RCMP Watch

(Ottawa Citizen) - When police first started carrying Tasers, they were justified as being a safer alternative to guns. They would only ever be used, with reluctance, as a second-to-last resort.

That reluctance seems to be fading with time. Canwest News Service obtained documents, using an Access to Information request, that show the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are using Tasers more than twice as often as they were two years ago. In 2005, there were 597 Taser incidents. In 2006, there were 1,119. And in 2007, the number kept rising, to 1,414.

Two years is not a long sample period, but an increase of that size is no statistical blip. The Taser is still a relatively new addition to the police arsenal. It seems unlikely that Tasers were necessary more than twice as often in 2007 than in 2005; the simpler and more plausible explanation is that RCMP officers are becoming more comfortable administering shocks to people. They seem especially eager to use the stun guns in British Columbia, where the per capita use of Tasers is highest.

That province witnessed the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver Airport in October. His death is now the subject of an inquiry, and amateur footage of it has shown the world what Tasers can do. While the police seem to be getting more comfortable with Tasers, the public — and doctors, some of whom fear that Taser shocks can lead to heart failure — is getting less comfortable with them.

Even the chairman of Taser International has acknowledged, at the inquiry, that the stun guns “are not risk-free.” If officers want to retain the option of using Tasers when they’re necessary, they should stop pulling them out when they’re not necessary.