More preferential treatment for Vancouver RCMP officer charged with drunk driving - yes, that's a criminal offence!

Remember this post? Well, even today RCMP officers continue to receive preferential treatment.

Here's another example:

Vancouver Mountie faces second impaired driving charge in two months

VANCOUVER, B.C. — A Mountie in Vancouver is facing his second impaired driving charge in two months.

Vancouver police say they pulled the off-duty officer over Saturday morning and breath samples showed he was over the legal limit for blood alcohol.

The 55-year-old officer, whose name has not been released, already had a court date from a previous impaired driving charge and was prohibited from driving for 90 days.

He's now been charged with driving while prohibited, impaired driving and driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit.

Name not released, huh? In case of drunk driving it pays off to be with the RCMP. And they're good at it too:

[The un-named RCMP officer] is the latest in a number of Metro Vancouver police officers who have faced impaired driving charges in the last two years, including a Mountie charged in a Delta, B.C., crash that killed a 21-year-old motorcyclist in October 2008. [...]

LINKS

CP: At the RMCP we love to demonize criminal behaviour, except for when we do it ourselves.

TN! of the week: Helen Roberts, Federal Government Lawyer at the Braidwood Inquiry

Who would have thought the Braidwood inquiry would take such a major turn "before" closing arguments ?

Today it was revealed that a crucial email was "overlooked" by the legal team representing the Government of Canada.

In the now partly disclosed email, Supt. Dick Bent writes to an RCMP Assistant Commissioner that the four officers responsible for the killing of Dziekanski "had discussed [their] response en route [to the airport,] that if [Dziekanski] did not comply that they would go to [use the taser]".

This appears to contradict earlier made statements by the four officers; they all testified in court that no discussion on how to respond had taken place prior to entering the airport.

Sounds like signs of cover-up to me.

Helen Roberts apologized today for the "overlooked" email from Bent, but, for someone who has been following this inquiry closely, I find it very hard to believe that such a damning email can so easily be overlooked; of course this legal team wanted to protect the government and its subsidiaries from blame, and given they were the single collector of government dossiers they had the intend, means and the opportunity.

Taser-Nazi of the Week
However appalling the above might read to you, it's not the sole reason why Helen Roberts got nominated for being the Taser-Nazi of the Week. After all, my explanation is still nothing more than speculation on WHY she and her team "overlooked" such a crucial email.

Neither did she get nominated for breaking out in tears: these are stressful times for everyone involved, including Helen Roberts and her Mounties.

What got her nominated was the content of her tearful explanation. She simply kept in line with her "old" narrative, propping up the cops's version of the truth that they never had any conversation about how to respond before getting to the airport, and that Bent was, how did she put that again, simply "mistaken."

A mistake, that explains it, right?

Helen Roberts, dismissing crucial evidence as a "mistake" while withholding this highly contradictory evidence coming from a top RCMP brass has gotten you nominated for Taser-Nazi of the week.

Congratulations!

UPDATE 1: This post called "Canada: Cover-up of RCMP murder of immigrant worker unravels" on the World Socialist website should not be missed

UPDATE 2: I agree with Vancouver Sun's conclusion of the column Mounties in Tasering should face prosecution: "That was not an "oversight." It was professional incompetence or a cover-up."

23 Canadians dead; we need a moratorium on the use of tasers, NOW!

The Canadian Press has a list of Canadian cases since 2003 in which people died after police use of Tasers:

Nov. 3, 2008: Gordon Walker Bowe, 30, from Castlegar, B.C., died in hospital after he was located in the basement of a Calgary home by police responding to calls about a possible break-and-enter.

Oct. 29, 2008: Trevor Grimolfson died after he was confronted by police armed with Tasers who found him running amok in an Edmonton pawn shop.

Sept. 30, 2008: Frank Frachette, 49, died after he was jolted with a Taser by police who were trying to arrest him in connection with a bank robbery in Langley, B.C.

Sept. 16, 2008: Sean Reilly, 42, died less than 12 hours after he was Tasered during a struggle in a cell at a police station in Peel Region, outside Toronto.

July 22, 2008: Michael Langan, 17, died in hospital after being shot with a Taser. Winnipeg police say the youth refused to comply with repeated requests by officers to put a knife down. The victim was believed to be involved in the theft of property from a vehicle.

June 23, 2008: Jeffrey Marreel, 36, died in custody after Ontario Provincial Police, responding to a disturbance in the town of Norfolk, near Simcoe, shocked him with a Taser. Marreel's father said the man had a history of drug use and lost his job at a flower nursery two weeks prior.

Nov. 22, 2007: Howard Hyde, 45, died about 30 hours after he was Tasered by Halifax police at a Dartmouth jail. An inquest later ruled his death accidental and the result of "excited delirium," not the Taser.

Oct. 17, 2007: Quilem Registre, 39, died in a Montreal hospital after police used a Taser on him at a police station. Police say Registre became aggressive during questioning after he was stopped for a traffic violation.

Oct. 14, 2007: Robert Dziekanski, 40, died after police used a Taser and forcibly subdued him after he became agitated at Vancouver Airport, where he had arrived from Poland.

Aug. 30, 2006: Jason Doan, 28, died in Red Deer, Alta., after police used a Taser in responding to a complaint about a man seen damaging vehicles.

Dec. 24, 2005: Alessandro Fiacco, 33; witnesses said police used a Taser to subdue an agitated Fiacco who had been running into traffic in Edmonton.

July 15, 2005: Paul Saulnier, 42, died in Digby, N.S., after police tried to keep him from leaving the detachment by using pepper spray, batons and a Taser.

July 1, 2005: James Foldi, 39, died after police used a Taser while trying to arrest him following reports of numerous break-ins in the Beamsville, Ont., area.

June 30, 2005: Gurmeet Sandhu, 41, died in Surrey, B.C., after police used a Taser while responding to complaints about a domestic dispute.

May 5, 2005: Kevin Geldart, 34, died after police tried to subdue him with a Taser outside a Moncton, N.B., bar.

Aug. 8, 2004: Samuel Truscott, 43, died in Kingston, Ont., hours after being shot with a Taser. The Ontario coroner said Truscott was killed by a drug overdose.

July 17, 2004: Jerry Knight, 29, died in hospital in Brampton, Ont., after he was shot with a Taser during a violent struggle with police. A pathologist found no proof the stun gun was to blame for his death, saying Knight died from restraint asphyxia and cocaine-related 'excited delirium'.

June 23, 2004: Robert Bagnell, 44, died at a Vancouver hotel after being shot with a Taser by police, who said Bagnell was in the throes of a potentially lethal cocaine-induced psychosis at the time.

May 13, 2004: Peter Lamonday, 33, died in London, Ont., after being pepper-sprayed, punched and shot several times with a Taser during a struggle with police. Ontario's Special Investigation Unit concluded Lamonday died from cocaine-induced 'excited delirium" and not from police action.

May 1, 2004: Roman Andreichikov, 25, died in Vancouver after he was forcibly subdued and hit with a Taser by police while reportedly high on crack cocaine.

