Misleading Report on TASERs

Misleading Report on TASERs

The report on Cambridge police wanting to use TASERs is misleading and
irresponsible. (Janice O'Leary, "Police will seek state OK on use of Tasers,"
Boston Globe, April 15, 2007)
"If the officer on the scene of a crime in East Cambridge in 2002, [...]
had had a Taser, [Lt. Robert] Ames said, the suspect who was shot might still be
alive."
Ames also quoted a TASER corporate document which says that persons with
disabilities have a higher tolerance level for pain. That is what police used to
say about black people.
In July 2002, the Cambridge police broke down the door on Porter Street in
East Cambridge and shot Daniel Furtado dead in his own home, with no court order
and no warrant to enter his home. He was accused of cutting a cable TV wire, a
misdemeanor. If Cambridge police had not violated state and US laws, there would
have been no death either. The police violated the US Constitution and killed a
citizen contrary to law.
Intimidating a person from the free exercise of a constitutionally
guaranteed right is a crime. Being secure in your home is one such right, the
Fourth Amendment.
If Cambridge police are negligently trained to respect the Constitution and
state laws, what is there to stop police from violating their own regulations?
The idea that "excited delirium," a non-existent PR creation is responsible
for deaths is fantasy. The Arizona Republic reported 167 deaths after being
TASEd. In March 2007 the New York Post reported another.
Canada and the United Kingdom do not permit these weapons to be used in
their countries. TASER Corp. uses the worldwide grease of money to persuade
local police to buy their weapons. Bernie Kerik, NYC Police Commissioner got $6
million in stock.
An alternative which the Cambridge police refused to consider is a net gun
which disables with no danger of of death.
Quoting Robert Winters a math instructor at Harvard, who is alleged to be
an FBI informant is like asking the Pope about religion. What do you expect he
would say? The ACLU in Massachusetts no longer criticizes the police. The ACLU
in Massachusetts works with the police. Their position on TASERs is the same as
the police's.

Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM

CAMBRIDGE
Police will seek state OK on use of Tasers
Stun guns save lives, officials say; critics see needless deaths
By Janice O'Leary,
Boston Globe Correspondent
April 15, 2007

The last time a Cambridge police officer fired a bullet in service was in 2002,
according to the Police Department. And some city officials have said that the
man who died as a result might still be alive if he'd instead been zapped with a
Taser.

The Cambridge police could be one of the first Boston-area forces to arm its
officers with the controversial stun guns. Chelsea police began using Tasers in
2005, soon after the Legislature unanimously voted to OK their use in the state.

In 2005, Brookline police introduced the idea but postponed it because of
reports of Taser-related deaths elsewhere nationally.

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