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London Police Embrace the Taser
Stun guns are weapons of choice against G-20 protesters this week.
Satirical sticker making the rounds in Vancouver, B.C.
As protesters descend upon London's financial district to demonstrate the G-20 summit this week, they are being met by thousands of Metropolitan police officers carrying out what has been described as the biggest police operation ever undertaken in the capital. Pre-emptive arrests were made earlier this week and despite the mainly non-violent protests -- overshadowed by media reports of a "seige" on the Bank of England -- by Wednesday night, more than 60 people had been arrested and one man was dead.
Police in London have been gearing up for these clashes for months, attracting press attention for the "unprecedented" security deployment and the various tools at their disposal. Among them are so-called "non-lethal weapons" of the sort that have become ubiquitous crowd control devices. "Scotland Yard is to deploy officers armed with 50,000-volt Taser stun guns to deal with violent demonstrators," the Times Online reported earlier this week, noting that police were gearing up for any "anarchist elements" "likely to stir up trouble."
But in the UK -- where police forces have traditionally not carried guns -- it was not that long ago that Tasers were new to the streets. Since their arrival in the spring of 2003, however, their popularity has skyrocketed; last fall, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith unveiled a plan to spend £8 million on Tasers and Taser training for 30,000 police officers, providing some 10,000 new Tasers to police across England and Wales. "I am proud that we have one of the few police services around the world that do not regularly carry firearms," Smith said, "and I want to keep it that way."
But an arms expert at Amnesty International UK called the move "a dangerous step in British policing," citing "numerous" taser deaths in North America as a cautionary example.
Meanwhile in North America, such fatalities continue. Last month, a Michigan teenager died after police tasered him, one day short of his 16th birthday.
How big a shock?
Taser International, virtually the sole maker of stun guns, says that while its device can deliver up to 50,000 volts, it does not deliver that much voltage to a person's body. The company says its Advanced Taser M26 delivers an average of 1,500 volts. (The CBC offers a good backgrounder on Tasers here.)
On March 31, the company's latest Taser model -- called the Shockwave -- hit the market; according to Taser International website, it "allows for both increased safety and stand-off capability during hostile situations, minimizing risk with a stand-off distance of up to 100 meters."
But Dalia Hashad, director of Amnesty International's USA Program focusing on domestic human rights, wrote about the product last fall, saying the Shockwave "belongs in my 'You've Got to Be Kidding' file along with Taser International's leopard-print MP3 player that doubles as a taser and their employment of Playboy Bunnies for promotion." The company's literature shows it to be a powerful crowd-control weapon:
"With the push of a button at a stand-off distance of up to 100 meters, the Shockwave unit deploys multiple standard TASER® cartridges that are oriented across an area arc. Full area coverage is provided to instantaneously incapacitate multiple personnel within that region." "Development of weapons that allow police to tase en mass is not good news," says Hashad. "Would you be willing to go to a protest knowing that police on the scene were armed with Taser Shockwave? I wouldn't bring my daughter, which means that I might have to stay home. Maybe that's the point."
It is not clear what model of Taser London police are using at the G20 summit. The British version of Taser International's website, www.taser.co.uk, boasts: "0% long term injury. 94% success rate."
Taser use down in Canada
One place where the Taser trend appears to be changing is Canada, where high-profile taser deaths, along with a recent study on the dangers of Tasers, are leading to a serious rethinking of the weapon. Four months after a Canadian report found that the type of Taser model most often used by police officers can significantly raise the risk of cardiac arrest -- prompting Canadian officials to say they were pulling the model from its police ranks -- Taser use in Canada has decreased dramatically. Last week Reuters reported that the "use of Taser stun guns by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) dropped by almost a third last year, possibly because of a high-profile controversy about the weapon's safety and accusations the gun was being over-used."
