Dear Police, stop carrying tasers (carry a big stick instead)
October 28th, 2007 by Kavan WolfeHave you been following this story of a man who was tasered to death at Vancouver airport? This is just one of a rash of taser incidents across North America in the past few months, including the highly-publicized incidents at the John Kerry speech and involving the death of a 56-year-old disabled woman in a wheelchair.
Tasers are an inappropriate tool for police to carry for three reasons. First, because tasers are supposed to be non-lethal, police are a little too anxious to use them. Police hesitate to shoot an unarmed man because most police do not relish the thought of killing someone, not to mention the investigation that would follow. Unfortunately, tasers can be fatal, as the examples above illustrate. Second, a taser does not allow a measured response - it gives only two options: shock ‘em or don’t. Third, many people don’t recognize a taser, especially foreigners like the poor polish man who was recently killed by one. The threat of force doesn’t work if you don’t recognize a taser as a weapon.
Am I asking you to disarm police? Hell no. That’s stupid. What I’m asking is for police to have weapons that make sense: a gun for lethal response, and a big black club (nightstick, or whatever) for a measured response. Why is a big stick better than a taser? One, it’s easier for police to understand the potential damage they’ll do by hitting someone with a stick than by zapping someone with an ill-understood technological device. Two, a stick allows a measured response - you can swing it hard or softly, hit a person in the side, wrist or head depending on the level of danger. Third, if you threaten someone with a big black stick, they’ll understand.
To sum up, while tasers were introduced to the police force with the best of intentions, i.e., to subdue criminals more humanely, the unexpected consequences have been just the opposite. I don’t think it’s fair to point fingers about this, I just want the tasers out of the police force. To those who would argue for tasers, please invite them to experience one first.
Addendum: The UN’s Committee Against Torture has recently ruled that police use of tasers violate the UN’s Convention against Torture. In other words, the United Nations has condemned tasering as a form of torture.
Second addendum: apparently Taser International is sending some obtuse letters to bloggers criticizing their products. My response to this is 1) It’s fair use, 2) it makes Taser sound guilty, and 3) Taser had best piss off now before I get really mad and start on the “Taser = Torture” case. Taser is also claiming that there is no conclusive evidence of someone dying from a taser weapon. My response is that, unless Taser can produce evidence that all these taser-related deaths would have occurred if the victim had not been electrocuted, they can kiss off.
October 28th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Not one of your better articles, but you can’t be perfect all the time.
October 29th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Do officers not have to be tasered as part of training? I think they are maced once a year to keep the sensation fresh in their minds, but that may only be my area or my cop friend’s establishment.
October 30th, 2007 at 5:19 am
That was my gut reaction when I saw the Florida kid get tasered.
But actually cops DO have to get tasered in order to be licensed to carry a taser gun, at least in the United States. People who have been tasered say it’s unlike anything they’ve ever imagined–they is excruciating pain while its happening, but none whatsoever as soon as it stops. Tasers are increasingly seen as preferable to whipping sticks because (usually) they don’t cause long-term damage, whereas whacking somebody across the head with a huge mag flash light often causes concussions or even brain damage. Hitting them in the leg or arm is likely to trigger an adrenaline rush, which makes the person less likely to submit and more likely to retaliate.
The exception is if the person getting tasered has a heart condition, in which case their screwed.
October 31st, 2007 at 10:45 am
Maybe if you dont act like an asshole towards the police, you wouldn’t have a problem.
Also, you have to get close to the person to use the club. Some big huge monster of a man swinging and flailing at you is better dealt with by using a ranged weapon.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:00 pm
This is one of the most uneducated “essays” I’ve read in quite some time. I wish that I could say that you had a couple valid points, but you don’t. And, all of the invalid ones throw your essay straight into the garbage disposal. If you’re going to tell me that you’d rather be hit by an extendable aluminum baton to the knee than be tased, you have some mental capacity that I can’t stoop to.
And yes, for your information, Police Officers MUST be experienced to the shock of a taser before they themselves are allowed to carry it on the job.
