In the Spring of 2004 the CPRB issued a briefing on TASER use and supported TASER’s implementation as a less lethal force alternative by the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police (PBP). The PBP acquired 150 TASER (M26) units and began to deploy them late in 2004. Policies & procedures related to the Use of Force and specifically, governing the use of TASER, were issued by the PBP early in January 2005. During the period between June 1999 December and 2004, at least 84 deaths in which TASER was involved have been reported in the United States and Canada. These deaths have raised serious questions about the safety of TASER and the contributory role TASER may have had in those deaths.