Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario is concerned about the use and safety of Tasers, as well as the propensity of law enforcement officials to deploy Tasers on people experiencing a mental health crisis or demonstrating signs of emotional distress.

Lewis said the concept was met with skepticism and resistance at first, but appears to be slowly gaining some acceptance.

Amnesty International indicates that international standards and codes of conduct for law enforcement officials prescribe that the deployment of non-lethal weapons require standard evaluation and control of use protocols.13

It worked so well on the moose, Lewis began wondering if Tasers might be used in similar circumstances with moose, and in other situations, with bears or other animals.

Some wildlife managers might have wondered about the concept, but until recently no one had seriously investigated using the electronic immobilization guns as a wildlife management tool.

Lewis teamed up with other Fish and Game staff, including veterinarian Kimberlee Beckmen, research biologist Tom Lohuis and wildlife management biologists Neil Barten and Phil Mooney, to study the effect of Tasers on bears and moose.

Fish and Game appears to be the first state wildlife agency in the country that has experimented with using Tasers for wildlife management.

Conducted Energy Weapons (commonly known as Tasers) are one of several use-of-force weapons that police may use to subdue or restrain an individual. CMHA Ontario is concerned about the use and safety of Tasers, as well as the propensity of law enforcement officials to deploy them on people experiencing a mental health crisis. This paper identifies our position on use of Tasers and recommends first response alternatives police can use to engage with people experiencing a mental health crisis. (June, 2008)

A number of barriers have been identified that pose challenges to police dealing with people who have a mental illness.21 These include not having advance information from dispatch that the person may have a mental illness, or what they might expect upon arrival at the scene. More fundamentally, lack of adequate education about mental illness is a reality that impacts police officers’ ability to carry out their work with this vulnerable population. Police require customized training regarding how to identify situations involving mental illness, as well as how to communicate and intervene so as to minimize the use of force and maximize the likelihood that individuals with a mental illness are able to access the services they require. Evidence suggests that identifying a specific group of police officers to receive training and respond to mental health crisis is most beneficial, as these individuals will then have the mandate to utilize and update their skills on a regular basis.22

A May 2008 review published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal contradicts previous assertions that “stun guns” manufactured by Taser International and others are unlikely to impact with deadly force. The authors reference three independent investigations that have found that stun guns may, in some circumstances, stimulate the heart and potentially result in adverse consequences.16 They recommend that additional research with human subjects is required.

The cow moose was upset because her two calves were trapped in an open four-foot deep basement foundation at a home construction site. She would not leave the area, even when Lewis tried using noisemakers and rubber shotgun ammunition.Finally, Lewis said he tried to drop a ramp down into the pit so the calves would be able to walk out on their own. But when he approached the calves, the cow moose charged him, jumping into the foundation, across it and back out. It then chased Lewis and the trooper three times around the patrol car.

But how and when Tasers should be used on wildlife remains an open question. Lewis said he holds hope that Tasers might be used on moose for short-term incapacitation. For example, he recently used his Taser gun on a moose that had a chicken feeder stuck on its head. The Taser immobilized the animal for long enough to allow another biologist to pop the feeder off its head without having to drug the animal.

The symptoms associated with excited delirium, while not a true mental health condition included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), appear to be similar to some of the behavioural symptoms exhibited by individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.

Some people with a mental illness who are in crisis will come in contact with police officers. Section 17 of Ontario’s Mental Health Act, R.S.O. 1990, gives police officers the authority to bring someone to a medical facility for assessment if the officer has “reasonable and probable grounds” to believe a person has acted in a “disorderly manner” if the person is believed to have a mental disorder, has threatened or attempted to harm themselves, has behaved violently or caused someone to fear bodily harm, or has shown an inability to care for themselves.20

Complaints have been issued against the RCMP and other police services claiming deployment of Tasers to subdue or gain compliance. The Commissioner for Public Complaints Against the RCMP has identified that Tasers are being used to subdue resistant subjects who do not pose a threat, and has referred to this expanded and less restrictive use as “usage creep.”9

After being shot at with the Tasers, the bears did not react aggressively but instead retreated quickly from the area. They did later return to the dump but showed a greater aversion to people than before they were hit with the Tasers, Lewis said.

