Police Officers: Should they continue using Tazers?

[DeletedUser]

It's been all over the news that Tazers have been malfunctioning and/or being missused by police officers, and innocent people and criminals alike have been suffering because of the electric shocks fired into them for far too long. Recently, a man was killed by an unnecissary tazing only a few blocks from his own home. We've seen what tazers can do to a human being, and we've seen how serious a threat they are. When you taze someone, the results are completely unpredictable. The person may just become stunned, or they may go into shock, or they may even die immediately on the scene. Tazers are dangerous and many people have been harmed by the effects of the Taze. Tazers are not a practical form of subduing a perpetrator because they have many different affects on different people.

But, this is a debate, so it is up to you, the reader, to post your opinion on the Tazer. Is it Justice? Or is it just plain inhumane? Or somewhere in between?

 

[DeletedUser]

* Tazers do not adjust to the physical health of the recipient.
* A person wielding a tazer does not perform a physical checkup before shooting someone with a tazer.
* Tazers are far too often deemed by police as non-lethal weapons, and so they are more willing to use them than they should.

* People with an allergy to capsicum can die if pepper spray is used against them.
* People with lung diseases can die if pepper spray is inhaled.
* People with glaucoma or other eye illnesses can go blind if pepper spray strikes their eyes.

Non-lethal weapons are lethal, bottom line.

 

[DeletedUser]

Non-lethal weapons are lethal, bottom line.

and also bean bags (non lethal weapon) if hit in the right spot (head, neck can kill) and at a high enough speed can kill.

 

[DeletedUser]

I've seen people tazered right in front of me. I've seen police tazer someone 3 or 4 times in a row.

One guy the police tazered wasn't even doing anything illegal. He runs a bar and a fight broke out in his bar. The cops happened to be doing a walk through and the owner was behind the bar squirting water from the soda dispenser at the couple of people that were fighting (they were girls). He got tazered. In his own establishment for trying to stop a fight in a nonviolent way. This ended up getting the entire bar into a near riot situation that pitted the customers against the cops. Actually, the newspaper reported it as a riot the next day. There was no reason for that situation to have escalated to the point where it did. If the cops hadn't tazered the owner everything would have been over within a matter of seconds instead of the big brawl it turned into.

Non-lethal does not mean safe. I think police officers get the impression that it is their right to use a tazer instead of trying other means to calm a situation down.

 

[DeletedUser]

A lot of cops seem to have the mistaken assumption that because Tazers are called non-lethal, they're safe and they use them in situations where force wouldn't have been considered if they didn't have it.

 

[DeletedUser14280]

Bumper sized post with personal account.

...bean bags (non lethal weapon) if hit in the right spot (head, neck can kill) and at a high enough speed can kill.

That may be true, but when was the last time you (or someone else) attempted to murder someone with a thrown beanbag?

I don't know anything about tasers, except what I've learned from debates just like this.

The main issue seems to be that, well, Elmyr is somehow right again:
"A lot of cops seem to have the mistaken assumption that because Tazers are called non-lethal,
they're safe and they use them in situations where force wouldn't have been considered if they didn't have it."

I once read an account of someone who met an abusive police officer on the road.
The person writing the account claimed that if the officer did have a taser, he likely would've used it without any provocation or reason.

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BING! I found it (My god, it's full of text!).
[spoil]

