Utterly Meaningless

It’s interesting that so many people would agree that the taser is an alternative to deadly force but will then okay the use of tasers in so many situations in which deadly force is so obviously not a consideration.

The situation that was discussed concerning the school fight/argument/whatever is a prime example. Would the officer in question have had to use his gun had he not had a taser? Obviously not, so one has to wonder why he used it.

Beyond that is the number of people who end up dead from the misuse of the taser. Is it really worth the chance that you may kill someone? Is a heated discussion among teenagers such a dangerous situation that the slightest chance of killing a kid is worth tasing them?

Yes. Children should be seen and not heard. And should jump immediately when an adult tells them to. Only asking, “How high, sir?”

Where have you been!

Oh. . . .

Nance

I suppose tasers could be used as a way to torture someone. But when used appropriately, they’re an excellent way of controlling a bad guy without having to crack his head with a nightstick or shoot him.

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I’m in this video. Can you guess which guy I am?

I suppose tasers could be used as a way to torture someone.

Not “could be.” “Are.” And way too often.

If the bad guy was gently lowered to the mat on the floor by his two laughing buddies, would that be enough punishment though? After all, this is a guy who has threatened the life of a police officer or innocent bystanders, right? A guy who doesn’t deserve a trial but should be subjected to punishment immediately.

And if the bad guy has the bad grace to be a little guy, like many an obnoxious teen, or have a bad ticker, well, that’s too damned bad. The police officer’s life was at stake, wasn’t it? There was no other way. Right? It was either this or a bullet or risking actual bodily contact with a rough character.

Sure, use the taser. If they die, oops. But furnish them buddies to catch them and lower them to a comfy mat? What are you? Soft on crime?

Nance

Ok, since y’all are too scared to guess, I am the guy getting tazed. I volunteered for many reasons, but one reason was so I would have direct, first hand, unassailable first hand experience about how y’all are a bunch of limp-wristed weenies.

I’m sure some cops are on a power trip and enjoy inflicting pain. I didn’t see any evidence of that in that room, filled with cops from my small town.

At the end of the day, police (regardless of where their internal moral compass is) have a duty to restrain some people. There’s a heirarchy of ways to do that. You can talk them into a pair of cuffs. You can get a few cop buddies and try to manhandle him into cuffs. You can use various ‘pain compliance’ methods like a taser to drain the fight out of him so he’ll willingly submit. You can injure him until his injuries are severe enough so he can’t resist. Or you can kill him.

After taking 3 seconds of zap from that taser, I gained a healthy respect for pain compliance techniques, and I support our cops having such options.

And yes, Daryl and Nance, y’all are still a bunch of weenies who don’t know the difference between an owie and real torture. Infinity minus one my big flabby rear end.

Right. Read this and then tell me that cops aren’t misusing these.

I’m not saying they can’t be misused. I’m not saying all cops are good guys. I’m saying you gotta have cops if you’re gonna have a civilization, and since that’s a given, it makes excellent sense to give them tasers.

Your beef is with a police agency’s internal affairs department – not with tasers. Unless you want to tell me that these bad cops will suddenly become unable to inflict untracable pain for their own amusement if you take their tasers away.

Your beef is with a police agency’s internal affairs department – not with tasers. Unless you want to tell me that these bad cops will suddenly become unable to inflict untracable pain for their own amusement if you take their tasers away.

I disagree. I believe these weapons are seen as innocuous and are being misused on a rather grand scale. Are you saying that if the cops in the story linked above hadn’t had tasers they would have pulled out their guns and shot the guy multiple times?

“I believe these weapons are seen as innocuous and are being misused on a rather grand scale.”

I’m not in the habit of defending cops I don’t know personally, so I can’t speak to how grand the scale is. The cops in my small town seem to have their heads screwed on properly. I also take isolated news reports as indicative of it not happening very often. You probably take the same handful of reports as evidence of countless unreported cases.

I also don’t care what things are “seen as”, I only care about what things are. Reality – there are situations where a cop must restrain someone, and non-violent methods aren’t working. Reality – any violent method brings with it a chance of misuse, and a chance of injury even if used properly. And after personally experiencing a 3 second taser hit, I fully support their use in situations where the cop’s next options are to grab a nightstick and start cracking skulls.

“Are you saying that if the cops in the story linked above hadn’t had tasers they would have pulled out their guns and shot the guy multiple times?”

Assuming these were a pack of bad cops, the answer is not necessarily. I’m saying bad cops will be bad whether they have tasers or not. Part of their job is to learn ways to cause pain without inflicting injury, and you don’t need a taser to do that.

I guess you missed my earlier post. Here it is again:
There’s a heirarchy of ways to do that. You can talk them into a pair of cuffs. You can get a few cop buddies and try to manhandle him into cuffs. You can use various ‘pain compliance’ methods like a taser to drain the fight out of him so he’ll willingly submit. You can injure him until his injuries are severe enough so he can’t resist. Or you can kill him.

Again – think of pain and injury as different things with some overlap. For that matter, I am of the opinion that pain and injury and torture are all different things that can overlap. My opinion was reinforced as I endured 3 seconds of blinding pain, only to find myself in full posession of all my senses and faculties, willing and able to stand back up, completely untortured and uninjured.