FEDS CAST DOUBT ON TASER SAFETY CLAIMS

ACLU & AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES IMMEDIATE ACTION BY LOCAL AGENCIES
For Immediate Release: January 13, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO—After a week of highly disturbing developments regarding Taser International, Inc., the leading manufacturer and supplier of electronic stun guns used by law enforcement agencies, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the Western Regional Office of Amnesty International, USA, are urgently calling on local police departments to immediately re-evaluate their use or purchase of the weapons based on safety concerns.

Last week, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened an inquiry partially focused on allegations of misleading claims by Taser International regarding the safety of their weapon. In addition, the Arizona Attorney General’s office, which has regulatory authority over companies incorporated in their state, is pursuing a similar inquiry.

“In light of these inquiries and a mounting number of deaths after Taser uses–now six in Northern California just since August–law enforcement agencies need to immediately re-examine everything they’ve been led to believe about this weapon,” John Crew, ACLU-NC attorney said. “The consequences of false confidence in the safety of Tasers are far too great.”

In addition, Taser International admitted this week that 263 law enforcement officers who were certified as “master instructors” received cash consulting payments for training sessions that, according to the company’s SEC filings, drove sales to police agencies.

Mona Cadena, Field Organizer for Amnesty International, USA’s Western Regional Office asked, “Did local law enforcement agencies rely on testimonials from fellow officers in making their decisions to obtain and deploy these weapons? If so, they need to immediately find out if those officers had undisclosed, paid consulting relationships with the company whose product they were touting.”

For the last few months, the groups have raised serious concerns about the absence of independent scientific studies that would support or refute Taser International’s safety claims about their weapons. The concerns include:

• Six deaths in Northern California after police use of Tasers over the last five months – the latest involving Gregory Saulsbury in Pacifica on January 5th;
  
  
• Nationally, five other similar deaths in just the last three weeks; and
  
  
• A total, so far, of 89 documented deaths after police us of Tasers in the U.S. and Canada.

Taser International continues to claim their product is blameless in these deaths and is safe to use even against “at risk” individuals who have heart conditions or who have ingested certain drugs.

At least two dozen Northern California law enforcement agencies–including a number of the largest departments–are reported to have purchased and are using Tasers. In addition to the death in Pacifica, since August 2004, deaths of Northern Californians after Taser use have also occurred in Fresno, Seaside, Vallejo, Sacramento County, and Sacramento.

In its recent report, Excessive and Lethal Force? Deaths and Ill-treatment Involving Police Use of TASER, Amnesty International documented that, far from being used to avoid lethal force, many US police agencies are deploying Tasers as a routine force option to subdue non-compliant or disturbed individuals.