TASER has donated $300k to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Foundation’s Fallen Officer Fund. (Press release after the jump.) That’s hardly shocking news. For some reason, gun manufacturers like lavishing big bucks on the Boys in Blue. Glock recently announced a $50k donation to the Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.). I don’t see any conflict of interest here. I see a confluence of interest. You?
TASER Foundation Donates $300,000 to International Association of Chiefs of Police
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., October 1, 2012 — TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASR), announced Saturday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Foundation’s (IACP Foundation) Sixth Annual Fundraising Gala that it donated $300,000 in funds from its TASER Foundation to an IACP Foundation/TASER Fallen Officer Fund.
TASER also announced that the IACP Foundation will assume day-to-day management of the former TASER Foundation funds, including disbursement of grants to impacted families. The alliance is prompted by the organizations’ shared mission of supporting the law enforcement community and IACP’s deep global experience in foundation management.
“We are proud to entrust this significant donation to the IACP Foundation,” said Rick Smith, CEO and founder of TASER International, Inc., “because its leaders set the bar for effective, compassionate investing on behalf of officers around the world. The research, training and education provided by the IACP Foundation is best-in-class, and we believe that integrating our foundations will greatly enhance TASER’s ability to improve lives and promote officer safety within our professional community, across the globe. We felt that the IACP Foundation’s mission to support injured and fallen officers and their families, protect the safety of officers, and support the goals and programs of the IACP was a near perfect match for our own mission to protect life,” concluded Smith.
“We are thrilled to accept this generous donation from TASER and to align our philanthropic efforts going forward,” said Bart R. Johnson, IACP executive director and co-chair of the IACP Foundation. “For almost a decade, the TASER Foundation has honored the service and sacrifice of state, local and federal law enforcement officers in the United States and Canada, and IACP will continue TASER’s legacy. The significant funding provided by TASER today will help the IACP Foundation serve thousands of our colleagues, enabling them to stay safe, recover, retrain and be remembered.”
TASER International, Inc. established the TASER Foundation for Fallen Officers in November 2004, to honor the service and sacrifice of local and federal law enforcement officers in the United States and Canada lost in the line of duty by providing financial support to their families.
The initial endowment of $1 million came from TASER International, Inc. and the direct contributions of TASER International employees. To date, the TASER Foundation has awarded more than $3 million to more than 1000 families of fallen law enforcement officers in the United States and Canada.
TAser International has a pretty cozy relationship with law enforcement personnel. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone. We don’t as LEOs have a ton of incentive to use them because the general public has to go through a lengthy medical clearance before being booked. Well, that’s the way it’s supposed to work, anyways.
And being tased hurts like he’ll!!
I didn’t know I could say “sh!t” so many times in 5 seconds. If I get the opportunity again … uh, I’ll pass. 🙂
[Edit for typo.]
I’d like to know why they select back side of the body for this “LETI taser certification.” Seems to me most LEO deployments will be to front side. Perhaps they want to avoid the shit, piss, drool, and heart attack results of front side deployment?
I’d love to have a tazer in my EDC since I can’t get my LTCF just yet, but my city saw fit to “protect” us by banning them entirely and ban the carrying of blade, thank god for State Preemption though, they can’t ban Concealed Carry or Open Carry with a LTCF (this will give you guy a hint which “first-class” city this is)
Killadelphia?
Oddly enough, in California Tasers and pepper spray are legal to carry with no permits. There may be local bans by cities but I don’t know of any in my area.
When I’m out for my walks I routinely carry pepper spray and a Kershaw easy open knife. I’ve encountered way too many loose pit bulls to not take along something.
Wow those cops are pussies. They should make this training realisitic, without two guys holding them up and no padded mat, so they can crack their skulls on a slab of concrete just like their victims would.
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“Each year, between 140 and 160 officers are killed in the line of duty and their families and co-workers are left to cope with the tragic loss.”
— RIP. C.O.P.S. sounds like a good organization that helps out the families of fallen officers who served their communities. IMO, the $50K donation by Glock is really cheap publicity.
It would be interesting to know how many innocent people did not deserve to be accidentally or intentionally killed by police excess use of force. I think that would be an impossible number to tabulate for several reasons. Sadly, society does not have support systems to help out those people too.
Fatty seems to enjoy that a bit to much.
War Is a Racket – General Smedley D. Butler
Read it and understand every conflict especially post WWII (and frankly lots got rich off WWII).
16v—thats one of the best books ever written and it certainly clarifies the nonsence that passes for our foriegn policy and our war on drugs bullshit. Hang enough drug dealers, sooner or later the rest get the message. But turn it into a game of catch and release, then you have a reason to keep expanding LE agencies and that of course requires more personel and equipment. One big freakin self feeding machine. As far as tasers go, I’ve always considered the damn things as about a half step removed from a straight up torture device, which have no place in law enforcement.
Sigh……scum.
I’d rather Taser and Glock give donations over criminals. Farago, you’ve talked about the mob in RI a few times. You know about that.
There is a clear conflict of interest, accepting donations (directly by a LEO, or indirectly through a foundation or such) from a company that seeks to do business with you. Google Joint Ethics Regulations, DoD 5500.7R, chapters 2 and 5, for an example of how these types of questions should be handled.
Every time someone dies from the use of a taser, the cause is listed as “excited delirium”, a supposed condition that has no basis in medicine and is not even recognized by the AMA, APA, or WHO as existing. So what is “excited delirium”? Good question, since you won’t ever find it in a medical textbook.
So why do they list that as the cause of death? Because if a coroner or forensic pathologist tries to list the real cause of death, such as an exacerbation of a pre-existing condition by use of the taser, they get slammed with a massive lawsuit. Tasers are generally believed to be safe, but are not perfect. Every time their use kills someone, there’s a flurry of lawyers who threaten to bankrupt medical professionals. Hence, the individual died of “excited delirium”. Just don’t ask what that is, because no one knows.
I just stumbled upon this because I actually made that video and was in that class a few years ago… First I noticed a few people bashing on us… Let me just inform you about something… A few of these guys have been working in Ferguson MO and have saved SEVERAL lives. They are not “pussies” they work hard at what they do and risk their lives daily. Not only that, over half of those guys have been to Iraq and Afghanistan and one took a bullet in war.
We never posted this video to be put on here, although we have no problem with it considering what its being used to represent but please show a little respect to these guys…
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