Canada: Call for Moratorium on use of Tasers®
Updated: 11 May 2009
A woman wipes away a tear as she is overcome with emotion during a rally in Vancouver Saturday, November 24, 2007 for Robert Dziekanski, the man who died after being hit with a taser by the RCMP.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Richard Lam
Many Canadians were outraged in October 2007 by video footage of the death in custody of Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver airport. In subduing the agitated man, police appear to have moved almost immediately to the use of Tasers® without exhausting non-violent means. A Public Inquiry into both the specific incident and the broader question of the use of Tasers® is now underway in British Columbia.
Since then another ten people have died in Canadian police custody following the use of a Taser®. The most recent incident took place in Brooks, Alberta on May 6, 2009.
Amnesty International is concerned that Tasers® continue to be deployed in Canada despite the lack of an independent and comprehensive study of their use and effects. Unlike other police equipment, the safety parameters for Tasers® have yet to be independently established.
Tasers® have been involved in many cases of use of excessive force by law enforcement officials. At least 26 deaths have occurred following use of Tasers® in Canada and over 330 such deaths in the United States. While some of these cases have yet to be reviewed, the Taser® was found to have been a direct or indirect factor in more than 30 of the deaths.
TAKE ACTION:
Step 1: Send an email to Peter Van Loan, the Minister of Public Safety
Dear Minister Van Loan:
Over the past year in Canada, at least nine people have died following use of a Taser® by police. I am concerned that the device continues to be deployed even though, unlike most police equipment, the safety parameters of Tasers® have yet to be independently established.
In the challenging world of policing, it is vital for officers to be able to make well informed decisions about the equipment and tactics they use so that they can deploy the least amount of force necessary to safely resolve a given situation. However, it appears that Tasers® are simply being used too often and too fast, when too little is known about them.
I welcome the numerous studies and reviews currently underway. However, these studies are limited by either their scope or jurisdiction.
I call on you to work urgently with your federal, provincial and territorial counterparts to impose a moratorium on the use of Tasers® and similar devices by law enforcement officials until there has been independent and comprehensive study of their use and effects. In the absence of a moratorium, the use of Tasers® should be restricted to situations where officers face an imminent threat or would otherwise be justified in resorting to lethal force.
Add your own comment regarding the use of Tasers®:
Step 2: Invite your friends to join you in this appeal for a moratorium on Tasers®