Police Officers Are Being Turned Into Shock Troops

[Liberal_in_LA]

Police Officers Are Being Turned Into Shock Troops

http://www.americandaily.com/article/23669

Today, there are more than 11,500 U.S. police departments armed with tasers.

On Nov. 15, 2008, Gladwyn Taft Russ III along with other pallbearers, was pushing his father’s casket into the hearse when two undercover North Carolina sheriff’s deputies grabbed and tasered him.

Relatives began screaming and some fled the chaotic scene. Russ’ brother-in-law, Ronnie Simmons told reporters afterwards: “We almost dropped the casket.”

Altogether, there were five New Hanover County deputies involved in the incident. They chose to arrest Russ at his father’s funeral because he had failed to turn himself in after his ex-wife filed charges against him, in which she claimed he had threatened her.

Once the ugly episode made national news, New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey told the Wilmington Star-News that the deputies would be disciplined for their actions. Causey said: “I apologize to anyone that was there. Family, friends, relatives…That was a bad decision.”

On Oct. 11, 2008, Norfolk, Va. Police Officer Nick Parks shocked Pamela Brown three times with his department-issued taser. Brown who is affectionately known as the “Hula Hoop Lady,” is a slight woman in her late 40’s who suffers from brain damage and several orthopedic injuries she received in a car crash, a few days before her high school graduation.

Officer Parks was responding to a noise complaint, supposedly coming from Brown’s transistor radio she plays while Hula-Hooping on the median of a very busy six lane street.

Recently, the Norfolk Police Department released a video of the incident in which Brown can be seen pleading with Officer Parks as she tries to explain that she is physically unable to put her hands behind her back. Parks then is seen shooting Brown with his taser and screaming at her to comply. Even as she lie on the ground, Parks continued to shock her.

Though Brown is never seen taking any aggressive action towards the officer, she was taken to jail and charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and excessive noise.

After spending nearly three days in jail, Brown was arraigned in court, at which time the judge set aside all of the charges and released her.

[TrogL]

1. The CBC commissioned a test of tasers

...and found that many produced voltages beyond the manufacturer's specifications.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tasers/

[bertman]

2. These types of incidents need to be dealt with in civil suits against the force and the

individual officers. When there are some high-dollar awards doled out to those who were mistreated or to the families of those who were killed, the attitude of the law-enforcement agencies will change.

These tasers seem to be the perfect substitute for a handgun in some situations, except that they allow abusive personalities to inflict injury without having to worry about the repercussions of shooting someone. (Most of the time).

[deadmessengers]

3. This - right here.

When police departments have the risk of going bankrupt, and when police officers know that their own freedom is at risk for the line-of-duty use of excessive force, THEN stuff will change.

[razors edge]

4. They will just raise taxes.

They wont tell you its because of law suits, they will just threaten to remove X number of "Peace Officers" from the street leaving the criminals to run rampant.