I hate electricity, would NOT want to get shocked by one of these things.
Don’t like the cops having them, it’s too easy to use the Taser as a negotiator. I know they deal with assholes all day long, but giving them a (generally) non-lethal way to subdue people is asking for it to be abused. I hope all departments require lots of paperwork every time one is fired, I know ours does.
The Round Rock PD ( just north of Austin) doesn’t use tasers. Just last week, when three officers were confronted with a naked unarmed man, the officers figured that the best solution at their disposal to subdue him was just to shoot him, multiple times. He’s dead now.
Oh, I got it. Took about 5 minutes though.
I cattle-prodded myself once, does that count? Felt like I let 50 people give me a “dead leg” at once and I had a hard time walking that evening.
:eek: 
:mad:
Once again, I say blame the usage/operator, not the tool. And I’m not even much of a gun fan.
Was it intentional? Serious question.
I agree with the sentiment that I would rather be tasered than shot. However I would much prefer neither.
Cops are using tasers way to often and getting away with it because tasers are not usually lethal. In Canada the RCMP have used them 600 times in the past 5 years or so (cites available). They haven’t fired their guns 600 times, as each gunshot makes the news. Tasers are supposed to be a last resort alternative to firing a weapon. They are instead being used more for compliance, because the cop is annoyed or as torture (imho). This is something that we as a society need to get a handle on.
From the procedure manuals I’ve seen posted here this isn’t true. Tasers aren’t a last resort before shooting; they are a compliance tool. In many ways they are safer then trying to wrestle a drunk/high/aggressive person into handcuffs with physical force.
Not sure where this information came from. Maybe things are different in Canada, but around here they are intended to be used for compliance. And your opinion that cops in general are using them out of annoyance or as torture is just that…an opinion. Based on what exactly? Evidence that some cops abuse their positions? Hardly a generality.
Honestly, though, do you really think that putting Tasers in the hands of police officers is what makes them abusive?
Yes. I was involved with a fraternal organization during my college days and we were in the basement. Some of the new guys weren’t doing what they were supposed to, so they were supposed to be “inspired” by the old guys via paddles and the prod.
I certainly wasn’t going to paddle any of the younger guys - they were only “younger” in the sense that they were new to the organization, and they were my friends. So I just fussed at 'em, told them they needed to shape up, etc. etc.
One of the old guys told me that they had a cattle prod if we needed it. Well, I half believed that it was a real prod, and being a city kid I thought it couldn’t be that bad. Cows don’t get that mad, right? So I applied it to my thigh and…
:eek: :eek: :eek:
Semi-hijack;
Never been tased (bro), but I’ve been electrocuted quite a number of times, the worst being;
1> 14 years old, standing barefoot on wet (recently shampoo’d) carpet. Touched the light switch, went boom.
2> Working on the electric fence when my idiot dad noticed that it was unplugged. I got hit with the weed burner charge. :eek:
So no interest in trying a Taser on my part.
Bottom line, like any other tool, they’re going to be abused. But I’d rather be hit by a Taser and go down; than be beat bloody (and probably suffer permanent injury and possible brain damage) with a baton because I’m allegedly “resisting” when I don’t fall down fast enough or the cop is venting his anger. A fire/penetrate/shock Taser is less of a tool of anger and retribution than a nightstick.
I wasn’t resisting, no, but I suppose in the cops’ minds, I wasn’t complying. Things got (much) worse after I got arrested, which I don’t want to get into, but it all ended with my charges being mysteriously dropped. There was talk of a class action law suit, but I don’t think anything ever came of it.
I hit myself with a stun gun once, and as Dr Who said it’s like a big intense muscle contraction. I didn’t have any pain, but I imagine you would if it was held on you for any length of time. I was also in a building once where someone sprayed pepper spray, and even being the next room it was excruciating. Pretty much cleared the building. I can’t imagine how anyone could take that stuff directly in the face.
I’d have to agree with the general sentiment that I’d take a tasing over being shot/beaten/pepper sprayed.
The thing to remember is that tasers are lethal a certain (low) percent of the time. I do not like others playing roulette with my life because I might have done something that annoyed them. When one uses a gun, one knows that one is using deadly force, and doesn’t give someone an extra shot for good measure.
That is untrue.
When using a gun, you are trained to continue firing until the threat is neutralized. Given the time lag between cause and visual effect of neutralization, a very large number of shots are usually fired. Given also the fear and adrenalin of the situation, people often continue pulling the trigger until well past the point when the gun is empty.
Firing a single shot and then pausing to determine effect is pretty rare in a deadly force/self-defense scenario. If your life is on the line, it’s exceedingly foolish.
On the “extra shot for good measure”, my firearms training taught me to always fire two shots. Double tap. Bang bang. Every time. Never fire just once.
If a cop is using force to get you to comply, whether it be a taser, a night stick, or forcing you to the ground, they all have risks to your life. The taser may be the least likely to permanently injure you. It doesn’t matter if you are annoying them or if they are attempting to get you to comply with a legal order.
Telemark and Chimera both have valid points.
My point is that Tasers are potentially lethal, their use is increasing by leaps and bounds, and they seem to be used with much less restraint that other weapons - and with less consequences for the officers using them. As I said if you shoot someone it makes the news and is scrutinized. If you taser a drunk you file a report, but that drunk might die.
But it’s rarely a choice between taser and gun. It’s more likely a choice between taser, night stick, submission wrestling, and waiting out the person. If anyone dies in any of those cases there will be an investigation and it will make the news. You also run a much higher risk of the LEO getting hurt with the latter three choices.
Even if beating someone into submission with a night stick doesn’t kill them, it’s far more likely to leave serious injuries then tasering them. In general, the taser appears to be a safer (but not risk free) option in most cases.
I just wanted to repost this for effect. This is absolutely true. There is no non-lethal law enforcement tool or method that is entirely risk-free of injury or death. The key is to not get yourself into a situation where any force or coercion is required to get you to comply.
Telemark’s other comments are right on the money as well.
I’ve seen a video of one of our Chief Constables (In England)being Tazed to see what it was like and he certainly didn’t look like he was enjoying himself as he writhed around on the ground.
From talking to the LEOs I know, it’s never a choice between taser and gun. If the gun is permitted, it’s required. If the threat is so great that lethal force is an option, it becomes the only option, since it’s the safest for everyone except the offender. That’s why cops still carry guns - if they ever came up with a non-lethal/less-lethal tool that was just as effective a stopper as a gun, they wouldn’t need the guns anymore.