Denis Ferguson, possibly Australia’s most infamous paedophile, is also Australia’s least-wanted neighbour.

This man, who served 14 years in gaol for kidnapping and sexually assaulting three children in 1987, is the subject of a media circus that follows a depressing cycle: he moves in, the media search until they find him, the community is whipped (or whip themselves) into a frenzy of outrage, he moves into new accomodation…

The reality is that for better or for worse he has served his time, and no matter where he lives now there will always be children nearby.

While I understand the fear of the parents who live in his neighbourhood, their fear being understandable does not neccessarily make it, or their actions,  justifiable.

As such, the way the media encourage the escalation of the neighbourhood anger is disgraceful. Each time a “resident” (although who knows how close any of these people even live to the man) puts up a sign or does another stunt you can feel the glee as the assembled media pack encourage them in the way you would a performing child.

The actions of some – certainly not all – residents, be it placing signs on his house, delivering coffins to his door or throwing alleged petrol bombs onto his lawn, go too far and should be treated with the same negative reaction by media and police that they would be treated with if they were directed at any other “free” member of society.

This escaltion is only going to end badly – already there have been reports this morning that a man was stabbed outside Mr Ferguson’s house last night – if no-one acts to try and put out this fire rather than just standing by and letting it burn or even actively adding fuel to it.

To see how out-of-hand this paedophile vigilantism can get, we need only to remember the case from 2000 in which a UK paediatrician had her home vandalised  and her windows smashed by angry locals who reportedly “confused the words ‘paediatrician’and ‘paedophile’.”

“The possibility of Taser use causing or contributing to death is possible and cannot be ruled out,” the review warns.

Despite the fact that Taser International says that Tasers cannot kill – in fact, they have sued medical examiners in the US for finding that Tasers were the cause of death- they do tend to acknowledge that people who are experiencing “excited delirium” may have adverse reactions to being Tasered.

In the case of 39-year old Antonio Galeano, however, Taser international has insisted that, even though he was shot with the stun gun 28 times, it would not have killed him.

There is increasing evidence that Tasers have been linked to deaths across the world.

New Scientist recently reported a study which found that deaths in custody increased 6-fold in California in the year Tasers were introduced, while Amnesty International has an ongoing campaign against the machines.

In fact – because I am looking – most days I see news stories about someone dying after being shot with a Taser. I had originally intended to report these deaths on this blog, but the numbers are so large that I would have to post almost every day on this issue.

While some of these deaths may be coincidental, or (as is likely)  the Taser may only be a contributing factor rather than the whole cause of the death, it is high time that we as a society acknowledge that when we give a police officer a Taser we are giving them an extremely serious and potentially deadly weapon that should only be used in very dangerous situations.

Here is a link (pdf) to the report.

Jennifer Parkhurst’s house was raided yesterday at 7am, and was searched by police for six hours.

Her crime?

She is suspected of photographing and otherwise interacting with dingoes without departmental permission on an unspecified date.

That’s right. She took a photo… of a dingo.

It would be funny if it wasn’t so disturbing. Perhaps Anna Bligh should include dingo-photograhers in her proposed new bikie laws?

In fact, surely dingo-photography is a terrorist act? Wont someone protect us from the Bin Laden of the animal world??

Apparently, under Queensland laws it is illegal for anyone, including news media, to take pictures for gain without government permission. The recording of the activities of Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service officers is also specificially prohibited.

Michael McShane, an ex-police officer and current managing director of the company that produces Jack Daniels (!) wants to ban public drunkeness and give the police resources to enforce this ban.

Giving the police the power to enforce a law that is by it’s very nature ambiguous (there is no real sure way to know someone is drunk as one man’s drunk person is another man’s exhuberant idiot), and then telling them to enforce it in a high-stress high-hostility situation like a city street full of night clubs is just asking for trouble.

But of course, it suits the liquor industry to have the public purse pay for high-visibility policing rather than to have to bear the cost of reduced sales and higher taxes.

Answer: Use a taser, of course!

The Associated Press reported that police in Wyoming have said that they will not lay charges against police who used a taser to “subdue” a 76-year-old man who was driving an antique tractor down a road as part of a parade.

Police said the man ignored their directions to stop until they pulled in front of him.

“[Police chief] Sweet says an officer shocked Grose with a Taser, but that failed to subdue him,” the report said.

Police will also be over to pull-over taxis so they can issue fines to people drinking during their ride into the CBD. This comes on top of the police already having the power – without a court order – to ban people from the CBD for 24 hours. Bad news for work tomorrow if you work in the city but get too drunk at after-work drinks on a thursday night.

The question is, will these kinds of policies work to reduce problematic drinking in Australia? Having worked in a bar for six years, I can tell you that the answer, in my opinion, is a resounding “no”. This is a cultural problem that exists in among all groups – not just the young men who are obviously the targets of this type of legislation.

Futhermore, giving police more power to exact harsh punishment on any drunk idiot who annoys them is only going to lead to trouble -  as this story about a man who was tasered while walking away from police on Oxford Street, Sydney shows.