The official who released the numbers, who heads the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, told reporters in a press conference that Canadian authorities are showing more "self-restraint" when it comes to deploying Tasers -- while also suggesting that suspects are less likely to resist police officers for fear of being tasered to death. Calls for a ban "People now recognize that the Taser is painful and that Taser -- maybe they're thinking -- may kill me, and they're co-operating too," said Paul Kennedy of the RCMP, which, according to Reuters, "is expected to issue a more comprehensive report on Taser use" in coming days.
Meanwhile many voices in Canada and the U.S. are calling for a ban on Tasers -- or at least a moratorium until their safety can be guaranteed. In the meantime, allowing Tasers to occupy a gray area -- not lethal except when they are -- will make it that much harder for police to be held accountable for excessive force and homicide. Cops already get away with shooting suspects dead with little to no consequences. Arming them with Tasers under the pretense that they are safe will only perpetuate this trend as inevitable deaths occur.
Like "pre-emptive" arrests, the 50,000-volt Tasers that London police are carrying as they stand off with G20 protesters this week may be seen as a necessary precaution. But if any Taser deaths occur in London this week, they will be treated as a tragic accident, to be sure. But they should not be treated as a surprise.
Related Tyee stories:
- Tase Me, Bro
What I learned while trying to get tasered by the RCMP. - VPD Taser use down 64 per cent in 2008
- RCMP report shows improper taser use
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16
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Moonbug
3 years ago
Good article, excellent
Good article, excellent reporting.
Wilfred Laurier
3 years ago
Hooligans
The "protesters" in London are nothing but a bunch of hooligans. Stun them some more I say.
freebear
3 years ago
Cattle
A compliance 'tool' just like a cattle prod!
Get along little doggies or anarchists!
Janie Jones
3 years ago
Thought Crime
Pre-emptive arrests? Is that going to be the new normal in "new world order" that according to today's Globe, the G20 has just ushered in? Once you're arresting people for what they might do, the sky's the limit. Not that Canada is any stranger to thought crime.
Fiat lux
3 years ago
They were arresting the
They were arresting the wrong hooligans and criminals, who only broke a few windows, while the real crooks have been planning more and further enslavement of the whole world.
Ed Deak.
RickW
3 years ago
It's only a matter of time.....
....until protesters ramp up their means of resisting "pre-emptive arrests".
I wonder when knock off tasers will be hitting the marketplace........?
But you are right (again) Ed. Just as Saddam was accused of being in the CIA's pocket, to be trotted out whenever a bad guy was required, does anyone know anything at all about those who organize these demonstrations? The press intimation would have it that they are "spontaneous" events by hooligans a flakes. Isn't that right, Wilfred Laurier?
Rod Smelser
3 years ago
What is the appropriate weapon or instument
While there is now little doubt that Tasers can be more dangerous than the company admits, a question remains, especially given the context of this article, which is huge demonstrations in London at a time when the presence of government leaders from many countries elevates the underlying security risk.
What are the appropriate weaspons or instruments to be used in controlling large crowds? Are the police supposed to simply throw themselves bodily in the path of an advancing group of hundreds, possibly thousands of people?
I would be interested to know what scholarly advice is on offer to police forces around the world from Dalia Hashas of Amnesty International on safe and respectful means of policing large public areas when there are crowds of tens of thousands there? What does Vancouver's own experts, such as Cameron Ward and David Eby have to say?
Janie Jones
3 years ago
The appropriate weapon
"What are the appropriate weapons or instruments to be used in controlling large crowds?"
I would say not to piss them off so much in the first place.
I believe that cops have already been outed as being the notorious Black Brigade agent provocateurs in Quebec, smashing windows, picking fights etc. so that the goon squads have an excuse to crack down and everyone can see the price of standing up to the officially declared NWO.
Janie Jones
3 years ago
Who Controls The Black Block Anarchists?
"Following the SPP protests in Canada two years ago, Quebec provincial authorities were forced to admit that three rock-wielding black mask-wearing “anarchists” were in fact police infiltrators used to gather information on protesters."
