Former RCMP commissioner says Mounties should stop using tasers

The Canadian Press

September 3, 2008 at 10:09 PM EDT

The former head of the RCMP says the national police force should stop
using tasers.

Giuliano Zaccardelli said in an interview with CBC broadcast Wednesday
night that he supported the use of the stun guns while he was
commissioner because they were simply "another tool."

But he said given the recent controversy surrounding the weapons, which
unleash 50,000 volts of electricity, he has reconsidered his position.

"I have been watching with some great dismay over the last while in
terms of what's going on with the tasers in Canada," Mr. Zaccardelli
said in the CBC interview, conducted in Lyons, France, where he is a
senior official with Interpol.

"I'm not sure that having tasers is worth the negative impact that it
has on police forces in terms of public perception."

"I think we should stop using it".

Mr. Zaccardelli said after reviewing one particular incident while he
was commissioner, which he did not identify, he considered stopping the
use of tasers but was talked out of it by his deputy of operations.

"But I actually came close to taking it away."

He said there should at least be a moratorium on the use of tasers for
several years "so that we can see the difference."

The use of the stun guns has been highlighted since Polish immigrant
Robert Dziekanski died after RCMP officers shocked him with a taser at
the Vancouver airport in October of 2007.

Cellphone video of the incident taken by a bystander was broadcast
around the world and concerns were expressed in the force that it could
escalate into an international incident.

In message "Ex-kopp"
wrote:

The former head of the RCMP says the national police force should stop
using tasers.

And what, go back to guns?

The problem is that tasers are being treated as non-lethal weapons, when
in fact their design is more of an alternative to a gun, and should only
be used when lethal force would have otherwise been appropriate.