Sept. 28, 2003: Clark Whitehouse, 34, died in Whitehorse, Yukon. RCMP reported Whitehouse fled on foot while attempting to swallow drugs. Officers used a Taser to subdue him. A short time later, he appeared to be having trouble breathing and was pronounced dead at hospital.

July 22, 2003: Clay Willey, 33, died in hospital in Prince George, B.C., 16 hours after police used a Taser on him at an RCMP detachment. Willey was arrested in the parking lot of a local mall after police received complaints about a man acting aggressively. An autopsy found he had potentially lethal amounts of cocaine in his system.

April 19, 2003: Terrance Hanna, 51, died at the North Burnaby Inn in Burnaby, B.C., after pulling a knife and hammer on police. High on cocaine, he went into cardiac arrest after police shot him with a Taser.

New Westminster Police Const. Tomi Hamner charged with impaired driving after she crashed police vehicle

Names seem to be popping up out of nowhere these days.

Getting It Right has learned that it was New Westminster Police Const. Tomi Hamner who crashed a police car (paid for with your tax dollars) while enjoying driving-under-influence, somewhere in North Vancouver(!).

A popular British Columbia school liaison officer is the latest police officer in the province to face drunk driving charges after she crashed an unmarked police car into a highway sign and flunked two breathalyzer tests.

RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen confirmed Thursday that the 47-year-old off-duty New Wesminister police officer was arrested on Oct. 16 and was released on a promise to appear in North Vancouver court Dec. 17.

New Westminster police Const. Tomi Hamner, who was a well-liked school liaison officer with the New Westminster Secondary School, is on "administrative duties" and police had no plans to embarrass the officer by making the incident public until an anonymous tipster called media, said Thiessen.

I suppose it is embarrassing, but why the favouritism? Why give off-duty police officers who drink-and-drive and crash a police car (paid for by the public, to serve and protect us) preferential treatment?

Yes, that's what it is. This accident didn't happen yesterday, but on October 16. That's two weeks ago! There are a plethora of examples where the RCMP/Police could not wait to get the names of the suspects out to the public before any hearing. Here are just a few:

Example 1
Chilliwack drug war heats up
Curtis Wayne Vidal, 22, Chad Hansen, 21, and Martin Snowden, 22, face assault and weapons charges.

Example 2
RCMP have shut down a known drug house and arrested six people.

Police raided the 9th Avenue home and found a large quantity of cocaine and marijuana. Shannon Hernandez-Zuniga, 29, Sundown Bill Steiger, 32, Travis Starblanket, 20, Wesley Teal, 25, Chan Van Troung, 45, and Michael Bruce, 18, face a string of drug charges.

Example 3
Richmond - Off-Duty Officer Assaulted, Charges Laid
On December 9th, 2007, at approximately 2:20 am, an off-duty RCMP officer observed three intoxicated males harassing a female in the drive-thru line up at a Richmond Restaurant. The off-duty officer approached the males and told them to leave the female alone. [...] The three males immediately became verbally abusive towards the officer. [...] Richmond RCMP officers responded and all three males were arrested. [...] The off duty officer suffered minor injuries.

Charges have now been approved for the three males, they are scheduled to appear in Richmond Court on January 22nd and 24th, 2008. They are charged with Assault of a Police Officer and are identified as: Darcy BARBER, 21 yrs old, from Burnaby, Jeffrey FLUNEY, 26 yrs old, from Richmond, Christopher RUSSELL, 25 yrs old, from Surrey

Example 4
Nickelback front man faces impaired driving charge
Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger has been charged with impaired driving, after being stopped by the RCMP in Surrey last month. [...]Kroeger, who has a home in Abbotsford, is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 25, facing charges of impaired driving and driving with a blood alcohol level over .08. His lawyer says the singer should be treated as innocent until proven guilty.

There are others, backed by years of experience, who know that the RCMP is lying through their teeth when they say that favouritism among police officers doesn't exist:

Defence lawyer Rishi Gill, a former Crown prosecutor, scoffs at the claim neither officer got preferential treatment.

"My experience is that rarely do police officers release people on a (promise to appear) for a serious crime, such as impaired driving causing death, and I have had clients accused of very minor crimes where police wouldn't consider releasing them on a (promise to appear)," said Gill.

As I said before, I'm personally not fond of the idea of releasing full names of suspects, or even of convicts; prison-time (after a fair trial) is good enough for me. But if the full name does need to be exposed on ideological grounds (and the law-and-order types in N-America are convinced it does) than at least be consistent about it.

Tomi Hamner and Benjamin Robinson DID get preferential treatment because their names were NOT released by the RCMP, while others were not so lucky.

LINKS
- Canada.com: I enjoy drinking and driving a lot better than going to jail; waisting public moneys is in my genes alright
- Getting It Right: I enjoyed not having being charged for drunk driving for as long as it lasted
- Getting it Right: I like drinking and driving too!

And another RCMP Officer caught drunk behind the wheel...but no worries; no charges have been laid

Who knew that drinking and driving was this popular among RCMP officers?

Only five days after an RCMP officer failed a breathalyzer test after being involved in a fatal collision in Tsawwassen, B.C., CTV has learned of another incident involving a Lower Mainland law enforcer and allegations of drinking and driving.

RCMP confirm a female New Westminster Police officer was involved in a crash involving alcohol.

The 47-year-old officer was driving an unmarked police van when she collided with two or more signs driving eastbound near the Westview exit in North Vancouver's Upper Levels Highway Oct. 17.

I bet the officer wasn't formally charged:

No charges have been laid, but the off-duty officer has promised to appear in court Dec. 17. She is facing impaired driving charges. Her name has not been released.

I told you so, and neither was her name released (yet). No favouritism of course; how can the common RCMP practice of refusing to charge one of their own (think Dziekanski) be favouritism?

UPDATE
Lots of confusion (moi inclu) on what is considered "being charged". Can anyone explain the phenomenon to me? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to understand now that the process of a successful conviction works like this:

step 1. arrest
step 2. charges (informal) laid by police/RCMP
step 3. formally charged by judge

But where in the process do the police/RCMP release names? From Wally Oppal I get the impression that this happens at step 3, after being formally charged by a judge:

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal denies the RCMP officer involved in a fatal collision in Tsawwassen this past weekend is receiving favourable treatment.

Oppal points out no member of the public is ever named prior to the laying of a charge.

Informal charges (step 2) have been laid, that's why we know about the pending court case on January 15th, 2009. But then how do we explain the following four examples?

Step 2: example 1
Chilliwack drug war heats up
Curtis Wayne Vidal, 22, Chad Hansen, 21, and Martin Snowden, 22, face assault and weapons charges.

Step 2: example 2
RCMP have shut down a known drug house and arrested six people.

Police raided the 9th Avenue home and found a large quantity of cocaine and marijuana. Shannon Hernandez-Zuniga, 29, Sundown Bill Steiger, 32, Travis Starblanket, 20, Wesley Teal, 25, Chan Van Troung, 45, and Michael Bruce, 18, face a string of drug charges.

