The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "taser" ...
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Need to Know: Crossing the Line at the Border Parts 1 & 2
Few, if any, pieces published or broadcast in 2012 had as much impact as “Crossing the Line at the Border,” a joint project of the weekly PBS newsmagazine, “Need to Know,” and the Nation Institute that was in the best tradition of American investigative journalism. Within days of its broadcast, 16 members of Congress demanded that the U.S. Justice Department investigate the killing of Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, a 42-year-old Mexican whose death at the hands of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents was detailed in our report. A few months later, a U.S. attorney in convened a federal grand jury. It is currently considering criminal charges in the case. And months after that, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the incident had prompted it to launch a full-scale review of its use of force. Hernandez Rojas had a fatal heart attack shortly after being subdued by agents, beaten, and shot with a Taser gun at the San Ysidro border crossing on May 28th, 2010. His death was largely ignored until the "Need to Know” team, in partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, unearthed never-before-seen eyewitness video of the incident.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; border; killing; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Taser
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Jailhouse Shock
A rural Illinois jail faces allegations of Taser use from detainees who say they were tortured with them. The investigation found that at this jail, Taser use goes extremely unreported. Those that did report their Taser use admitted to using the Tasers when detainees were restrained by handcuffs or strapped into a chair.
Tags: Taser; handcuffs; jails; prisons; Cook County Jail; Taser gun
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ICE quietly relaxes ban on using stun gun on jailed detainees
MPR "brought to light the troubling story of an immigrant detainee shot in the testicle with a Taser gun while in custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a Minnesota jail. They further revealed ICE retroactively changed its ban on jails using stung guns against ICE detainees due to pressure from local law enforcement. ICE continued to send hundreds of detainees to jails rated "deficient" and quietly reversed the failing grades."
Tags: Immigration and Customs Enforcement; ICE; immigrants; detainees; stun gun; Taser; Minnesota Department of Corrections
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The Versed Protocol
An emergency protocol in Nashville to use injections of a powerful tranquilizer, called Versed, does not require patient consent to be administered to restrain the person during "excited delirium."
Tags: sedative; taser; restraint; euphoria; midazolam; hospital; psychiatric care;
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The Taser Test
No authorities properly tested Tasers in Canada, so CBC/Radio-Canada undertook what became the largest independent testing of Tasers ever. National Technical Services tested the Tasers and found more than 10 percent of the those tested were either defective or significantly off specifications.
Tags: Taser; stun gun; police; laboratory; testing; weapon; Taser International
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RCMP Tasers
The series investigated the extent to which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had multiply zapped suspects with Tasers during an increasing number of stun gun firings. The team built and analyzed a database from documents describing more than 4,000 incidents.
Tags: Taser; stun gun; Canada; RCMP; police; medical treatment; weapon
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Putting Tasers to the Test
CBC obtained more than 4,000 Taser-use reports from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), created a database to analyze data and found that the RCMP's taser use was on the rise. The stories highlighted the recurrence of similar themes: abuse of force; a weapon increasingly used on vulnerable people; a pattern of multiple firings of the stun gun on a suspect when police regulations call for minimal use; and Canada's national police force, the largest in Canada, bent on suppressing data detailing how its officers use the weapons.
Tags: police behavior; taser;
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Police relying on Taser as a fix-all on the force
Stettler investigates the use of Tasers by police and whether the weapon is truly safe or if it threatens the lives of people on which it is used. Two deaths were linked to Tasers over the past three years in Utah's largest law enforcement agencies.
Tags: law enforcement; stun gun; force, brutality; cop;
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Aftershock: Death by Electrocution
"Tasers have been highly controversial less-than-lethal (usually) weapons since law enforcement first began to embrace them less than a decade ago. This analysis and reassessment of the device concluded that, when used properly, the Taser has saved untold lives and reduced the frequency of serious injuries suffered by both law enforcement personnel and the general public. However when employed improperly, the weapon can prove to be as lethal as a service revolver."
Tags: tasers; law enforcement; public safety; taser safety; correct use of taser; lawsuits
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In deputy-involved fatal shootings, Riverside County tops LA County
"Riverside County sheriff's deputies may fire their duty weapons less than their LA County counterparts, but they killed more people in 2006." Bjelland created and analyzed a database on police shootings and a story on the effectiveness of purchasing Tasers.
Tags: police; shootings; death; database; Tasers; California