Owen Sound’s Police Chief is looking at tasers on a national scale
Tom Kaye was recently appointed to head up a team to bring forward a position paper on the use of conducted energy devices/tasers at the Executive Board of Canadian Association Chiefs of Police Meeting in August.
Kaye says the committee has begun researching the use of tasers by police on a national level but also looking at taser use by police forces in other countries.
Kaye say the idea behind the report is to bring forward the position of the Canadian Association Chiefs of Police on deployment of conducted energy devices in the country.
Kaye says the report will have recommendations on when tasers should be deployed, who should use them and better training information.
Kaye says the report will also clear up the air on taser use being linked to any deaths in the country.
Kaye says the research is on going into the use of tasers but has yet to prove to link the devices to any death in Canada.
Kaye says there has been 25 deaths in Canada where a taser was deployed and in inquests into 16 of the deaths showed the conducted energy device was not the cause of the death.
Since 2005, Owen Sound Police has had 4 tasers and has been used only 4 times.
Kaye adds city police has no plans of eliminating the use of tasers.
The report is expected to be released to the public by the spring of 2009.