Research on the safety of Tasers has primarily been conducted on animals, rather than humans. When research has been conducted on humans, they have been deemed medically healthy. While Tasers may be used without injury on some individuals, there are vulnerable populations on whom Tasers should be used with caution. A 2004 review of Taser technology by British Columbia’s police complaint commissioner indicated that risk factors for death by Taser include drug-induced toxic states (cocaine, alcohol, etc.) and “acute psychiatric decompensation.”14

There are a variety of ways in which the police and the mental health system can work together to manage first-response situations, in which the police are called to deal with an incident involving a person who appears to be mentally ill:

It is estimated that there have been 270 deaths worldwide, including 17 Canadian deaths, proximal to Taser use since 1999.5 It is not possible to accurately count deaths, as there is no independent central registry in existence to monitor incidents and adverse events, and there remains controversy, as there is no conclusive proof that Tasers directly cause death. Many police services, coroners and researchers are suggesting Taser-associated deaths may be related to a condition referred to as “excited delirium,” but no conclusive evidence has yet been established. The Canadian Police Research Centre describes excited delirium as a potentially fatal state of extreme mental and physiological excitement that is characterized by extreme agitation, hyperthermia, hostility, exceptional strength, and endurance without apparent fatigue.6 This condition was first described as early as 1982, when investigators were examining unexplained deaths due to physical restraint by police.7 It has been hypothesized that excited delirium generates an extreme state of physiological arousal that places individuals at greater risk of death.

In November, Lewis presented the idea of using Tasers on bears to a group of wildlife mangers who deal with human-bear conflicts at a conference in Canmore, Canada. Much to his surprise, no one scoffed at the idea. Instead, most managers appeared excited that Tasers might become another possible non-lethal tool available to managers who deal with human-bear conflicts. Lewis said he first became interested in the subject in June of 2005 when an Alaska State Trooper asked for his assistance with an ornery cow moose.

Elizabeth Manning is an outdoor writer and an educator with the Divison of Wildlife Conservation at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. She lives in Anchorage.

Law enforcement officers have long used Tasers, generally known as electronic control devices, to safely subdue humans. But what about using them on wildlife?

In reviewing the available literature, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP examining RCMP use of Tasers determined:

Lewis’ work investigating the use of Tasers on wildlife, done in collaboration with other Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists, appears to hold promise for adding Tasers to the tool kit of options used by modern wildlife managers.

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Conducted energy weapons (CEWs), commonly referred to as Tasers, were introduced to Canadian law enforcement agencies starting in 2001. Tasers are hand-held weapons that send a jolt of electricity intended to stun and temporarily incapacitate an individual’s motor nervous system. The charge is delivered through a pair of wires, weighted with barbed hooks, that can be fired from up to 10.6 metres away and will penetrate clothing up to five centimetres thick.1

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There are no comprehensive national or provincial records regarding how many police officers are carrying Tasers. Most police services are not publicly reporting incidents involving Taser use and outcomes.

“It’s not without cost to the animal,” Lohuis said. “But that stress doesn’t appear to be long-term. Our blood samples indicated the moose started to return to normal within 20 to 30 minutes compared to the 24-48 hours it takes a moose to recover from being drugged."

The later work on bears showed that Tasers may also have some success on bruins as a hazing tool. A variety of electronic control devices were shot at two collared brown bears that commonly visited the Yakutat dump.

“It’s basically like an electric fence in your hand,” Lewis said. “It’s not a panacea, but just another tool for managers to use.”

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Lohuis and Lewis both warn that it is “not a magic bullet.” But, they said, Tasers do appear to be a valid tool for some situations.

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That attitude now could be changing due to groundbreaking work by Larry Lewis, a wildlife technician with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Soldotna.

Each police service in Ontario is currently governed by different protocols and policies concerning the number of times a Taser may be deployed. However, the Canadian Police Research Centre noted in their 2005 study that “…police officers need to be aware of the adverse effects of multiple, consecutive cycles of CEDs [Tasers] on a subject…”12

Lewis said Tasers have been used safely on humans for many years and are considered a “non-lethal” weapon. They work by zapping a person or animal with high voltage but low amperage electricity, much like an electric fence. That zap causes involuntary muscle contractions, essentially freezing them up, but does not affect the central nervous system. So people or animals can still breath and think but can’t move.

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“This was seen as unknown and uncharted dangerous territory,” Lewis said. “But since we’ve started this it has garnered a lot of interest from other states and management agencies.”

To evaluate how the Tasers affected the moose, Beckmen took blood samples and studied stress in the animals before and after they were hit with Tasers.