Step 2: example 3
Richmond - Off-Duty Officer Assaulted, Charges Laid
On December 9th, 2007, at approximately 2:20 am, an off-duty RCMP officer observed three intoxicated males harassing a female in the drive-thru line up at a Richmond Restaurant. The off-duty officer approached the males and told them to leave the female alone. [...] The three males immediately became verbally abusive towards the officer. [...] Richmond RCMP officers responded and all three males were arrested. [...] The off duty officer suffered minor injuries.

Charges have now been approved for the three males, they are scheduled to appear in Richmond Court on January 22nd and 24th, 2008. They are charged with Assault of a Police Officer and are identified as: Darcy BARBER, 21 yrs old, from Burnaby, Jeffrey FLUNEY, 26 yrs old, from Richmond, Christopher RUSSELL, 25 yrs old, from Surrey

Step 2:example 4
Nickelback front man faces impaired driving charge
Nickelback lead singer Chad Kroeger has been charged with impaired driving, after being stopped by the RCMP in Surrey last month. [...]Kroeger, who has a home in Abbotsford, is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 25, facing charges of impaired driving and driving with a blood alcohol level over .08. His lawyer says the singer should be treated as innocent until proven guilty.

In all four the examples a court case was scheduled but had not taken place yet (as far as I can tell), but the names had already been released. Is Wally Oppal lying or am I missing something?

LINKS
- Getting it Right: RCMP officers enjoy drinking and driving 1
- CTV: RCMP officers enjoy drinking and driving 2
- Buckdog: RCMP officers don't get preferential treatment; we solely refuse to charge them
- Edmonton Sun:Wally Oppal's non-denial on RCMP's favouritism: but why does he have to be such a jerk about it?

RCMP officer Benjamin Monty Robinson involved in Robert Dziekanski killing AND main suspect in drunk-driving-causing-death incident last Saturday

RCMP officer Benjamin Monty Robinson, one of the four officers involved in the killing of Robert Dziekanski, has been caught drunk-driving and killing 21 year old Orion Hutchinson last Saturday.

One of the four RCMP officers involved in the Tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski is facing charges of impaired driving causing death after a collision in Tsawwassen Saturday.

However, Delta police -- who are investigating the crash -- have refused to identify the officer until he makes his first court appearance on Jan. 15 and is formally charged.

Yes, the police is always eager to come up with names, except when it involves one of their colleges; Getting it Right did find the answer to who it was here:

An RCMP officer facing charges of impaired driving causing death in Delta is refusing to comment on the charges against him.

Reached by The Vancouver Sun on his cellphone Wednesday, Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson hung up as soon as a reporter identified himself.

Follow-up calls to Robinson went to voice mail and messages left for Robinson were not returned.

Robinson is due to appear in Surrey Provincial Court on Jan. 15 after he was allegedly involved in a collision Saturday night that left 21-year-old Orion Hutchinson dead.

To be honest with you, I think the idea of releasing the names of suspects is a bad practice to begin with. In the Netherlands all media is used to address suspects (but also convicted criminals) only by the first letter of their last name (that would be Benjamin R. in this case); and I am in favour of such a policy. But if the full name does need to be exposed on ideological grounds (and the Law and Order types in N-America are convinced it does) than at least be consistent about it.

Footnote: Investigations into the death of Robert Dziekanski have been delayed AGAIN. We still don't know who the other three suspected killers were. How's that justice and consistency working for you?

UPDATE:
-Read also the Macleans "blog"-post by Chris Selley: "Suspended with pay"

UPDATE 2
-Facebook Group: R.I.P Orion Hutchinson... STOP IMPAIRED DRIVING!!

UPDATE 3
- Benjamin Robinson was supervisor during taser killing of the Robert Dziekanski
This doesn't look good, folks. Why is this suspect of multiple killings still out on the streets? Why are out citizens not protected from these reckless killers? Does an RCMP batch give one a licence to taser someone to death? Does an RCMP barch give one a license to a hit-and-run while drunk? What's wrong with our RCMP?

LINKS
- Mounties in trouble, again
- Taser Mountie faces drunk-driving-causing-death charge
- Buckdog: Robert Dziekanski's Mother Threatens Legal Action Against RCMP

Langley RCMP kill unarmed (and seriously wounded) man with taser

Another day, another taser death. Who's still counting all taser deaths?

A man is dead after he crashed through a second-storey window, naked and bleeding from a chest wound, and was hit with an RCMP Taser.

If this man was seriously bleeding from a chest wound, then why would someone taser him? Is having crashed through a window any reason to taser someone to death?

RCMP say they converged on a home in suburban Langley, B.C., Tuesday, following an armed robbery earlier in the day. A witness who saw a vehicle leaving the scene of the hold-up alerted police and followed the car to the home.

That's quite the stretch, "following an armed robbery". Is the account of one eyewitness enough to taser somebody to death?

Cpl. Peter Thiessen said police heard a man and woman arguing inside the home, and then witnessed the man come through an upper-floor window and hit the ground.

Did the woman throw this guy out? Then why taser the guy and not the woman?

With the gun used in the robbery nowhere in sight and the suspect trying to run inside the home despite a serious chest wound, police decided to use the Taser, Thiessen said.

What do you mean, despite? If I was naked and bleeding like hell I wouldn't consider going for a drink or see a movie; I would go inside, call an ambulance and if possible get dressed. What's so weird about that reaction?

[Thiessen] said the man was still alive when he was arrested but died en route to hospital.

Does anyone else have a Robert Dziekanski deja-vu here? Robert was still alive when he was arrested. But not much later he was dead, thanks to the great work of the RCMP.

Thiessen said a woman who was inside the home was arrested.

Well, problem solved then. It was all the woman's fault. How wonderful to turn the single reason for tasering the now dead man (to protect the female) into the perfect scapegoat.

This story stinks, and I don't like it.

LINKS
- Canadian Press: Langley RCMP kill seriously wounded and unarmed man with taser
-Truth not Tasers: 371+ Taser deaths, and still counting...

Full Article follows, comments at the bottom.

PS: RCMP spokesman Cpl. Peter Thiessen says that they killed the suspect "in the interest of public safety and the safety of police officers". Well done, Peter.

Wounded B.C. robbery suspect dies after being Tasered

LANGLEY, B.C. — A man is dead after he crashed through a second-storey window, naked and bleeding from a chest wound, and was hit with an RCMP Taser.

RCMP say they converged on a home in suburban Langley, B.C., Tuesday, following an armed robbery earlier in the day. A witness who saw a vehicle leaving the scene of the hold-up alerted police and followed the car to the home.

Cpl. Peter Thiessen said police heard a man and woman arguing inside the home, and then witnessed the man come through an upper-floor window and hit the ground.

With the gun used in the robbery nowhere in sight and the suspect trying to run inside the home despite a serious chest wound, police decided to use the Taser, Thiessen said.

He said the man was still alive when he was arrested but died en route to hospital.

Thiessen said a woman who was inside the home was arrested.

The RCMP Major Crimes Unit and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team are investigating the incident with the oversight of Vancouver police.

The use of the shock weapons has been under scrutiny since Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died after RCMP officers shocked him with a Taser at the Vancouver airport in October 2007.

