Amnesty International's briefing on Tasers ....

According to the Amnesty International report published 10 October 2007:

AI said data it had gathered on more than 290 cases
of individuals who died after being struck by police Tasers since 2001 suggested
many of the deceased fell within potential “at-risk” categories. Fifteen of
these deaths were in Canada, the rest in the USA.

It is therefore quite clear that the use of Taser
weapons in any community is not as benign as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) would have us believe.

Amnesty cites the need of appropriate training of
members of any para-military force who will use the weapons, which seems to be a
basic consideration. However, the suggestion based on another document found in
CommonDreams is not made flippantly see:

The U.S. Forest Service
has bought $600,000 worth of "Electronic Control Devices" without any training
program
Source:
CommonDreams

What is not considered to be a compassionate point of
public interest in the AI report is whether every officer who is armed with this
instrument of torture has the common-sense to quickly, and accurately asses
whether the Taser weapon is the appropriate means of subduing 'a person of
interest'. A mistake in many companies is to equate common-sense with
intelligence; it is not.

Link to AI’s briefing:

Amnesty International’s concerns about Taser use: statement to US Justice
Department inquiry into deaths http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engamr511512007