Should police officers be allowed to put 50,000 volts of electricity through a person using a taser?

Question

More and more often, police officers are using tasers on citizens for minor reasons.

Here is 1 videoclip of a citizen getting tasered for a minor reason.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/video/taser_video3a.html

Answer 1

Well, If it's needed to arrest someone. To avoid it don't resist arrest.

Answer 2

This is one instance; have you any other sources to site that Police officers are using tasers without a good reason? Tasers are an extremely effective and less harmful law enforcement, and to take such a useful tool out of the hands of law enforcement is a bad idea. What IS a bad idea is not making sure that the law enforcement in control of such force is not suitable for using it and knowing 1) the intense pain associated with it 2) when it is best used. Now, who can say that the police officer using it did so in a manner unfit for his situation? Only he can, because it was the situation he was in. Perhaps he believed the woman had a weapon; maybe he saw her reach for something that he thought might be a weapon. Maybe he is a sadist. One thing I think is sure: overgeneralizing that all usage of tasers is for minor reasons, or even that more and more are for minor reasons without a justifiable basis is not reasonable when such a tool can be used to help pacify or immobilize the truly deadly criminals.

Answer 3

Every Police officer that tasers a citizen should have to go before a review board made up of 7 people, the chief of police, his police captain, his Sergent, 2 of his peers selected as you would a jury, 1 judge and 1 prosecuting attorney they should review the official report the victim's report and any video tape if available if the tasering is deemed unwarranted the the officer should have to suffer the same as he gave i.e. get tasered

Answer 4

Yes,

However I think that, like the use of a gun, each case in which a taser was used should be reviewed to see if excessive use of force was used in that instance.

In the video, it appears that the Officer used his taser a little too easily. However, the person driving the car WANTED to be tasered. If you ignore a request and threat from a cop, you get what you deserve.

The cop's explanation about the options he rejected sound resonable, and I think that, in this case, even though it looks bad, it was justified.

Answer 5

I htink the officer should use his own judgement. If he feels in danger at anytime then YES he should be able to use his taser to gain control of the person who is causing a threat. Just think of it this way, would you rather live with yourself knowing you maybe KILLED a person with your GUN over something minor, OR know that you tasered him and ONLY injured him. I dont think I could live withmyself if i made a mistake thinking he had a gun when he didnt. The taser may injure him and may seem cruel, but thats better than living with the fact you killed somone.

Answer 6

First of all, you don't put 50,000 volts through someone. That is a number that people use to make it sound worse than it is. This is just another way people push their agendas to uninformed people who insist on perpetuating inconsistent and irrelevant information along with the problem.

Amperage is what kills, not voltage!

A taser only uses about half an amp if anyone wants to know the truth.

Answer 7

Comment on video: She should have not been tasered but at the same time she should of listened to the officer.

Answer to question: Yes, but only under extreme circumstances.

All users of tasers should be required to be tasered once a year.

Answer 8

The answer is a resounding 'yes'. In fact, we do not make enough use of non-lethal weapons to control those that have no respect for the law. The woman in the video has zero regard for the officers, which makes her dangerous to their safety. Police officers are doing their life-threatening job to protect you, I and our loved ones. Society should provide them every means necessary to protect themselves when they step in harm's way. If there is a problem with an officer abusing their power, then it's likely not the weapon itself (which goes through extreme testing before use) - it's a problem with that particular officer and proper disciplinary actions need to be taken. Our police and fire departments, among other great community service organizations, do not get half the credit, respect or salary they deserve for protecting us 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Answer 9

The woman ignored the cop, she was busy yapping on the cell phone. With all the nuts out there today, tasers are almost needed. It is a safe way for the cop to control a person. If a person follows the instructions of the officer, they have nothing to worry about. So I guess the moral of the story is: if you are told to get out of your car, hang up your phone and get out.

Answer 10

yes, and what exactly is a minor reason ? Maybe they should start tasering all people before they slap on the cuffs. It would cut down on a lot of injures to officers and therefore the money taxpayers shell out to repair those injury's. It would also cut down on injures to those being arrested, and the money taxpayers pay for them as well.

Answer 11

yes, the amount of voltage that is put through you does not harm you in any way. it is only the amperage that will actually hurt you, you can touch a 500,000 volt wire and not die, how do you think people survive being struck by lightning, which has MILLIONS of volts in it?!? volts are simply a measure of how much force is pushing the electricity through an object. maybe the police use too high amp levels, in which then maybe they shoud lower the amperage, but increase the voltage.