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Motherhood, Apple Pie and Tasers!

Title: Chair, Police Services Board Alok Mukherjee with Thomas P. Smith
© The Toronto Tribune

The Toronto Police Services Board held a forum on Tasers with one invited guest: Thomas P. Smith, President of Taser International. Generally an unbiased public forum requires more than 1 side of the argument. Members of the Toronto Police Services Board are considering whether to award Taser International a no-bid Halliburton-style $8.6 million contract to arm all members of the Toronto Police with these boys' toys. Dick Cheney must be proud of: Chair Alok Mukherjee, Vice Chair Pam McConnell, Hugh Locke, Judi Cohen, Mayor David Miller, Hamlin Grange, and Frank Di Giorgio. They are the members of the Toronto Police Services Board. Though if the US Vice President had witnessed their antics at the Taser Forum he and Kyle Rove would be the only two people impressed with their conduct.

Problem is the public in Toronto isn't exactly sold on the Tasers, with the knowledge that 310 people died in North America after being tasered while in Police Custody.  The majority of these deaths occurred in the USA 20 victims were tasered in Canada. Who can forget the obscene actions of the RCMP in tasering Robert Dziekanski thanks to Paul Pritchard's video of the incident.

Thomas Smith went on, ad nausea, about the safety studies about Tasers. Feel safe yet? Safety studies in controlled environments do not reflect the real world where the police will act without having gathered the necessary information to make an informed decision. Robert Dziekanski had spent nearly 24 hours in travel, his medical condition prior to tasering was not known, neither was his exact weight or height. Information hopefully contained in these so-called safety studies aren't available on the streets.

The purpose of the forum, according to Alok Mukherjee was to receive public input about Tasers, the matter having yet to go to the board. Apparently the essential portion of communication, listening skills, was lost on Judi Cohen and Hugh Locke. Once Smith had finished sharing his smoke and mirrors presentation Locke and Cohen engaged in a private conversation rarely coming up for air. Neither paid much attention to the public during the Question and Answer Session. Locke managed to rouse himself just once. The first speaker from the public approached the microphone at the end of the session with a follow-up question. A few in the audience cried foul, the loudest hiss came from Justice Hugh Locke. We can only hope he saves all of his impartiality for the courtroom.

Chair Alok Mukherjee claimed this forum was to hear from the public. When Patti Gillman, whose brother Robert Bagnell, was killed after being tasered, began to read the names of some of the others who had suffered the same fate, Mukherjee suddenly wasn't interested in anything the public had to say. He howled in protest from his pulpit interrupting a poignant moment.

Chief Bill Blair showed little interest in the Q&A spending that portion of the public forum either chewing his nails or chatting until he was asked to perform a task. Ken Wood talked of an earlier encounter with the police in which he was injured, sued and then settled with the city. Wood was willing to prove the so-called safety of these boys' toys. He offered to be tasered on the spot. Thomas P. Smith declined. Smith went on and on about the safety studies and yet when a real test was presented he was too afraid of being arrested, (civilians can't use Tasers in Canada) to comply.

Wood said in his challenge to Smith, " “Everything that I see that you do in your studies is basically physically fit, gung-ho military types saying, ‘Go ahead, Taser me.’ You don’t know my health history, you don’t know who I am, I’m Joe Average on the street.” Wood, after Smith wouldn't perform the Taser safety test right then and there, asked Bill Blair to Taser him. Wood's challenge managed to draw Blair's attention away from his cuticles.

It's a sad state of affairs for Toronto when the only two board members who behaved with any sense of decorum and common courtesy were Toronto City Councilor Pam McConnell and former journalist Hamlin Grange. Both paid rapt attention both to Smith and to all of the public who choose to question Smith.

Mayor David Miller didn't attend the Taser Forum.

Andy Buxton, Chair of Toronto's arm of Amnesty International, (AI) was at the Public Forum on Tasers. AI has two specific concerns about police use of Tasers (and other similar devices). The concerns are:

1. We do not believe that the question of Taser safety is yet resolved, and we continue to be concerned about the roughly 300 people who have died after being Tasered in the past several years in Canada and the US
2. We are concerned that there appears to be a pattern of excessive and abusive use of Tasers by police in Canada and the US

Amnesty International continues to call for a moratorium on the use of Tasers until there has been an independent and comprehensive study on their use and effects. At the very least, since Taser advocates argue that they are safer than guns, AI think that if police must continue to use Tasers, they should only use them in those situations where resort to deadly force would have been warranted. (AI notes that most current Taser use would fall far short of this restrictive test.)

Andy Buxton, Chair AI Toronto added, "Those who are concerned about the Toronto Police proposal to spend $8.6 million to buy 3000 more Tasers for front line officers, and those who want to learn more about Tasers, may want to attend a public forum on the topic of Tasers at Innis Town Hall (Innis College - U of T) on Wednesday Feb 6th at 7PM."

The issue with the these safety tests is they would most likely have been conducted against individuals where information such as height, weight, medical history, any non-prescription or prescription drugs usage, use of alcohol, activities over the past 24 hours is available, i.e. a sterile environment.

In the real world there is a significant risk of tasering someone who has non-obvious medical issues, such as a history of heart problems, undergoing radiation and chemotherapy and so on. Some treatments for medical problems can produce negative reactions. Should someone be tasered because they have a bad day when dealing with dreadful diseases. Healthy individuals have been known to have a bad day and losing it - should they earn a death sentence for acting out in public? Toronto must say no to Tasers!