(Vancover BC) Tasering of mom with baby 'necessary,' police say

[Snazzy]

Tasering of mom with baby 'necessary,' police say
Teen mother refused to release her critically ill child for medical care, department says
Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, September 27, 2008
VANCOUVER - Vancouver police are defending a decision by officers to Taser a 16-year-old mother who wouldn't hand her baby over to social workers last Monday, saying the officers were afraid to engage in a tug of war with the mother for what they said was a critically ill baby.

However, the great-grandmother of one-month-old Taige said Friday the baby boy was not critically ill.

...

Police spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness said social workers had come to apprehend the child so he could be taken to hospital and called for police assistance when the mother refused to give the baby up.

"Our members found it necessary to Taser a mentally distraught teenager to save the life of her baby," McGuinness said.

----

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=3363cc2a-e922-4d0f-8444-d72e485dcba6

Need to keep track of new directions in daily tasering abuse. Too bad cops everywhere are apparently now too stupid and lazy to reason with anyone.

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. What an idiotic thing to do

Let's possibly kill the baby and/or mom to save the baby.

[Snazzy]

2. Study: Houston police used Tasers more on blacks

Study: Houston police used Tasers more on blacks
By JUAN A. LOZANO – Sep 8, 2008

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston police officers have used Tasers more on black suspects than any other group of individuals, according to a city study released Monday.

Of 1,417 Taser deployments by officers between December 2004 and June 2007, nearly 67 percent were used on black suspects, according to an audit conducted for the city by a team of criminology, statistics and mathematics experts. About 25 percent of Houston's population is black.

The audit was requested by Houston Mayor Bill White in 2006, after several high-profile incidents. That year, Houston Texans offensive lineman Fred Weary was shocked during a traffic stop, and an officer called to quiet a noisy music club shocked musicians and concertgoers. The latter incident was videotaped and widely viewed on YouTube.

....

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g-CsPWtWShs05LAGA312A0BYtkGgD932TLP00


------------

USA
Amnesty International's concerns about Taser®(1) use: Statement to the U.S. Justice Department inquiry into deaths in custody

...

As Amnesty International concluded in its statement to the panel,

"The degree of tolerable risk involving Tasers, as with all weapons and restraint devices, must be weighed against the threat posed. It is self-evident that Tasers are less injurious than firearms where officers are confronted with a serious threat that could escalate to deadly force. However, the vast majority of people who have died after being struck by Tasers have been unarmed men who did not pose a threat of death or serious injury when they were electro-shocked. In many cases they appear not to have posed a significant threat at all."

Of the 291 reported deaths, the organization has identified only 25 individuals who were reportedly armed with any sort of weapon when they were electro-shocked; such weapons did not include firearms.

Amnesty International acknowledged in its statement that there may be "stand-off" situations where Tasers in dart-firing mode could effectively be used as an alternative to firearms to save lives. However, the potential to use Tasers in drive-stun mode (where they are used as "pain compliance" tools when individuals are already effectively in custody), and the capacity to inflict multiple and prolonged shocks, renders the weapons inherently open to abuse.

Amnesty International calls on all governments and law enforcement agencies to either cease using Tasers and similar devices pending the results of thorough, independent studies, or limit their use to situations where officers would otherwise be justified in resorting to deadly force where no lesser alternatives are available. Strict guidelines and monitoring should govern all such use.

....

http://www.amnestyusa.org/us-human-rights/taser-abuse/page.do?id=1021202&n1=3&n2=850&n3=220


---------
FORBES

Stun Guns
A License To Not Quite Kill
Andy Greenberg, 09.26.08, 6:30 PM ET

Sitting idle, the Taser Shockwave looks like a waist-high rack of square green teeth. But press a button, and those teeth--six electrified cartridges tethered by 25-foot wires--shoot out in a 20-degree arc. Inch-long probes emitting 50,000 volts of electricity pierce through clothing and skin. If a human being is in their path, his or her muscles immediately flex and lock involuntarily.

Use Shockwave defensively to create a perimeter around rioters, as police demonstrated in a training exercise on California's Treasure Island earlier this month, and a mob of unruly individuals can be corralled into a corner. Or fire the device into a crowd, and several targets go down in a temporarily paralyzed heap.

Shockwave, set to be deployed sometime in 2009, is one of several powerful new "less-lethal" devices coming closer to being used in the real world, as opposed to just test situations. And it's not the only experimental toy soon to be sold by Phoenix-based Taser International (nasdaq: TASR - news - people ). Other products being tested by the company include a taser shell that can be fired from any shotgun and a taser laminate film that can electrify the surface of a traditional riot shield.

....

http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/26/less-lethal-weapons-tech-security-cx_ag_0926weapons.html



Taser Shockwave
If one Taser is a powerful deterrent, imagine six or 18 stacked side-by-side. The Shockwave offers what Taser International calls "Remote Area Denial." When the weapon is fired, six Taser cartridges fire in a 20 degree arc, incapacitating anyone in their path. Taser touts the Shockwave as a powerful tool for controlling a prison riot or other situations where an entire area must be secured. Amnesty International's Dalia Hashad argues that it encourages less discriminate uses of an already-dangerous device.



Taser XREP
Taser's XREP, or extended range electronic projectile, combines the capabilities of a Taser x26 with the range of a shotgun. The shell-shaped device can be fired from any shotgun and has a range of around 100 feet. When it hits someone, a wired barb falls out of the shell and creates another electrical point of contact on the target's clothing or skin so that current flows through a larger portion of the body. If the target grabs at the device, the wire sends another dose of current through his or her hand.



Active Denial System
The military's Active Denial System is a generic-sounding name for a device that could have sprung from a comic book: a laser-powered heat-ray device. Turn the ADS on a target, and its beam penetrates the skin by just millimeters, creating the sensation that the skin has caught fire without actually doing any damage. Critics argue that the ADS' pain-inflicting technology crosses ethical boundaries even if it doesn't actually injure its victims. But the real barrier to the ADS' implementation has been power consumption and size--after years of development, it has yet to be deployed.

[Abaddon865]

3. At least she wasn't in LA

I've lived in both Vancouver and Los Angeles, and all I can say is at least they didn't shoot her. Plus since she's a Canadian, unwed, teenage, mother she was probably wasted and didn't even fell the taser. (JK)