A public inquiry into Dziekanski's death is scheduled to get underway in November.

Last week, Vancouver police used a Taser on a 16-year-old mother who refused to hand her one-month-old baby over to social workers.

Police said they acted because of fears the "mentally distraught" mother might smother the little boy during the three-hour standoff.

BC Premier Gordon Campbell's support for killers of Robert Dziekanski is disgusting

There are quite a few things to be learnt from one of CBC's latest Access To Information (ATI) requests, consisting of email exchanges between RCMP Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass and RCMP Commissioner William Elliot. Here's the obvious (read the emails at the bottom of this posting):

1. The RCMP's “law and order” ideology is highly supported by BC's top Liberal administrators, including (well-known drunk and overpaid monkey) Gordon Campbell.

2. The RCMP doesn't trust the Globe and Mail, suggesting the paper is biased against the RCMP.

3. The RCMP doesn't trust the public at large, especially those critical of the RCMP.

4. The RCMP's own investigation was part of the overall media strategy to whitewash the killing of Robert Dziekanski by the four RCMP officers.

Let's get a bit more detail here:

(1) Do you remember what happened to BC's Premier in January 2003? Wikipedia does! He's Canada's only premier that has spent time in jail due to drinking and driving, yet is still in office. Driving with a blood-alcohol concentration level of above .08 per cent he COULD have easily killed someone!

Compare that with Robert Dziekanski's final “holiday trip” to heaven, killed after being tasered to hell and back. Having spent hours in the Vancouver airport's security zone, not knowing where to go and what to do next, he just lost it. Yes, he threw some computer stuff around, but anyone who has seen the Dziekanski Tasering video would agree with me that Dziekanski himself WASN'T going to kill anyone, not in a million years.

We now know that Gordon Campbell was highly supportive of the Force and the four officers involved.

(2) The anti Globe and Mail bias was quite revealing to me. I personally don't take the G & M too seriously (because of it's overall corporate and culturally conservative bias), but why does the RCMP hate the Globe and Mail so much? Perhaps point #3 is the answer?

(3) Gary Bass labels those critical of the RCMP as “armchair quarterbacks”. The derogatory seems to be used to disqualify all criticism, regardless of the validity.

I'm pretty sure that the majority of the people who saw the video were appalled by how the four RCMP officers “solved” the “C.E.W. incident”... there were plenty of very good reasons for critical discourse. Why did the RCMP use the taser on an unarmed immigrant in one of the most secure zones of the Vancouver Airport? Why did the RCMP have to kill Robert Dziekanski? Why did the RCMP not try to resuscitate Robert Dziekanski? Why did RCMP tell so many lies about the killing? Why have the killers not been charged? Who are the RCMP officers? Why are their names not made public? All valid questions (if you ask me), but non of them have ever been answered properly, and no apology has been made either.

The RCMP might not trust the public, but with "incidents" like these we surely can't trust the RCMP, and for overly obvious reasons: they get away with killing and lying without further consequences.

(4) Whitewash galore! At least the RCMP gets some things done! Remember Ian Bush? He was the youngster that was shot in the back of his head by the incredible rubber mountie while in custody. No serious problem for the RCMP spin machine (as long as pesky video cameras have been turned off, and ATI requests can be neutralized).

And the same RCMP started their media campaign in the Dziekanski killing case right "from the get-go". Remember Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, lying through his teeth? I do.

Make no mistake about it; Robert Dziekanski was killed by four RCMP officers. And plenty of people have helped to cover it up or whitewash it, including Gordon Campbell:

[Gordon Campbell] was highly complementary of the Force, disappointed over the degree of criticism, and wants to support [the four RCMP officers that killed Robert Dziekanski] somehow.”

Supporting killers now, Mr. Gordon Campbell?

LINKS
- CBC: RCMP e-mails throw Dziekanski Taser probe into question, critics say
- Dr Dawg: Ian Bush and the incredible rubber mountie
- Wikipedia: I'm Gordon Campbell, and I got caught drinking and driving
- Wikipedia: Ian Bush (1983 -2005)
- Benediction Blogs On: RCMP Emails regarding Robert Dziekanski's taser-death(pdf)
- Getting it right: something fishy about Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre...
- Getting it right: Robert Dziekanski

Rush transcript of the emails:
---------------------------------------------------
2007/12/04 Gary Bass - Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

From: Gary BASS
To: Elliot, William
Subject: Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

That's great. I'm sure that they did appreciate the call as do I your comments of support.
This is really tough business these days and really hard on the men and women in the trenches trying so hard to serve well.
When I arrived home tonight, there was a Langley Det car and two young members next door.

[ deleted material]

It sure made me very proud. Not likely to see that one in the G and M in the morning, or anyone else for that matter.

Gary.
-----Original Message-----
From: William Elliott
To: BASS, Gary <00000t654.ops.ediv_ehq>

Sent: 11/15/2007 10:44:39 PM
Subject: Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

Thanks Gary,

I have just now placed calls to all 4 members. I spoke to 3 of the 4.

The only person I did not reach is [deleted material] I left a message on his home voicemail indicating who was calling and that I would try again to reach him. I'll try to do that tomorrow.

I know this is tough and you and all our folks in E Division. Please be assured of my ongoing support.

Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: Gary BASS
Cc: MACINTYRE, Al <000001690.ops.ediv_ehq>
Cc: BOUCHER, Byron <000038391.ops.ediv_ehq>
Cc: PETERS, Gerry <000039349.ops.ediv_ehq>
Cc: Rideout, Wayne <000037745.sc.ediv_lmd>
To: Booth, Rod <000036789.nhq3.ncr_hq>
To: Elliott, William <000163439.nhq4.ncr_hq>

Sent: 11/15/2007 9:33:28 PM
Subject: Re: Members Involved in YVR C.E.W. Incident

Cmmr;
Further to our conversation today, I confirmed with the OIC IHIT that your proposed calls will not be a problem. I will call them as well after you have done so.
You can be confident that a highly professional and thorough job is being done by the team. CPC are fully engaged and pleased with the cooperation they are receiving.
Lots of armchair quarterbacks on the news there tonight and linkages to the Bush case. The sooner the CPC makes that release the better. We are monitoring very closely and I will once again review the duty status with the Crops Officer inthe (sic) morning.

[ deleted material]

2007/12/04 Gary BASS - YVR

From: Gary BASS
To: William Elliott, Bill Sweeney
Date: 2007/11/24 10:47
Subjecty: YVR

I just ran into our Premier at the airport and we had a great discussion on the issue generally. He had called Mrs. Cisowski yesterday just after we left there. He was highly complimentary of the Force, disappointed over the degree of criticism and wants to support the members involved somehow. He asked me to think about what he could do in this regard and get back to him next week.
He supports the continued use of Taser and any other tools which support and protect our members. He said that the inquiry will not be a negative attack on the Force but a focused examination of all the issues. Extremely positive and supportive comments which we really cannot do much with but good to know.

Gary

TN! of the Week: RCMP Constable Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo

It's one thing to apply the taser WITHOUT killing the "suspect", it's another thing to use it as an "excellent example" that a deadly device is able to "save lives".