Well after last night i definatly say NO to them having tasers!
I got caught speeding, fair enough.. i was with 2 mates and were 4 hours away from home. The cop that booked me was so rude, put his lights on and i pulled over straight away. He asks for my liscense, i give it to him and he says "thats now gone, get out of the car now!" I get out of the car and he starts abusing me for speeding. I wasn't racing, i was going a bit over the limit.. which was at 3:30am on a FREEWAY. He wasn't too happy cause he said it took him a while to catch up to me.. dunno how thats possible since he has a V8 Turbo and i have a stock standard corolla. Anyway.. i get a suspended liscense for 6 months.. that im fine with and understand.. however i get 2 grand of fines?! Meanwhile this is my FIRST offense.
They have a job to do, but the abuse he was spitting out.. and 2 grand of fines seems VERY harsh for a first offense. He really was angry with me and i showed him nothing but respect.. and thats the reason why so many people hate police and why they shouldn't have tasers. The funny thing is when he told me to go stand next to my car and "think about reasons why he shouldn't arrest me and lock me up" . Obviously this amused me since no way id get locked up for a first offense.
Oh, i forgot to mention the smart comments he made when he refused to let me have my liscense back to drive my friends home, refused to help us find a way.. we were on the F3 surrounded by bush. He suggested ringing people (at 3:30am) to get them to drive 4 hours to us to pick us and the car up, then drive 4 hours back. When i said thats not going to happen, he suggested to "look up a tow truck in the phone book", which i replied "and since i always carry a phone book around that will really help". He was obviously on a power trip. At the end i got annoyed with his lack of respect for me since id shown nothing but respect, curtousy and complied with his requests. Just shows even when you do what they want, they still can be ******.
I have come across a number of decent police who give a fair go.. but the power hungry ones really should be weeded out. They are only human, but when they let their emotions come into it (i can only assume he doesn't like ethnics since thats really the only reason, speeding a bit over the limit wouldn't make someone act like that).. once emotions come into it, they should do something else for a job.
If he had a taser, im sure he would have used it. And since no one was around, except for my mates in the car and the other cop, who is to say anything? They'd believe two police officers over the word of someone they taser and his friends.

[/spoil]That's a word for word copy. The original source is here.

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I've looked at news, and had a think, and I've decided that there's only one thing to do:
Tasers must be promoted as a type of firearm. They should carry the same penaltys for misuse, and hopefully should be used like an alternative to guns, as a weapon of semi-last resort.

Also, looking at Google News, I can see some kind of increase in the number of news stories featuring tasers, over the past few years.
What does that mean?

If you think this post is awesome, don't 'quote for truth', add to my reputation instead.​

 

[DeletedUser]

That may be true, but when was the last time you (or someone else) attempted to murder someone with a thrown beanbag?

Those beanbags aren't exactly "thrown"...

There are going to be dangers with any kind of weapon the police use (and tazers, pepper spray and bean bags are weapons)... The police also don't do a medical check of someone before they fire a gun, use pepper spray, hit someone with a baton or simply knock someone to the ground...

Now, this isn't a defense of police using extreme force or of the police's actions being always correct (certainly they aren't), but police work by its nature is sometimes going to be violent. I'm glad that they have more tools at their disposal than just guns and batons. Tools, of course, can be abused and I am totally in favor of cracking down on the police where they abuse the situation...but, I'm not sure that taking away the tazer is necessarily a step in the right direction.

 

[DeletedUser13682]

Most of the police in my area are nice, even when they pull someome over for speeding. They talk in a serious tone, (maybe it's law that they have to) but they are forgiving, and not rough. I trust the officers in my area with tasers. In other areas though, police officers can be evil. Those, I wouldn't trust with a bean bag, a beanie baby, or a bush baby.

 

[DeletedUser]

I believe the term most LEO's would use is actually "Less Lethal". All Agencies recognize the potential danger in using these tools and officers must be certified to use them... for what thats worth eh

Now we have to assume that the officers entrusted with such things are responsible and well trained. Oh lord, thats scary lol

Anywho, Less Lethal options are a valid part of the "use of force continuum". If officers do not have such tools at their disposal they would be forced to default to the use of firearms much sooner in a confrontation or put themselves at greater danger by having to physically engage a suspect.

Personally I have never used a tazer... when I was in law enforcement the department I was with had not authorized them and personally I was not a fan of them. However shortly after I left they did get them and the guys I kept in contact with sware by them.