The Taser is one of several use-of-force weapons that police officers may use to subdue or restrain an individual, to reduce the risk of injury or death to both the individual and the responding officer. The Taser is often represented as an alternative to the use of lethal force by police.

According to a recent backgrounder by the CBC, Tasers are being used by 73 law enforcement agencies across Canada. Most mid-size police forces use these stun guns between 50 to 60 times a year on average, reports the CBC, based on figures compiled by the Canadian Police Research Centre.1The RCMP has 2,840 Tasers and has trained 9,132 officers to use them. They have been deployed more than 3,000 times since December 2001, in either drive stun mode (when electrodes on the Taser transmit electrical energy on contact with a subject’s body) or in full deployment (when darts are fired at a subject).2 Following a pilot study by the Toronto Police Service, Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services approved the Taser for use by Ontario police services in January 2005. In 2007, Tasers were used 264 times in Toronto, in either drive stun mode or full deployment,3 up from 97 times in 2006.4 The Taser was used an additional 140 times in 2007 as a “demonstrated force presence,” a deterrent measure where a spark is generated or the laser sighting system activated without any contact to the subject.

Based on positive results from that work, Lewis has since attended Taser International’s instructor, armorer and master instructor courses, written a state operating procedure for Taser use on wildlife and received approval to train department staff to use Tasers in limited circumstances.

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Working with Lohuis and Beckmen, Lewis studied the effects of Tasers on about a half dozen captive moose at the Moose Research Center in Soldotna. He is also working with Taser International to improve a design of the non-lethal weapon for use on wildlife.

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The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has prepared guidelines for police programs and services for people with mental illness and the mental health system, that include, but are not limited to, developing effective and compassionate crisis response.24

Some police services in Ontario have received training and participate in mental health crisis intervention teams. These teams consist of police officers and mental health workers acting together to respond to individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. This partnering offers the expertise of both professions.

All police officers in Ontario must have basic training in use of force. The Ontario Use of Force Model (2004) directs that officers shall continuously assess each encounter and select the most reasonable option for action, relative to the circumstance.8 The use of force continuum provides guidelines to incremental increases in use of force. The five stages of the continuum are: officer presence, verbal communication, physical control, intermediate weapons (using non-lethal chemical, electronic or impact weapons on an individual) and lethal force (using any force likely to cause permanent injury or death).

Ontario’s Use of Force Model does not make allowance or offer guidance to police officers when encountering individuals who may be experiencing a mental health crisis and by virtue of their condition may not appear cooperative, due to hallucinations, delusions or other symptoms. However, other options are available, and mental health crisis intervention is the preferred approach for police to de-escalate such encounters.

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Both men were armed but rather than shooting the moose, Lewis said the trooper used his Taser to shoot at the moose across the hood of the patrol car. The Taser’s barbed, conductive leads hit the moose in the left front shoulder. Stunned and immobilized, the moose hit the ground immediately. The leads pulled free as the moose fell and it quickly ran off into the woods, staying there long enough for Lewis to extract the calves from the basement and for both Lewis and the trooper to retreat safely to the patrol car.

Lewis said he began his experimental work several years ago after a harrowing experience with an angry moose and a Taser gun prompted his curiosity.

This finding is especially significant given increased cardiovascular vulnerability among people with serious mental illness. People with a mental illness appear to be at greater risk of developing irregular heartbeats (arrhythmia)17 and coronary heart disease.18 In addition, people taking antipsychotic medication have been found to have a 2.4 times greater risk of sudden cardiac arrest and death.19

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…that there is a distinct lack of research nationally and internationally that thoroughly examines the connection between CEW use, excited delirium and the likelihood of death. Medical research is still in the early stages of reviewing this condition. What little is known of this condition suggest the need for a more conservative course of action with respect to the deployment of CEWs against vulnerable populations (people experiencing mental health crises, those suffering from drug toxicity and those exhibiting symptoms of excited delirium). The research suggests that these populations have a higher likelihood of death, not necessarily as a result of the use of force or restraint employed, but because of the mental or medical condition of the person at the time of police intervention.15

In January 2007, the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service announced that it would arm police patrolling Vancouver’s TransLink public transit system with Tasers.10 After reviewing ten cases of Taser deployment on the transit system, accessed under freedom of information legislation, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association identified four cases where there appeared to be no significant threat to individual or public safety. One case involved the use of a Taser when the suspect attempted to flee for fare evasion.11 This practice is concerning and may set a precedent in other provinces.