The findings show consistencies across news media and NYPD records regarding many suspect and incident characteristics, as well as in the predictors of suspect resistance and repeated use of the Taser. Regarding the three main controversies surrounding police use of the Taser--i.e., its appropriate use, effectiveness, and the risk of suspect death--there was partial support for the view that news reports tend to exaggerate the inability of the Taser to reduce suspect resistance, while there was significant evidence that news reports overrepresent suspect deaths due to Taser use compared to NYPD records of such deaths. Of the 353 news reports examined in the study, the suspect died in 31.8 percent of the national news reports and 68.8 percent of the regional news reports. NYPD records, on the other hand, show that less than 1 percent of suspects died after being Tasered. Although these findings are preliminary and involve only one police department, they reflect favorably on police practices in Taser use. NYPD records indicate that in deploying the Taser, officers had a reasonable need to respond to a resisting suspect with additional force, thus reducing resistance without significant risk of harm or death to the suspect. The study conducted content analysis of all LexisNexis and New York Times articles pertaining to the police use of the Taser during the study period (n=353). Regional (New York Times) and national (LexisNexis) news reports that described police use of the Taser were compared with police reports of all Taser deployments by the NYPD during the same time frame (n=375). 4 tables, 20 notes, and 46 references