Proposal Essay

Title: CEW (Taser) is a relatively safe weapon

Course: Criminology 1120

Introduction to Policing

Name: Mark Balla

Student Number: 300006327

Dated turned in: February, 24 2011

I will be providing evidence that Neuromuscular Incapacitation (NMI) devices, or tasers, have become extensively used in routine police work over North America. One of the advantages of NMIs was that it offered an acceptable alternative to using hand guns by police officers in emergency situations without sacrificing safety of the people involved. However, there have been several injuries suffered by people the NMIs were deployed to which, in certain cases, resulted in death. This raised a serious question how safe NMIs were which initiated numerous scientific studies which focused on the subject.

One study investigated the effect of NMIs devices on cardiac safety (1). One of the major dangers of delivering electric shock to humans is inducing ventricular fibrillation (VF). The authors used swine (n=9) in the weight range similar to humans (60±28 kg) and delivered 19 pulses per second over 5 seconds. Data suggested that electrical NMI devices presented a very low risk of injury, and in addition, the hemodynamic stability of the pigs indicated that NMIs remains safe even after repeated deployment. The safety index of NMI devices showed a close correlation with the weight of the subjects.

Another study investigated the cardiovascular safety of the NMI devices in relationship to the position of delivery on the body (2). They delivered increasing multiples of charges to 13 adult pigs in a step-up and step-down fashion, using commercially available stun guns with two-tethered barbs attached at five locations to the animals. They found that standard NMI discharges repeated three times did not cause VF at any of the five positions on the body. At higher output multiples the safety margin was the highest when the electrodes were placed on the back of the body.

A third study investigated the effects of cocaine addiction on the safety margin of NMIs to trigger VF on pigs (3). The authors used 5 adult pigs in an experimental set-up similar to another study reported elsewhere (2). They found that standard NMI discharges did not cause VF at any of the five positions on the body before or after cocaine infusion.

Cocaine increased the VF threshold of NMI deployment at all electrode locations investigated and decreased cardiac susceptibility to VF. The use of cocaine increased the safety margin by 50% to 100% above the baseline safety margin.

Based on the referenced literature the NMI devices proved to be relatively safe weapons when used appropriately and