Who Controls The Black Block Anarchists?
http://www.prisonplanet.com/who-controls-the-black-bloc-anarchists.html
carfreed
3 years ago
tasers
These are weapons of TORTURE.
All police departments need to run the Pritchard video several times before presenting an officer with a taser gun.
Rod Smelser
3 years ago
Well, what are the appropriate methods?
Suppose these crowds were not political protesters or anarchists, but sports fans, some of them rowdies? What would the appropriate methods, and in some cases weapons be, for the police to use in controlling crowds of that nature?
leem
3 years ago
Out of focus...
Canada's taser use has been down, due to the inquiry surrounding robert z's death. Canadian police were also forbidden from using multiple 'shots', for a short time, but that was rescinded again, possibly last week. i'm suprised the reporter didn't mention that fact. I believe that our police were also banned for using the Taser at all, for a short time. Maybe that's what actually accounted for the drop in use of Tasers- not a new-found compliance towards police and arrests. Besides, people can be tased for simply asking questions of police now in Canada- talk about pre-emptive arresting!!!
and once again, fiat lux has it right- the NWO is always implementing more "Non-lethal" means of subduing we the people. London has been promoting the belief of rioting in the streets for about 4 months now, in the form of predictive programming; how many times can you read the headlines screaming "Police/MI-5 predict rioting in U.K. over summer" and NOT think it's a good idea?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/23/police-civil-unrest-recession
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/86981/MI5-alert-on-bank-riots
http://waronyou.com/topics/army-prepared-for-economic-riots-on-uk-streets/
When governments quietly implement Police States, we the people are less likely to care about our erroding rights and relationships with our "elected" authority figures.
dorothy
3 years ago
The rub
The protesters are in reality being penalized for being dumb. The only power we the people have with these adversaries is the power of the dollar. Promote reducing, resuing and recycling like crazy, and you're really fighting them, rather than making an ass of yourself and leading with your unprotected noggin. Buy your pants from the seamstress next door, from the thrift shop, or make them yourself, that's more like it!
Janie Jones
3 years ago
Kettling.
I have been reading more about the creepy Police State tactics that are being used at the G20. According to eyewitness reporters, the protesters were contained and then pushed back into a tighter and tighter area surrounding the RBS and then were held there without bathroom or water for five hours. No-one was allowed to leave including in one case, an elderly couple who had mistakenly stumbling into the area. This practice is known in the parlance as "kettling" because that's right, sooner or later the crowd will boil over in frustration and then along with the stage window smashing, it will seem as if the protestors are attacking the police when in fact, they just want out.
Something like Gaza.
Fish-counter
3 years ago
Newsflash to London Police....
If you need expert advice on Taser deployment, call Kwesi Millington of the RCMP. He has the Guinness Book of world Records best for 30 seconds of Tasering a single victim, with five separate blasts. Not only did he kill the victim, but he stood over him and watched him die without offering any medical aid.
London police may think they are good, but they haven't met Kwesi yet. Murderers come in blue too.
ripponfalls
3 years ago
Multiple tasing should be forbidden
We keep hearing about how tasers have saved lives... yet every time there is multiple tasing, it involves someone screaming in pain while being subdued by the police. If the machine worked as its supporters claim or was being used as promoted, why should there be a need to tase more than once? This isn't a kung fu video game: either the person hit is knocked down or he isn't.
So what happens? One of the police officers removes his/her hand from the person, takes the machine, and starts zapping the poor schmo. It's like a cattle prod, and the police are administering a form of corporal punishment without having ever gone to the courts or gotten a law passed to allow it.
Now if our parliament decides that such punishment is to be allowed, at least the person being threatened with it should be allowed to fight it in court, and if the law is passed, there are other means which while painful are less condusive to fatalities. Whips and canes, for example. Otherwise, for all those supporting the right of police to use tasers, I hope you enjoy your first bastinado over a traffic offense while stretched over the hood of the police cruiser.
R. Smiley