First it was the American Nightstick,Then it was the Pepper spray & now it could be the Tazer Gun

[gerry]

Just wanted to know your views on the possiblity of arming the police officers here in this country with the Tazer Gun (Stungun).From what i've read about these guns.They can shoot up to 20ft,they have 5 small darts & when activated the suspect won't be going any where.Some Police officers have said that these Tazer Guns would be useful if they were confronted by someone with a knife or possible crowd control.There are however some concerns about this device.1 in particular is if this is used on someone with a bad heart it could possibly kill them.

[oxeyedaisy]

the police have a very difficult job..believe me i know and anything that can be of use to them has got to be a good thing..i wouldnt even loose one nights sleep worrying about the effects on the suspect..their are to many do gooders and pleading of human rights ..i lived in germany once and the police over their are tough..and they dont get criticised..we are to soft in this country..

[jenstar]

It's bad enough going outside even now. If the police were carrying such things, I don't think I'd want to leave the house.

[stevie21]

I'm all for these taser guns for the sole reason that the video clip below makes me laugh my ass off!
http://www.stevie21.f2s.com/bull.zip

I love the way it's legs are as stiff as a board as it falls over.
I got this from the company's website and. predictably, they emphasised the safety aspect. A few cops were on there too endorsing it.

I want one for myself. Tame the local ned population.

[darklar]

hey, if someone has a dodgy heart it is impressive that they are causing enough of a disturbance to be tazer'd. Mwahaha. oh dear. I know a bouncer that tazer'd someone as a demonsteration and they wet themselves hahaha (it was a voluntary tazering btw). I think the police need as m uch help as they can get... although maybe teachers should be given tazers - that would certainly make this country a better place.

[BigDogsWang]

I'd like to see one of these used on the Happy Slapping mob.

[jake-the-peg]

There is a risk that Policemem armed with Tasers could be tempted/feel obliged to confront a situation that might be better dealt with by armed backup.

Take that incident recently with the guy with the sword - I could easily see a could of beat policemen making the mistake of trying to take on that situation, messing it up and ending up chopped to pieces.

Personally I can't quite see the situation that is too severe to be handled with existing techniques like pepper spray and batons and not severe enough to require an armed response

[Lorcan]

There is a theory thaat non-lethal weapons such as Tazers would be preferred to conventional weapons such as guns as the consequences would be less severe.

Therefore I would be concerned that a Tazer would be a valued 'prize' to steal from a PC.

A criminal may then be tempted to use a Tazer more frequently than a gun as they would not risk becoming guilty of murder as much.

I most definately would not want criminals getting their hands on Tazers.

[metagirl]

the police do have a very tough job - not only that they are put in harms way with little to no backup but they have to make the sensitive decision as to how to turn a hostile situation around.so that they are in control. when i first came to this country (i'm from USA) i was so impressed by the police. one day soon after i first arrived, i witnessed a black guy being pulled over by a van of policemen. Before the police had an oppty to get out of the van, the guy had jumped out of his car and ran up to the van in a state of serious agitation. he was annoyed by being pulled over, shouting that it was the most recent in a series of many. instead of yelling back at the guy or throwing him down on the ground, kneeing him in the back and twisting his arms back while he pushed his head in the dirt (what i was expecting them to do) the policemen talked to him and calmed him down. without using any force. i say i was so shocked by this that i called my mom on my mobile- i doubted american policemen would've showed such poise or humanity .
the problem here, i think, is that the public has started arming themselves and combined with the type of behaviour shown by kids who "happy slap" - it should be only right that the police are offered similar protection.
and if/once they do use tazers, no doubt they will be provided with training as to when and how they should use them.

[jake-the-peg]

Just as a postscript

I think there already being introduced in some regions - I have a friend in the police who's received training.

[twiglet4frog]

Tazer Guns are powered by 2 x "AA" bateries the sort u get in a walkman or remote control, it is only effective due to the way the energy is discharged. personaly, i think they should only be given to trained officers and not all officers such as how high speed patrol cars are issued to trained officers. so they are very readily available and in the field so to speak at short notice but are controlled in the use. However, the uses of them are very minor as most serious crimes warranting the use, the police are not always present to use them and if firearms are considered involved then the firearms unit are trained to deal with that in a different way.

Tazer guns are best suited to very serious crowd problems or situations such as when people go beserk with swords/knives etc that are cornered but still to dangerous to approach and arrest under normal means

[jake-the-peg]

Hmm - taking on a "crowd problem" with single shot tazers?

Rather you than me!

Tell me what exactly happens if it the target in the crowd problem has shoved a magazine up his T shirt?

[twiglet4frog]

for starters a crowd control problem is usually started and kept on going by a very few select troublemakers, police tactics are to remove these ones quickly to try to allow the rest of the crowd to quieten down so tazers would only need to be used against the most dangerous troublemakers in a crowd, and as for the magazine up shirt, well a modern tazer has approximately 4 lines with barbs attached so that is 4 chances per discharge of hittting the flesh(similiar to a shotgun being fired with spread projectile pattern ) and if this fails then the gun itself can have the electric trails detached quickly and the gun used as a hand taser. A good example of this is in the film Meet The Fockers.