RT @Villager: #Tasers now carried by most officers - - I suspect we will continue to see weekly taser-related deaths.

Unanswered question: M26 vice X26 death rate per deployment
See a previous post from 7 April 2009: 'Call for Data (M26 vs. X26)' [LINK]

The limited (Canadian RCMP) taser usage data available suggests that there was a period during which the older (1999-era) M26 was actually deployed far more often than the newer (2003-era) X26. Another Canadian data set seems to suggest that during this same period the taser-associated deaths were dominated by the perhaps less-frequently deployed X26. These data sets [LINK] do overlap - but one is just the RCMP taser usage, and the other includes all taser-associated deaths in Canada (all police agencies). But even so, it is still very curious...

hearings on tasers

Recently, a new study discovered that the most common model of Taser used by police officers are far more hazardous than the company claims, capable of firing dangerous levels of electricity that can raise the risk of heart attack by as much as 50 percent. Shortly after the release of the findings, Canadian police departments pulled Tasers from their forces. ("Police departments in the United States, however, appear to have taken no similar action," reported the Arizona Republic.)

A new study has found that the type of Taser stun gun used most by police officers can fire more electricity than the company says is possible, which the study's authors say raises the risk of cardiac arrest as much as 50 percent in some people.

(New York) - Industry claims that Taser stun guns are safe and non-lethal simply do not stand up to scrutiny, said Amnesty International today as the organization released one of the most detailed reports to date on the safety of stun guns. The report, which includes deaths that occurred between June 2001 and August 2008, showed that the number of people who died in the United States after being struck by police Tasers has reached 334. The human rights organization called on federal, state and local authorities to suspend the use of stun guns, known collectively as Conducted Energy Devices – or, at a minimum, limit their deployment to life-threatening situations.

Tracking and reporting on pre-trial, extra-judicial death penalty, because it's 21st century lynching, by another name.

America's police force is killing people on a weekly basis with taser guns. There are not many states in the nation who have not been involved in a taser-related death this year. Tasers are now deployed in law enforcement agencies in 29 of the 33 largest U.S. cities.