Not making a case for or against them really... I think they have their place for some. Though if I were running a department it would take a lot to convince me of the need to issue them.

 

[DeletedUser]

As with all weapons, it is the person wielding them that is ultimately responsible for their actions. If a police officer uses a taser, pepper spray, beanbag or shotgun, he must be prepared for, and be held responsible for, the consequences.

I think my greater angst is with the self-policing of law enforcement and the gross partnership of prosecutors to the police.

 

[DeletedUser]

Yeah, it can feel a little "in grown" at times for sure. The worst is if a "good ol' boy" culture settles in. Thats just ugly.

 

[nashy19]

I think there are places or areas where the attitude of people with power isn't very good, perhaps extra training could be had when it's needed to encourage them to be more sensible. I noticed this in the army not just the police force.

It's not the same all-round, some groups work better than others and there seems to be a big difference between the attitudes of police in different nationalities.

There's also the ray gun now, are police going to have that or is it just for army borders?

 

[DeletedUser]

Would you rather use a real gun?

 

[DeletedUser]

Some cops are just bad cops, period.

However, Less Lethal weapons, such as OC Spray, Tazers, ASP Batons, PR-24 "NightSticks", Bean Bag Devices, FlashBang Grenades, Rubber Bullets, Wood Blocks, and anything else I may have missed, are an invaluable tool for police work.

There are many situations where you have a non-compliant individual, who refuses to comply with directions. They may be violent, or mentally unbalanced, endagering themselves, other citizens, the police themselves.

The Police need a method to deal with someone who's potentially dangerous, but not deadly, and asking nicely doesn't always work.

Let's say you take away tazers, and oc gas, nightsticks, batons, rubber bullets, beanbags, etc. Anything that COULD result in a death.

That leaves the officer with two options, his pistol, or to tackle the person, wrestle them into handcuffs, and risk injuring himself, as well was the person who he's had to manhandle into cuffs. That's incredibly dangerous on the side of the road, since while rolling around you can easily end up in the traffic lanes.

An officer shouldn't deploy a tazer without verbal warning. Such as "Sir/madam, "insert police order here", or I will be forced to taze you." Followed by "This is your last warning, comply or I will taze you." Followed by "zzzap, THUD, Handcuff the 'client' and wait for medical assistance."


I've been tazed, it sucks, but it's fast, and you're laying on the ground helpless, with wet pants.

I've also been Pepper Sprayed.. and THAT SUCKS... It lasts for a LONG time.. and as you sweat it moves down your body, into really sensitive areas.

I know that if a cop ever tells me to do something, I need to do it, don't argue.

 

[DeletedUser]

This doesn't really have much to do with the point that tazers can be deadly, but tazers aren't that effective against groups of people, so they would have to invent what's more or less an "electric squirt gun", a gun that shoots electrically-charged water. The problem with this is that people have tested prototypes and they are even less predictable, sometimes not generating enough voltage, sometimes being capable of killing a bear (the gun was tested on ballistic gel dummies with electricity sensors inside).

 

[DeletedUser]

Yeah TF, For crowds they typically use foggers of Pepper Spray, Or they use things like waterhoses.

 

[DeletedUser]

Pepper Spray would be effective, but the Electric Squirt Gun would be intended for policemen when just patrolling who might face a group of 2-6 thugs or gangsters, or a civilian in the same situation. Water hoses are meant for riots.

 

[DeletedUser]

The argument was never really about whether they are better alternatives to a bullet through the noggin', the argument was that they are used too liberally, with far less provocation, and even in lieu of less violent methods. The mere fact these sorts of weapons are potentially lethal should be sufficient to restrict their use.

 

[DeletedUser]

That makes sense.

 

[DeletedUser]

I say they should be able to use them. There are bad cops out there. But most of the time the person being tazed or pepper sprayed did something that made the cop use force on them. If you are allergic to the stuff in pepper spray, then just don't do anything to be pepper sprayed. Moral of the story: Don't break the law.