Tasers are part of the problem not the solution

[Sam1]

by digby

My piece in Salon today discusses those two choke hold incidents this week and the Police Commissioner's promise to look into more taser use. Those who have been following this blog and my writing on tasers will be unsurprised that I am not in favor.

The viral video incidents this week in New York, the first of which resulted in death and the second a beating in the face as well as the illegal choke holds were about suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes in the first case and jumping a subway turnstile in the second. These were not people who were suspected of a violent crime requiring that the police spare no energy in protecting the public. Indeed, it appears that the violent acts against these two suspects were entirely based upon the “crime” of failing to instantly obey a police officer. Have we decided that this crime is worthy of beating, torture and possibly death? Because that’s what’s happening all over the country. It’s happening to children, it’s happening to the mentally ill, it’s happening to the elderly and the sick, it’s happening to average citizens who merely assert their rights and it can happen to you too. (It even happens to NFL players.)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/tasers-are-part-of-problem-not-solution.html

[Android3.14]

1. What should law enforcement use instead?

[vt_native]

2. For those offenses...

maybe some reason, maybe a ticket.

[tech3149]

3. Brains? Judgment? Common Sense?

You wouldn't ask that question if you'd read the entire Salon article.

[Android3.14]

4. You would ask that question if you read the blog

He repeatedly calls for a ban on tasers. I want to know what he thinks police should use instead.

There is a problem with police brutality in our nation, no argument there. However, a ban on a usually non-lethal method of stopping someone in his or her tracks is not the solution.

[FarPoint]

5. I have to agree with you Android.

Tasers have saved lives far greater than any other method. The baton has a violent history record but the gun is always intended to be lethal. Tasers accomplish detainment and control ...one typically lives to complain about being tazed. Today's trigger happy militarized field police officer will utilize a glock more often without the taser option.

[Thor_MN]

6. I think you identified the main problem. "Today's trigger happy militarized field police officer"

It's not about the equipment they carry, it's the officers themselves. One could argue that the corporations that sell the equipment have created the problem by "donating" surplus inventory at the wind down of the Bush wars. They have followed the drug dealer model of the first taste is free to create an increasing dependency on military style equipment. But the root problem is the officers.