At issue is the deployment of the taser on a suicidal man who was hiding on the balcony of a Nanaimo motel, after he had slit his wrist.

RCMP Constable Gary O'Brien:

The suspect was losing large quantities of blood and the officers came to the conclusion he could cause either death or grievous harm to himself [...]

So what did the officer in question do? He shot him with his torturous taser. Zapper-Di-Zap-Zap!! And why not? The "suspect" was apparently in for dieing anyways, so why not help him a bit along the way? He wouldn't be the first one that week to die after being tasered to shit:

Police used a Taser while arresting Marreel in the hamlet of Fisher's Glen, south of Simcoe, at Front Street and Fisher's Glen Road, about 10:30 a.m. Monday. Marreel died two hours later and was pronounced dead at hospital.

Anyways, back to our Taser friend O'Brien. The following quote got him nominated:

RCMP spokesman Gary O'Brien:

[The electro-shocking of the suicidal man] was an excellent deployment [of the taser] and an excellent example of how these things can save lives.

It's a beautiful success story for Taser of course, if it were the truth. Unfortunately it is far from it, and here's why:

• In order to save lives one would have to assume that without the use of the taser this suicidal person would have died. This doesn't necessarily follow (since there are plenty of other ways to resolve issues like these), it's hard to believe and it is even harder to proof. All that was needed to have helped this man was some good policing: there are plenty of other techniques to help and/or handcuff a suicidal man, without the use of a taser.
  
• Contrary to popular believe, there isn't ANY serious proof/evidence that the taser has saved a single live, EVER. Therefore declaring this incident as an "excellent example of how tasers can save lives" is like saying that Christmas is an excellent example that Santa Claus can fly through the sky...
  

I love to believe in fairy tales and miracles, Constable Gary O'Brien, but the reality is that tasers kill, again and again. And as long as the police remains numb on their own police taser killings, yet dare to have the guts to take each and every opportunity to spread corporate supplied misinformation about the taser, I will keep honouring publicly paid spin-masters with "excellent" awards.

Readers, I'm honoured to present to you a perfect example of a Taser-Nazi: RCMP spokesman Gary O'Brien.

Congratulations!!

LINK
- Globe and Mail: "We, Canada's Corporate Press, have never been sure that Taser International's wonderful tasers can kill, but we're positive tasers they save lives - just check out our headline"
- MSN: "We're MSN Money, and we love Taser too"
- Taser International: "We at TASER love doing research (when we're not busy suing coroners that don't agree with junk science)"
- Taser's old site: "Our mantra is that "we save lives everyday" - The reality is quite different, but who cares?
- Truth not Tasers: "Do tasers kill? You do the math"

PS1: Here's another take on Taser death.
PS2: Find spin-master O'Brien's press release below. And why don't you give him a call to congratulate him? His phone number as at the bottom of the press release:

Nanaimo - Taser ends stand off with suicidal male armed with knife
File #2008-18130 2008-06-26 12:06 PDT

Nanaimo RCMP deployed a Taser June 21 successfully ending a standoff with a suicidal male armed with a knife.

The incident began shortly after 7:00 am on Saturday June 21, near the 7-11 on Terminal Avenue. An RCMP member sitting in his police vehicle, saw a male carrying a knife and dripping blood from an apparent wound to his wrist. The officer called for back up and was told by the unidentified male he wanted to die. The male, bleeding profusely from his wrist, continued to slash at and worsen his injury. Additional officers arrived and they attempted to establish dialogue with the male.

The incident carried across the street to a second level landing at the Port of Call Motel. The male then without warning escalated his actions and placed the knife to his throat and began to turn away from the officers. Fearing he was about to slash at his throat, one of the officers deployed the Taser from approximately 8 feet, instantly incapacitating him, allowing the officers to safely move in and take the knife from him. He did not sustain any injuries from the deployment of the Taser or when he fell to the ground. He was then treated by waiting paramedics for his life threatening self inflicted injury and transported to hospital.

The 44 year old male and resident of Nanaimo for the past year was arrested under the Mental Health Act and remains in hospital. No additional charges were laid. Constable O’Brien, Media Relations Officer for the Nanaimo RCMP spoke with him today he admitted the Taser and actions of the police officers probably saved his life.

Released by:

Constable Gary O'Brien
Media Relations Officer
Community Policing Services, Nanaimo
303 Prideaux St, Nanaimo V9R 2N3
Office No.: 250-755-3257
Cell No.: 250-713-0701
Fax No.: 250-755-3238
ediv_internet_webmaster@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

RCMP on Dziekanski taser killing: LIES LIES LIES

I've had it with the RCMP. When they're not fabricating lies, then they're censoring important Access to Information requests data:

The RCMP released an incident report about Robert Dziekanski who died at Vancouver International Airport last October, but much of the information routinely released in other cases was censored.

The name and rank of the officer who fired the Taser weapon, his supervisor's name, details about the duration of the firing and the number of times the weapon was used in stun mode were omitted from the report obtained under the Access to Information Act by CBC News and the Canadian Press. [...]

A written summary of the incident was blanked out along with assessments as to whether use of the Taser helped the RCMP either "avoid use of lethal force" or "avoid injuries to subject or police."

A passage about whether Dziekanski was armed or not has also been excised. One witness said he was waving a stapler at police.

Well, lying by omission is still lying! And their reasoning for not releasing this information is just as crooked:

In a letter accompanying the report, the RCMP said it invoked exemptions under the Access to Information Act to protect the privacy of the person stunned [...].

The guy is dead, for God's sake! And there wasn't a privacy concern when these RCMP Press Releases were published (see second and third post).

Incompetent bastards.

LINKS
- AOL: RCMP Release Censored Taser Report
- Wikipedia: LIES LIES LIES
- Getting It Right: Sergeant Pierre Lemaitre (RCMP) caught lying; who will fire him?

When Canadian Police start behaving like Nazis we better call them on it: Sgt. Willie Merenick has been nominated for TN! of the week!

Who doesn't remember the Soup Nazi? Wikipedia remembers:

"The Soup Nazi" is the title of the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the 6th episode of the 7th season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995.

The Soup Nazi is also the name of the titular character played by Larry Thomas. The term "Nazi" is used as an exaggeration of the over-regimentation he constantly demands of his patrons.

More recently another profession has increasingly been acting more like the Nazis: we're talking about the police here, especially when armed with or talking about the notorious stun-gun more commonly known as the taser.

Taser use by Canadian police force has grown exponentially in the last few years. Initially the use of the taser has been defended by the police as a replacement tool for the gun. But as of recent the taser has been used on “non-compliant” fair evaders on Vancouver transit. What's next? Tasering babies for crying out loud?

Amnesty International has reported that Taser use can amount to torture, and in case of the Vancouver Transit Police Taserings we couldn't agree more. If someone who hasn't bought a two dollar ticket can expect to be tasered into compliance by Vancouver Transit Police then we know we have given the police far too much leeway for taser usage; tasering someone into compliance is torture.

