard work, but good policing is even harder. The increased use of the taser shows that there's only little evidence these days that the majority of police officers still know what good policing entails.

In short; bad cops, no donut.

James said...

WINNIPEG POLICE EXPOSED!!-DRUG/ GANG AFFILIATED ORGANIZATION!see WINNIPEGPOLICEXPOSED (DOT) BLOGSPOT(DOT)COM AND Oct 27/07 Wpg Pol broke into/raided my home/ ATTEMPTED MY ABDUCTION TO U.S. on behalf of their counterparts , the MN police in U.S. to silence our on line protest (AARONJAMESSTORY(DOT)COM) after my mother and I were profiled/attacked on a U.S. aircraft. Jess Zebron step son former Chief Ewatski is involved and is one amongst 4 Winnipeg Police 'Officers' who came under charges as reported in Jan 15/08 Winnipeg Free Press/ Winnipeg Sun Columns. All 4 of these charged Winnipeg police 'officers' were amongst the 10 police who held guns to my head raided my home, stole belongings sending them to Minneapolis in the U.S. and held me 12 hours no food no water, while threatening and making maneuvers towards my abduction to the U.S.

My website fully exposes the corruption within the Winnipeg police department: Human Rights report by Dianna Scarth and Jerry Woods cites racial brutality attacks upon natives and blacks outside the city perimeters... Canadian Press report by Tamara King cites unprecidented levels of corruption and perjury or brutality charges against police systemic across Canada.
See my site winnipegpoliceexposed(dot)blogspot(dot)com and you will see the Winnipeg Police exposed in systemic rapes, brutalities, drug dealings, gang affiliations, cross border abductions (of which my case is just one amongst many) racism, and systemic abuses.

Total 11 attempts upon my life by Wpg police-they are trying to abduct me prior to Sept3/08 hearing at which we can expose their involvement in our attempted cross border abductions/ kidnapping and jail them for felony acts!
They have gone so far as to terrorized family friends and associates - have also terrorized my 64 yr old mother upon one abduction attempt, demanding entry yet I was not present. We both now suffer chest pains and I have been hospitalized several times as a result of the combination of the original attack and 3 years ongoing trauma/ fear for lives.
Winnipeg Police chief Keith Mc Caskill is deeply involved. He is an FBI graduate with liason to MN police. MN police and Wpg Police Similar MN police are now undergoing lawsuit for KKK threats upon their own black police and Black/Muslim congressman Keith Ellison, and in Minneapolis where we were profiled/attacked 21 blacks are imprisoned for every 1 white due to judicial corruption documented by the Council on Crime and Justice.

Anonymous said...

WINNIPEG POLICE EXPOSED HYPER LINK EXPOSING SYSTEMIC WANTON ABUSE CORRUPTION GANG AFFILIATIONS :
CLICK HERE: http://aaronjamesstory.com/PROFILING_SUMMARY/FBI/Winnipeg_POlice_Exposed.html
see also http://AARONJAMESSTORY.COM FOR details of 11 abcution attempts and INTERVIEWS I HAVE DONE EXPOSING THEM WITH INDEPENDENT MEDIA.

Chad Dunham said...

I agree ... There needs to be major reform in the training and policies that dictate the usage of lethal weapons. Of course, we could get rid of tasers, and go back to guns and batons.

Besides ranting ... do you have any of "ideas" or "alternatives"? Should they sit people down and "talk out their issues"?

Not feeling like "working things out" today ... use a gun.

Anonymous said...

In Canada, tasers are ALREADY legally defined as firearms ("prohibited firearms" to be exact).

And yet, in spite of this rule being clearly written in balck and white since 1998, most police forces in Canada have been making huge errors in their policies and procedures.

For example, allowing off-duty biker-thug police officer to carry a taser on a motorcycle trip.

Failing to keep proper records.

Etc.

References provide via the link at my name.

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