On May 9th through 11th, Tom and Rick attended the International Law Enforcement Forum (ILEF) in Vancouver, British Columbia sponsored by the NIJ (National Institute’s of Justice) and the Justice Institute of British Columbia. A special thanks to Joel, Andy, Collin, Ed, and Amanda for putting this together.
The forum provides an excellent platform for information sharing. In addition to the slew of suburb speakers, Tom presented to an international audience the current research and patrol guidelines
in the Seattle area for responding and reporting on subjects with Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS). He spoke of two “saves” in the field that can be directly related to the training that the responding officers received. The protocols being utilized to more appropriately handle subjects with this condition are being adapted by departments everywhere. This training is certain to make situations safer for the subjects and the officers contacting them.
On April 12th and 13th , Tom and Rick both representing their departments (Seattle PD and Washington State Patrol respectively) collaborated with the NIJ (National Institutes of Justice) and the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University to host a workshop on the phenomena referred to as Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS). Although first recognized in 1849, ExDS has historically been a controversial condition as subjects with this syndrome often die during struggles with police.
The focus of the workshop was to create dialog on ExDS between the law enforcement, medical, psychiatric, and research communities. Most of the world’s leading researchers on the subject were in attendance, several of which recently published an article in the Journal of Emergency Medicine further validating the condition.
Tom and medics from the Seattle Fire Department gave a presentation that highlighted 73 ExDS cases in the Seattle area where two saves occurred; thanks to a prompt and thorough response. The workshop group used that presentation to emphasize efforts on the education of the first responder to better address this syndrome and increase survival rate of ExDS patients.
The consensus of the workshop attendees was to simplify the process for the first responder into four steps:
Identify: Observe the signs and behaviors related to this syndrome for early medical intervention. Handle primarily as a medical condition.
Control: Control and/or restrain subject as soon as possible to decrease problems related to a prolonged struggle.
Sedate: Apply sedation in the field as soon as possible to help stop/reverse the process.
Transport: Take to hospital as soon as possible for medical treatment.
The field study in Seattle promises to turn the tide in how these cases are addressed. The education, identification, treatment, and success in these ExDS cases is ongoing and will be the subject of a future publication. Tom will present this material in May at the International Law Enforcement Forum (ILEF) in Vancouver, BC.
During an investigation or reconstruction of a TASER event, it may become necessary to test the power (voltage and current) output and pulse rate of a TASER device. For years CRT LL has been able to test the output of Electronic Control Devices (ECD) with assistance from the manufacturer or with the help of power company engineers. Coordination and completion was time consuming.
CRT is proud to announce that we can now independently test the output of ECDs due to our 
collaboration with CASE forensics. This allows us quick turn-around while still using manufacturer’s testing standards. We also consider research and testing performed by other independent organizations for our testing protocols to collect practical and accurate data points. In addition, if a problem were to arise with the unit, we will have access to CASE’s highly qualified electrical engineers whose expertise is in product failure testing.
Washington’s Most Wanted recently ran a story on less lethal weapons. Q13 Fox’s Parella Lewis fired the TASER XREP (eXtended Range Electronic Projectile), the TASER X3 (a 3 shot semi-automatic electronic control device), a 40 mm Exact Impact sponge round, and threw a ‘Blast-ball’ grenade.
We also demonstrated the Thorshield (Electronic weapon protective material) gloves and pants. Parella wore the gloves while the TASER X26 was applied directly into them. Rick also shot Tom with the X3 while he wore the pants. The Thorshield is available solely to military and law enforcement.
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CRT goes international again as we recently traveled to Queensland, Australia to consult on a case related to a less-lethal deployment. With their thorough and comprehensive testing 
protocols used to obtain comparison samples, we were able to gain information useful in our continuing research related to forensic analysis of less-lethal incidents. Data such as this helps us cultivate our training programs and validate the science involved. Thanks Aussies!
On May 9th through 11th, Tom and Rick attended the International Law Enforcement Forum (ILEF) in Vancouver, British Columbia sponsored by the NIJ (National Institute’s of Justice) and the Justice Institute of British Columbia. A special thanks to Joel, Andy, Collin, Ed, and Amanda for putting this together.
in the Seattle area for responding and reporting on subjects with Excited Delirium Syndrome (ExDS). He spoke of two “saves” in the field that can be directly related to the training that the responding officers received. The protocols being utilized to more appropriately handle subjects with this condition are being adapted by departments everywhere. This training is certain to make situations safer for the subjects and the officers contacting them.