Torture was something the Nazis were specifically good at, sometimes with the same goal in mind: forcing the victim into compliance. And just imagine: if the taser had been invented during the 1930s, wouldn't all publicly paid Nazi officers have carried it?

Given the descriptions above, isn't it fair to compare current public officers that engage in or promote Taser use on non-compliant but non-violent members of the public, to their imagined Nazi counterparts by calling them TASER-NAZIS? We think it is :)

If you would like to nominate someone for “Taser-Nazi of the Week” then please leave a comment on this page. Here is the repressive “Getting it Right Policy” on nominating someone. The nominee should comply with at least one of the following policies in order to be considered:

1.Anyone paid by the public who uses or threatens to use a taser on a non-compliant but unarmed (non-violent) member of the public.

2.Anyone paid by the public who works at a policing agency (so not a law maker) and who actively advocates FOR the use of tasers while ignoring (either actively or tacitly) the rationale AGAINST the taser.

3.Anyone paid by the public who keeps repeating taser's unproven mantras (such as “the Taser saves lives” “the Taser prevents injuries” and “the Taser reduces injuries”) when hard facts have proven the contrary (many people have been injured and died after being tasered).

4.Anyone paid by the public who withholds information that can lead to the prosecution of officers that have used the taser gun to abuse or kill a "subject".

5.Anyone paid by the public who obstructs the process that can lead to the prosecution of officers that have used the taser gun to abuse or kill.

6. Anyone who lobbies on behalf of publicly paid workers and who participates in one of the activities described in 1-3.

First nomination for Taser-Nazi of the Week is: Sgt. Willie Merenick.

In an April 2008 interview Mr. Merenick confirmed that tasers have been used 10 times on members of the public in Vancouver by police officers from the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police. The taser was deployed “for the safety of the public, the people themselves and the police”.

The following is what got him nominated:

Sgt. Willie Merenick: “If we didn't believe that Tasers save lives, reduce injuries and are effective, we wouldn't use them.”

Well, Mr. Merenick, let me update you with some hard facts. Tasers do NOT save lives. In fact, there's isn't a shred of evidence that any of the thousands of Tasers out there has ever saved a single life, so who are you fooling here, Willie Merenick?

The same can be said about injuries. No data whatsoever that a taser can PREVENT an injury: If tasers really can prevent injuries shouldn't we all be wearing one? We do know that tasers have caused hundreds if not thousands of injuries (including burns, eye-wounds, broken limbs, and so on) and that many members people have died shortly after they were shot with a taser.

So there you go, Sgt. Willie Merenick, you've been nominated for taser-Nazi of the Week. Repeating corporate mantras while conveniently omitting contradicting facts (also called lying by omission) that would give a more balanced view on the taser has gotten you nominated. Congratulations!

LINK
- Vancouver Sun: Transit police back Taser use
- Amnesty International: Taser Related Deaths
- Democratic Underground: Taser Nazi nightmare needs to end

Anti-Seal Hunter are Suing Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn for Libel

They aren't yet, but sure, that's what I would do if I were one of the anti-seal hunters.

This is what our lovely minister had to say about the anti-seal hunters:

"They are a bunch of money-sucking manipulators," said Mr. Hearn, "and their sole aim is to try to suck as much money out of the pockets of people who really don't know what's going on."

Well, go and proof THAT in a Canadian court.

If Paul Watson is up with Canadian archaic libel laws then that's what should be his next move.

LINKS
- National Post: Minister defends armed seizure of protest ship
- Wikipedia: Paul Watson

Vancouver Airport Taser tape conveniently erased

Does anyone remember me talking about an airport surveillance video of the Robert Dziekanski Taser-killing that could give some more insight to what exactly happened? Well, most of it is gone. Erased. And not a single investigating police officer has made a back-up copy of the whole ordeal. How convenient.

Border services says it deleted security footage inadvertently
Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun

Published: Friday, April 11, 2008

Several hours of surveillance footage recorded at Vancouver airport the night Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski was Tasered and died were inadvertently erased by the Canada Border Services Agency a week after his death, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

The mistake is revealed in a series of internal CBSA e-mails on the Dziekanski matter released to The Sun in response to an Access to Information request.

Dziekanski was Tasered by the RCMP early on Oct. 14, 2007 after he began behaving erratically in a secure area of the airport -- pacing and throwing items against a glass wall.

However, before Dziekanski's interaction with the Mounties, he spent more than six hours in the airport's customs and baggage-claim hall without being noticed by anyone from the CBSA.

After Dziekanski's death, a CBSA officer reviewed all the agency's surveillance footage from that night to see if it provided any indication of what Dziekanski did for several hours in the customs hall.

That review found Dziekanski was picked up by CBSA cameras only about a dozen times, and just for a few minutes each time.

Between 4:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. -- a five-hour stretch -- the officer couldn't find Dziekanski on any of the footage, something the agency later said may have been due to construction in the area blocking camera angles.

The officer who reviewed the footage copied all the clips he found of Dziekanski onto a video disk.

However, weeks later, the CBSA decided it should take another look at all the footage to make sure it didn't miss anything.

"This is a significant undertaking, but close review may provide some additional information," John Dyck, head of the CBSA's Pacific Region Program and Communications division, wrote in a Nov. 1 e-mail to regional director Blake Delgaty. "We have requested that the full time period from all cameras be loaded to DVD for further review."

Unfortunately, by that point the original footage had all been erased.

In an e-mail to Dyck the same day, Binder Kooner, head of CBSA passenger operations at the airport, explained that there had been some confusion over how long the footage would be stored before being erased.

"I'm advised that footage was originally available for 16 days but due to subsequent modifications to the surveillance system, the footage is now only available for 7 days after which it automatically erases," Kooner wrote. "The footage is no longer available."

Kooner added that the CBSA officer who viewed all of the footage would write a declaration stating any clips of Dziekanski were included on the DVD.

Still, Dyck wrote back that "this is an unfortunate turn of events; we were under the impression that steps had been taken to preserve the video."

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, which is investigating Dziekanski's death, said Thursday it wasn't aware the CBSA's original footage had been erased.

However, IHIT spokesman Cpl. Dale Carr said the team is not worried because one of its investigators reviewed the complete footage before it was erased and was confident all clips of Dziekanski are on the DVD.

CBSA spokesman Derek Mellon refused to comment this week on why the agency didn't take steps to preserve the original footage or how confident it is that no shots of Dziekanski were missed.

In an e-mail, Mellon said only that he believed any questions about the footage were already answered in the documents released to The Sun.

The few clips of Dziekanski the officer burned to the DVD were released to The Sun earlier this year in response to a separate Access to Information request.

h/t The Coast of Bohemia: Tazer Video Deleted

LINKS
- Vancouver Sun: Video of YVR taser victim erased

RCMP is getting ready to taser babies

The RCMP loves tasering people of all sorts and ages. So why not tasering babies?

Babies can get pretty annoying, especially when they won't let you sleep. If you think that's enough to get tasered these days, think again:

An RCMP detachment in a suburb of Victoria, B.C., is being accused of misusing a Taser stun gun on a 15-year-old boy who was being arrested for disobeying a court-ordered curfew for a mischief charge.

the boy was attempting to wriggle out of a police car when an officer fired a Taser shot into his leg.

