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 "stun 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 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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Disposable Heroes
The original story focused on Iraqi war veteran James Elliott, who suffered a psychotic breakdown and was stun gunned by police while taking the drug Chantix in a smoking cessation study by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The series examined the use of military veterans as guinea pigs in drug experiments conducted by the federal government and exposed numerous ethical lapses, including a system-wide failure to notify participants when the Food and Drug Administration issues new drug warnings.
Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs; veteran; drug trials; Food and Drug Administration; Soldiers for the Truth; human research studies; Pfizer; PTSD; smoking
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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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A Stunning Toll
Fort Worth Weekly partnered with University of North Texas students who made open records requests of all Texas law enforcement agencies to obtain data on deaths and injuries in Texas resulting form law enforcement agency individual's Taser use.
Tags: Distributed Reporting Project; FOI; Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas; University of North Texas; UNT; Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism; Tasers; law enforcement; Texas Public Information Act; police; sheriffs; Taser International; American Civil Liberties Union; Live Music Capitol of the World; Austin; use-of-force policy; bean hole; stun gun; product safety; wrongful death; Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas; Those Disgruntled Motherfuckers That Have Been Tased; TDMTHBT; Light of Day Project; IRE Student Entry
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50,000 volts of controversy
A review of local law enforcement records showed that use of stun guns by police has soared and that misuse was apparent in some cases.
Tags: stun guns; Tasers; CAR; police; law enforcement; Indiana
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Tasers
This investigation was the first to report on the increasing number of deaths related to Taser stun guns. The reporters found that more than 40 deaths were caused by the stun guns and that the manufacturer was reluctant to acknowledge them.
Tags: weapons; self-defense; stun guns; shock; personal security; safety
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Taser safety claim questioned; medical examiners connect stun gun to 5 deaths
This series of stories examines stun-gun safety and how police are using the weapons. Stun-gun manufacturer Taser International has claimed that the shock of the gun is not lethal, but the Republic found the devices to be linked to at least 11 deaths, according to autopsy reports and interviews with medical examiners nationwide. The Republic's investigation also found that Phoenix area police use the weapon mostly against unarmed suspects in petty crimes. The newspaper's investigation prompted inquires by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Arizona Attorney General's office.
Tags: medical reporters; medical examiners; stun guns; Taser International