Why are police officers tasing so many people and should tasers only be used in deadly situations?

Question

Currently police departments have little restrictions on when and how they can taser a person. Non-violent citizens, elderly citizens, and even handicapped citizens have been tasered by the police. According to Amnesty International, more than 200 citizens have died after being tasered by the police. In most instances the victims were non-violent and had no weapons on them.

Answer 1

I agree with most all the pro-police/ pro-taser aswerer above me

My Brother is a Cop and their Dept just got the Taser a few months back.

I have no problem with the taser itself but I do see one area that use of the taser could become a problem and without geting all anti-police I think I can see where the asker is comming from.

The Taser is a Non-Lethal alternative to other Use-of-force items like peperspray and asps that can have more lasting consequences.

The Strong effectiveness coupled with its nonlasting effects can create a situation where the Officer in a situation may be more quick to escalate to the point of using a Taser, where he may have waited a little longer if he was to use and Asp or something else.
I'm not advocating an officer wait until he endangers himself, I just think that an officer can be tepted to use the taser when he otherwise would have held off.
For the most part I believe most people who get tased have got whats coming to them.

So far as Amnesty Intl. is concerned, I rank them right up there with the Sierra Club and the ACLU. a bunch of eco-terrorist or political-terrorists idiots.
I seriously doubt the majority of the were non-violent as they claim. but so far as unarmed. That is not a factor for consideration. I dont give a damn if you are unarmed or not, If some idiot charges an Officer he is going to get his drunk A ss tased. As another Answerer mentioned above, Amnesty Intl is a political organization, not humanitarian as they claim.

Answer 2

Why are so many criminals resisting arrest? Why are so many people running from the police and putting others' lives in danger? Why do people think they have some right to sport attitude with a police officer? While I wouldn't avocate the misuse of a taser, I believe for the most part the police are completely justified in using them. Have you ever watched COPS or those other police shows where these people are acting like complete animals? This is the country we live in anymore, so you might as well get used to it, thank your lawyers, judges, parents, and MTV for that. I have a ton of respect for police officers in the US here today and I don't think we can thank them enough for all the BS they have to put up with out there anymore. I think they should be able to use anything that helps them do their job while keeping them safe against these people.

Answer 3

Many departments allow there officers the use of tasers when the suspect uses active or passive resistance. This is in most departments force continuum policy.
As for the deadly force situation, I for one am not going to pull my taser out when someone has a deadly weapon in there possession or immediate vicinity. That's like bringing a knife to a gun fight. And think of it this way, a 5 second ride with the taser or some nasty lumps and bruises.
Tasers save lives.....I had a woman with a knife to her chest pressing it in. When she turned around and saw me and another officer with his weapon drawn, I used the taser...she is alive now. She very well could have been killed, by her hand or by another officer who had his weapon aimed at her.
Just listen to the Officers commands and you won't get tased.

Answer 4

Don't be ridiculous. Tasers are used instead of rapping people upside their heads with a night stick. The use of tasers has drastically reduced deaths. In a deadly situation, the officer shouldn't even think twice about pulling a gun. No question a taser is NOT appropriate in that situation.

Oh, and Amnesty International is a joke. They are politically motivated, not humanitarian. You know what else is a joke? People who open up a new account every day just to ask ridiculous questions.

Answer 5

If you mess with the police, they should be able to subdue you. If you resist arrest, you are violent, no two ways about it. All police get tased when they are trained to use them, so they know what they are doing.

And even if someone is unarmed if they touch a police officer, the officer should have a means to put an immediate stop to it. Would you prefer pepper spray (it lingers for quite awhile, doesn't always work and the officer has to deal with cleaning if off the person they spray) or would you prefer a baton or bat (I would).

Michael, if I had both my thumbs (just kidding), you would get two thumbs up! I agree, that's why I keep a taser for home defense even though I have plenty of firepower (I figure it is less messy then using a shotgun and less dangerous to the neighborhood then using a rifle).