Apparantly you have never seen someones knee completely give out, snapped from the socket and ripping the skin away from the wound–the result of a baton hit. I have. And, I guarantee you that individual would have rather been tased, any day of the week.
You say that police are too anxious to use a taser–you couldn’t be more incorrect. The John Kerry “debate” you mention above was a PERFECTLY justified use of a taser. If you make the idiotic mistake of refusing to cooperate with LE officials, and by this I don’t mean refuse to tell him something. For example,(hypothetically speaking) you’re sitting in your car when you’re pulled over and you keep reaching for something, and the officer tells you not to, you deserve to be ordered out of the car, and when you refuse, tased. Be glad you didn’t get shot.
We deal with way too many individuals on a daily basis that could be holding handguns and rocketlaunchers in their waistbelts. When resisting arrest(like in John Kerry’s speech) that individual could very well reach for a gun from the holster of the officer. You better believe we’re going to try to defuse the situation with words, but when that doesn’t work we turn to less than lethal measures.
Do some research. Learn a little. Talk to a few Law Enforcement officials, AND THEN you may open your mouth.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
@Mr. fiveoh
1) Perhaps officers in where you live have to experience the shock in training, but not everyone does.
2) When an officer is violating your rights, you should not have to cooperate (there’s this thing called free speech…)
3) If you’re well trained with a stick (and I am) you don’t have to take out a joint to stop someone
4. I talked to several officers before writing this, as well as an officer in training and a retired officer. I concluded that they did not understand the difference between uncooperative and violent.
5. Poli Sci undergrads asking intelligent questions at political debates do not generally grab guns and shoot police officers. This is real life, not a Bourne movie.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:06 pm
[…] guy was a poster child for the evaporation of freedom of speech Enlightened: Realize that 1) Police use of Tasers is or should be illegal in most countries because it violates the UN Convention…, and 2) Freedom of Speech is a myth — it never existed, and probably won’t exist anytime […]
February 5th, 2008 at 9:13 am
1. So what? WHat difference does that make? Honestly?
2. Yes you should cooperate. If he violated your right to resist arrest or perhaps some other right you feel you’re entitled to in whatever situation you find yourself, you can seek legal action after the fact.
3. The stick still hurts.
4. Uncooperative leads to violence if allowed to continue.
5. You don’t know who has a gun and who doesn’t. Police don’t take chances like that. Their life depends on it.
Aptly named blog. Nothing but bullshit here.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
1) Perhaps officers in where you live have to experience the shock in training, but not everyone does.
2) When an officer is violating your rights, you should not have to cooperate (there’s this thing called free speech…)
3) If you’re well trained with a stick (and I am) you don’t have to take out a joint to stop someone
4. I talked to several officers before writing this, as well as an officer in training and a retired officer. I concluded that they did not understand the difference between uncooperative and violent.
5. Poli Sci undergrads asking intelligent questions at political debates do not generally grab guns and shoot police officers. This is real life, not a Bourne movie.
In response to Kevan Wolfe and “H”
1) Kevan, Please enlighten me on specifically which states do not require the police officers to experience the shock before they are permitted to carry them. This is simply a curiousity. I do believe that it should be REQUIRED for the shock to be experienced before an officer can carry a taser.
@ “H”, It does make quite the difference, in understanding how much and when to actually deploy the shock. It makes complete sense.
2) You should most certainly cooperate with police, it could be a simple mis understanding as to why you’re being escorted out in the first place. In any case, this can be sorted out after you are removed from the room and can discuss this with the authorities. The individual immediately started bickering with police when they cut his mic, which constitutes a disruption of a public event. At which time they were justified to escort the individual from the event. As H said, you can sort it out later simply by talking about it or by pursuing legal action.
3.) When you’re dealing with an individual running away after beating somebody down and stealing their purse, you have every right to be hit in a spot that is going to dismobilize you. That’s what happened and I don’t blame the officer I was talking about at all. All I’ll say is that the individual had it coming to him. He DESERVED it.
4.) Kavan, Please, then, take your expert analysis to the Board of municipal police officer training facility in the state in which you live. If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem.
