Bipolar Today

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Toronto is currently struggling with the province of Ontario over the use of tasers. The Deputy Chief, Michael Federico, has asked that front-line police officers be given access to tasers, so that they will have alternatives to using deadly force in certain situations. The province, on the other hand, worries about the effects of widespread taser use, especially following the taser death of a handcuffed Robert Dziekanski in Vancouver in 2007. On the other hand, in October 2011, Sylvia Klibingaitis, a bipolar woman, was shot to death by police during a manic episode. Pat Capponi, co-chair of a subcommittee on mental health for Toronto police has expressed concern about the effect that giving tasers to police will have. The United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) has called tasers “a form of torture that can kill.” More discussion of the issue can be found here.

Commentary

Taser use is a complicated question that is partly empirical and partly moral. On the empirical side, there is the question of whether or not tasers would actually save lives. On the one hand, in some cases the lives of mentally ill people may be saved if a taser is readily available. On the other hand, there is the Pelzman effect, sometimes called risk compensation, which is the tendency for people to compensate for a decrease in risk in each action by increasing the number of risky actions or the riskiness of each action. Police may be more likely to use tasers if they are available instead of other non-lethal methods. Unfortunately, no one has properly collected the data to determine whether or not a bipolar person having an episode is safer facing a police officer with a taser and a gun rather than just a gun.

The United Nations should be taken very seriously in this, however. They don’t simply declare devices forms of torture on a whim. Moreover, Canada signed the Convention Against Torture, which means that we are obligated not to use devices considered forms of torture by the UNCAT as a matter of international law. As a result, even if the empirical question could be settled, we have an international obligation not to use tasers.

Related posts:

1. Chicago Police Develop New Protocols For Mental Illness
2. Alberta Inquiry Recommends Giving Mental Health Records to Police
3. Bipolar Outburst in Class Highlights Shaming On Social Media
4. Indian Police Official Sent to Mental Institution For Alleging Corruption
5. Toronto Exhibition Features Artists With Mood Disorders