Answer 6

This is ridiculous. Tasers in deadly situations?

People get tased because they are resisting arrest, expressing violence toward a police officer, or some other warranted action.

Contrary to what people may claim police officers do not just walk up to random people and zap them.

No they should not be used in deadly situations - the policeman's firearm should be used in deadly situations.

Let's see Bad guy with gun=deadly situation. Let's see if we can get him to stand still so we can run up and tase him.

OR - Bad guy with gun - let's level the playing field and shoot him.

I vote for option two.

Answer 7

A. Tasering someone is a lot better than shooting someone.
B. There are no laws on tasering people.

Personally, I think that we need laws based on the 5th amendment about cruel and unusual punishment. If a person is in a riot and coming at a police officer with a club then I don't have a problem with the police using a taser on him. The same is true if a prisoner tries to make trouble or escape.

However, the need for the tasering has to be pretty clear and very close to the concept that police officers are only allowed to use their weapons in case of a clear and present danger that the target will hurt, harm, or kill others.

The problem is that you can't sit inside the police officers head and tell them when and when not to taser a person. However, as part of their training their instructors do that when they teach a police officer when to shoot or not. The variations on Hogan's Alley are proof to that. In these situations the police officer is in a simulated street environment and are suddenly presented with targets. The test is to see if the officers can not only hit the target in the proper place, but that they only hit the bad guys. One new method of doing this has been taken from the arcade game. A police officer faces a screen with action taking place. He is given a weapon with live ammunition and the impact of his bullet is tracked to make sure that it is done at the right time and on the right target (laser sights and blanks have also been used). Similar training should be made available to the police. If a guy in a wheel chair comes up to them screaming then they need to make a split second decision to taser that person or not. To make that decision they need Situational Awareness, being aware of what is going on around them. For example if that person is fleeing a burning building then they probably aren't a threat, but if it is in a mob situation then they might be need to be tasered. If the wheel chair person is aiming a gun at the police officer then they may need to be shot. Currently police are only trained this way with their handguns, not with their tasers.

This requires state law and that starts at the county and city level with the individual police training facilities. Patterns have to be established and made standard this can be done at the level of the police departments, but local and state laws are really needed. Such laws are usually set by precedent in local courts, which requires a victim of tasering to sue the local government. To my knowledge no one has done this yet, and set a precedent that other courts and lawmakers can use.

Until then the taser will be used at the individual discretion of the individual police officers or made at the police sergeant level. The taser is a new piece of equipment and rarely issued to individual officers so they aren’t trained in its use. Police are also probably afraid that if a cop carries one he might use it when he should have used his gun. I actually find this preferable, but tasers are reliable enough to use this way. When a taser is used, currently it requires the presence of another officer with their gun drawn to act as a standby, often only a police sergeant will have a taser and it is a kit kept somewhere in the trunk not ready to hand.

Answer 8

I think that they should get rid of tazers all together. I lived in Kenosha and my friend was shot and killed by police. He was tazed 4 times for more than 22 seconds before being shot in the head in front of his mother and sister. He didnt' have a weapon on him or anything. There was another instance where someone was tazed and peppersprayed at the same time which caused the guys face to start on fire. I'm tired of hearing about people dying because cops only think to use their tazers. Cops have other means to subdue people other than tazer guns.

Answer 9

You have reason to be concerned about the uposurge in tasing incidents by the police. The are using these potentially lethal weapon on school kids.I think that the police departments better start instituting some ridgid regulations on their use. I think many cops are using these thing indiscriminately, and have killed some people unjustly.

Answer 10

Your statement, implies too many unknowns to justify a solution to the problem. There is no real solution.

I grew up with a couple guys. One became a cop and the other a cop killer. Which one am I going to help the most, when my influence is not good enough for either of them? If I were to paint a picture of society, as I see it, you would be looking at something as screwed up as an abstract impressionist trying to present realism.