5.) This is the part here where I can see that you have not the slightest bit of experience in the field. In this job you don’t know what people think. You don’t know what actions any individual is going to commit until they decide to commit to those actions. Therefore, more power to the officer who is watching out for his own life in trying to get home to his family. It’s easy to sit around and criticize an officer, or anybody, for any action they have taken. As for me, I’d rather be judged by twelve then carried by six. As for you, sit in your office cubicle and watch your youtube videos all day, and criticize all you want. You’re not changing anything. And as for your “BOURNE MOVIE” comment, I see people trying to act like movie stars every day. It is my job to make sure those people don’t hurt themselves or anybody else during their period of stupidity. If it requires that somebody get tased, they’re getting tased.
Enjoy.
February 10th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
@H
I’m assuming, based on your attitude, that you’re an American. You can’t seek legal action after the fact if they put you in Guantanamo Bay. The rest of your comments have already been addressed.
@Mr. Fiveoh
My name is Kavan (ka-VAN) not Kevan. As to your comments:
1. I said that not all police get shocked in training. For all I know all the states do require Tasing. Believe it or not, other countries have police to, and in BC, Canada, for instance, not all cops get shocked in training. BTW: some US officers are now suing Taser for injuries they got from being shocked in training (http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/10577).
2. This is what they used to tell blacks when the police were beating them to death with flashlights.
3. I agree that if you steal some woman’s purse you deserve to get shocked. However, some people have been KILLED simply for not cooperating with police, including the polish guy in Vancouver Airport who couldn’t cooperate because he didn’t speak English!
4. I don’t live in a state. This article is an abridged version of a letter I sent to several government officials
5. I am not advocating disarming police. If someone pulls a weapon on you, by all means shoot him. If someone attacks you empty-handed even, I understand if you have to shoot him. If however, you tell some political science student to stop talking in a public debate, and he says he’s not finished his question, and does not threaten violence against anyone or anything, you sit down and shut up because you have no business denying him his freedom of speech.
You live in a country where the government tortures people because they MIGHT have information that MIGHT lead to the capture of someone who MIGHT be a terrorist, and then holds them indefinitely without trial. Maybe people wouldn’t resist arrest so much if they weren’t afraid of the police.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe I can’t change anything. But I’m fucking-well gonna try.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
The press is just as full of stories where tasers saved lives as well as has taken lives. I feel a lot better knowing my wife has a pink taser in her purse than to be out somewhere unarmed. Like it or not, the world has gotten crazier and having some form of self-defense ready is not a bad thing.
Pink Taser For Women
June 10th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Once again, I’ve seen the positive impact of a taser while at work the other day. An individual holding a gun, whom had already fired shots, was tased instead of shot to death. You all can keep criticizing this useful tool but I’m telling you I’ve seen these things in action time and time again with nothing but positive things to say about them. Recent studies show that there is no interruption in the heart rate of those tased. Yes it is true that a taser may have caused some individuals to go into cardiac arrest, but I’d be willing to bet that more people have choked to death on lollipops. Why not make them illegal?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:55 am
[…] all know about cops abusing their Tasers. Well, it seems someone decided to give one Louisiana officer a taste of his own […]
August 13th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I’m for using any method that will let me go home at the end of the day. Tasers are a very effective tool, and I agree with Mr.fiveoh on his Feb 1st posting.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Jh thank you for that support. Apparantly you are a law enforcement officer and have some clue as to what I have alluded to. I do understand, that even when used correctly, a taser can cause an individual (usually with previous heart conditions) to have severe reactions, including death. A taser, just like a baton, is a less than lethal measure taken before lethal force is applied. A taser is a tool on an officer’s waistbelt that does just want Jh has mentioned, let an officer go home at the end of the day. I do believe that some officers are too “taser happy” before using other methods of persuasion or de-escalation, and it could be a result of their training, or just an ill-guided use of a taser.
But as I’ve said before, a taser is an excellent tool and should not be disregarded as such. I’m looking for comments from either the original poster or of the others who have chimed in.
Thank you.