Wait a minute! I thought the RCMP would only use the Taser as a weapon of last resort. Whose afraid of a fleeing teenager?

But things got a lot worse from there:

Shortly after, the boy began kicking the police-car door from the inside and the officer decided to use the Taser again, on the boy's chest, the report says.

Well, a 15 year old boy kicking a police car from the inside, that's enough reason to Taser again and again, isn't it? Just as annoying as a crying baby would be. I'm glad I'm not married to a police officer who brings his/her taser home in the evening. I wouldn't trust him/her for moment with a crying baby.

Footnote
There'll be no formal investigation into whether the Taser was improperly used in this case other than the standard review that is always done whenever a police weapon is deployed. Watch your babies.

LINKS
- CBC: RCMP accused of misusing Taser on Victoria B.C. teen.
- All my Taser posts
- Wikipedia: Taser
- Wikipedia: Police Brutality

Harper Government to blame for increase of Taser usage

Not the RCMP. Well, at least according to Kate McMillan's analogy.

Anyhow, tasers are in the news again, and it ain't lookin' pretty:

OTTAWA - The RCMP is stripping crucial details about Taser firings from public reports as use of the controversial stun guns skyrockets across the country.

A joint investigation by The Canadian Press and CBC found the Mounties are now refusing to divulge key information that must be recorded each time they draw their electronic weapons.

As a result, Canadians will know much less about who is being hit with the 50,000-volt guns, whether they were armed, why they were fired on and whether they were injured.

Sure, holding back a taser video isn't that easy these days, but "stripping crucial details" still works, as long as some conservative liberalist party rules this country all is good.

Taser report forms obtained under the Access to Information Act show the Mounties have used the powerful weapons more than 4,000 times since introducing them seven years ago.

Incidents have increased dramatically, topping 1,000 annually in each of the last two years compared with about 600 in 2005. The overwhelming majority of firings took place in Western Canada, where the national force often leads front-line policing.

East, West.....damn, I'm in the wrong corner of Canada.

As Taser use escalates, however, the RCMP has tightened the lid of secrecy.

Information stripped from the forms includes details of several Taser cases the Mounties previously made public under the access law. In effect, the RCMP is reclassifying details of Taser use - including some telling facts that raised pointed questions about how often the stun guns are fired and why.

Good for you, RCMP, I mean Harper Government, transparency rules!

A Canadian Press analysis [...] found three in four suspects Tasered by the RCMP were unarmed.

A majority unarmed? WTF?

Several of those reports suggested a pattern of stun-gun use as a handy tool to keep drunk or rowdy suspects in line, rather than to defuse major threats.

This doesn't surprise me, really. Why would someone who is paid in stock by Taser not use it whenever he can?

There's more:

Stun guns have swiftly become the go-to weapon for scores of police and correctional officers across Canada. The RCMP has more than 2,800 Tasers and some 9,100 Mounties are trained to use them.

Getting it right knows all about why the RCMP lovers the Taser.

Public wariness about the weapons turned to full-blown anger last fall when amateur video showing the death of Robert Dziekanski was released. RCMP were called last October when the Polish immigrant became agitated at Vancouver International Airport after spending hours in a secure section while his mother tried in vain to contact him from the public side.

Exactly. We need MORE transparency when it comes to Taser use, not less. And then perhaps, one day these torturous devices will become history too.

Although Dziekanski appears more confused than threatening on the video, the officers waited less than 30 seconds before they zapped [...]. Within minutes, he was dead.

Thank you, Stephen Harper. I'm sure you meant well (and so does Kate).

LINK
- Canoe/Canadian Press: Taser News
- Wikipedia: List of torturous devices
- Getting it Right: Taser use in Canada (all posts)
- Wikipedia: electric shock
- Wikipedia: Electrocution

Canadian Police paid in stock by TASER International

Taser is in the news again. This time Thomas Smith, Taser stun gun manufacturer, was grilled by MPs on Parliament Hill. The Public Safety commission was questioning Mr. Smith as part of study stemming from death of Robert Dziekanski.

Deadly Tasers

OTTAWA — With his company under intense scrutiny following a high-profile death, and with a potentially lucrative Canadian business deal on the horizon, the CEO of Taser International vigorously defended his company's signature stun gun on Parliament Hill yesterday. [...]

The committee's study of tasers, and in turn Mr. Smith's appearance, were in large part prompted by the case of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died last October after RCMP officers tasered him at Vancouver International Airport.

Mr. Dosanjh asked Mr. Smith whether he was suggesting that tasers played absolutely no role in the 300 or so North American deaths that occurred after the [use of one or more Tasers] in the past few years. Mr. Smith said the use of tasers was deemed a contributing factor in [the deaths of] about 30 cases.

Victoria Police Darren Laur paid with TASER stockHere's another reason why the police love their Taser so much:

It was during subsequent questioning about Taser International's financial relationship with Canadian police officers that Mr. Smith revealed TASER International had paid two Canadian officers for services.
One of those officers, Darren Laur of the Victoria B.C police, was compensated with Taser stock after designing a holster for the device. However, it was not publicly known that a second officer was paid until yesterday's hearing. After the session, Mr. Smith said he believes the second officer was from a Montreal police force and was paid to provide taser training in Europe because he could speak French.

- Wikipedia: Taser International
- Globe and Mail: Taser CEO grilled by public safety committee
- Getting it Right: Why the Police love their Tasers so much

UN Committee: Taser guns torture and kill

The latest news on Tasers (and other electroshock weapons) comes from the UN Committee against Torture (CAT):

Taser electronic stun guns are a form of torture that can kill, a UN committee said on Friday [November 23, 2007] after several recent deaths in North America.
"The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture," the UN's Committee against Torture said.

Not really any new information for regular visitors of my site. But what's interesting is WHO is saying this, the United Nations Committee Against Torture, a "body of highly regarded independent human rights experts that monitors implementation of the Convention by State parties".

They've got more to say too:

"In certain cases, [tasers] can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events," the committee of 10 experts said.

Three men, all in their early 20s, were reported to have died in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being tasered by Canadian police.

The man, Robert Dziekanski, 40, fell to the ground and died after the police officers piled on top of him. There have been three deaths in Canada after the use of Tasers over the past five weeks.

So now even the United Nations regards tasers as torturous weapons that can kill. When will our police stop using Tasers?

- 24.com: Stun Guns "a form of torture"
- wikipedia: UN Committee against Torture (CAT)

Tasers kill, but do they actually save lives?

We've heard the catch phrase many times in the last few days, tasers are supposedly saving lives. Here are some recent examples:

London Free Press (November 21, 2007): Taser critics don't know what they're talking about, Fantino says
"“I can say without qualification that Tasers save lives,” said Fantino."

570News Victoria (November 19, 2007): Police weapons expert says Tasers save lives, prevent injuries
"A Victoria police weapons expert says Tasers save lives and he personally believes he would have killed several people in the line of duty if it wasn't for his Taser. Const. Mike Massine says his use of the Taser diffused several tense situations where using his firearm was the next alternative.

CBC (November 17, 2007): RCMP to review Taser policy in wake of airport death: commissioner
Numerous police forces say the weapon is a crucial "non-lethal" option for officers that helps save lives and protect both them and civilians from injury.

Not that there's any hard evidence of course, on the contrary, there's a growing number of cases in which the Taser has been considered a primary or secondary cause of death.

So how can "experts" keep claiming that tasers save lives?

They use a technique called informal predictions, which are often nothing more than opinions marketed as "evidence".

Here's one of Taser's own fallacies, from Taser's paper: TASER Device Liability and Litigation Riskown fallacies (p.3):

TASER technology is saving lives as well. Houston (TX) Police reported that in 39 instances between December 2004 and October 2006, incident involved officers would have been justified in using deadly force instead of stunning them;

Taser makes several mistakes in reasoning:
- reporting that in 39 instances officers were "justified in using deadly force" doesn't mean that these officers would have actually used deadly force if they wouldn't have had a taser.
- using deadly force doesn't guarantee that the "victim" will die from it. There are many ways to shoot someone without killing; try the legs for example. And not all "use of deadly force" will actually result in a hit; police officers miss too.

So how many lives were actually saved? We don't know and neither does Taser. There is simply no hard evidence. What we do know for sure is that tasers kill. There's proof that between June 2001 and June 2007, there were at least 245 cases of deaths of subjects soon after having been shocked using Tasers.

Then why are there so many police officers repeating the "tasers save lives" myth? Well, why don't you read it for yourself?

(don't forget to read the comment section)

Update: more "Taser Saves Lives" bullshit below:

CBC (November 22, 2007): B.C. police chiefs defend Taser use but support reviews
But [British Columbia Association of Chiefs president Gord Tomlinson said the association is rejecting calls for a moratorium on Taser use because members believe the weapon is safe and saves lives.

CTV.ca (November 22, 2007): Commons committee to probe Dziekanski's death
"Forgive us if we sound biased in the defence of the Taser. But if we didn't believe completely that they've saved live[s] and prevented injuries . . . we wouldn't be using them."

Thunder Bay's Source (November 22, 2007): Fantino concerned about rhetoric over Taser use
[Fantino] says Tasers have been studied enough and is adamant that they save lives.

Note: Not a single journalist asked what the reasons are for believing that tasers save lives. Neither did anyone bother asking what the equation between lives saved and people killed is: so much for sound evidence or good journalism.

Upper-date: more "Taser Saves Lives" bullshit below:

CBC.ca (February 24, 2009): Tasers save lives, police associations say
Canada's two main police associations are defending the use of Tasers, saying in Ottawa Tuesday that [tasers] save lives and there is no proof the stun guns have been directly responsible for civilian deaths.

CNW (February 24, 2009): British Columbia Police Association supports national position on Taser use
Describing the Taser as a "vital tool that protects the lives of police and the public" BCPA President Tom Stamatakis notes that the 2,500 members of the 12 police services across B.C. that he represents "support the use of the Taser within clear guidelines".

Calgary Herald (February 13, 2009): RCMP limits use of Tasers
During a meeting of the Commons public safety committee on Thursday, [Commissioner William Elliott] insisted Tasers are still useful weapons that save lives, but also said the RCMP now recognize they can cause death in"acutely agitated" suspects.

Metro Canada (February 24, 2009): Chief Backs use of Tasers
[Police Chief Rick Hanson]: “Absolutely, they should have Tasers; Tasers save lives."

RCMP Watchdog continues whitewash of RCMP lies and spin

What do we expect from the "Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP"? One would think that such a commission would be critical of the RCMP right? Nothing could be further from the truth:

An RCMP watchdog has dismissed a civil rights group's complaint that the Mounties "misrepresented the facts" surrounding the death of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski, even as the force continues to receive e-mails accusing it of "lying."

The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP will instead follow up an internal complaint into whether officers followed proper procedures, according to a letter from its chairman, Paul Kennedy.

Insiders are probably not all that surprised because the commission is far from independent

The Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP is mandated to conduct reviews when complainants are not satisfied with RCMP handling of a complaint, but even it has no teeth, says the past chair of the commission, Shirley Heafey.

[...] the commission can't subpoena evidence or question witnesses involved in an RCMP investigation. It only has access to investigation material if the RCMP commissioner willingly hands it over.

And to be frank, when a watchdog uses euphemisms like "conducted energy weapon" (likely invented by Taser to describe the sometimes-lethal, other times torturous electroshock weapon, better known as the Taser) one has to wonder how "critical" this commission will be of ANY Taser use.

So did the RCMP lie? Many people think they did, and they've let the RCMP know too:

"We've been outright called liars," said Carr of e-mails he'd received from the public. "But a liar is someone that has one piece of information and says something else. We were giving the information we knew at the time. That's not a lie."

Well, this seems to become a classic example of an agency that, because of all the lying, doesn't know when to stop lying anymore. Of course the RCMP was lying; here's why, with some help from the Victoria Times Colonist.

The morning after the incident, Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre told a Sun reporter that three police officers tried to reason with Dziekanski, but instead he "continued to throw chairs around" despite efforts to calm him.

How many lies can one put in one paragraph? Just watch and see:

Did the RCMP know that there were not (lie #1)"three" police officers, but four?
Did the RCMP know that the four officers did not (lie #2) "reason with Dziekanski?
Did the RCMP know that Dziekanski did not (lie #3) "throw chairs around [after the police arrived on the scene]"?

The answer to all these questions "YES", they knew all these facts because they had the now famous RCMP Taser Killing video in their possession right after Robert Dziekanski had died.

The fact that the RCMP keeps lying about their lies is a good indicator that the whitewash has continued. Who IS going to stop it?

- CanWest: Watchdog rejects spin charge against RCMP
- Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP: Complaint
- The Tyee: As Killings by Police Mount, a Call for Independent Probes
- Wikipedia: Taser Controversy
- An interview with the Paul Pritchard (rush transcript; includes audio)

RCMP keeps tasering: Now a Chilliwack man tasered by RCMP is in "extremely critical condition"

They say that the Taser saves lives. So where are all these people that have been saved? Where's the evidence? Have you talked to somebody yet who has been saved?

What we do know is that, contrary to what Taser and Co. would like you to believe, Tasers DO kill:

A Chicago medical examiner has ruled (in 2005) that shocks from a Taser were responsible for the death of a man in February, marking the first time that the electronic stun gun has been named as the primary cause of death. (HT Frank Frick)

Closer to home we are faced with more RCMP Taser use, possibly with deadly consequences:

Investigators are looking into how a Chilliwack, B.C., man ended up in "extremely critical condition" after a confrontation with RCMP officers in which a Taser was used on Monday afternoon.

So why use the controversial not-lethal-if-you're-lucky Taser?

Police said the man became combative and aggressive when two officers arrived. They tried to subdue him using pepper spray, batons, and then a Taser gun, police said.

No videos that contradict RCMP's version of events are available yet.

- CBC: Chilliwack man hit by taser in "extremely critical condition": RCMP
- The Arizona Republic: Taser shocks ruled cause of death