Use of Tasers

[Indy Lurker]

Several posts discuss how police are using Tasers when they shouldn't, and that they should only be used as an alternative to a firearm, and that cops who use them are just flexing their power and authority.


The police are TAUGHT to use a Tasers when they can't get an individual handcuffed. This is procedure. This is policy. If you don't like this, you need to speak to your mayor, or city council, not the cop with the Taser.

I googled Use of force and Taser, and the policy for Missoula popped up.


For Missoula police

A Taser weapon may be used where:

1. Verbal dialogue has failed to bring about the subject’s compliance,

AND

2. The subject has signaled his intention to actively resist the officers'
efforts to make the arrest.

There is no requirement to tackle a person, or even to wait for the person to actively resist.


For Missoula police the ONLY time you shouldn't use a taser to gain compliance is when:

1. The subject is obviously pregnant, or
2. The subject is elderly or obviously infirmed, or
3. The subject is a child, or
4. The subject is handcuffed.

This is public policy, not the actions or rogue cops.

I encourage you to go to your city's website and see if they publish your city's policy.


ftp://www.ci.missoula.mt.us/Packets/Council/2008/2008-12-08/720Taser20080101.pdf.
****************************************

III. PROCEDURES:

A. Use of a Taser weapon is considered a use of force and shall be employed
in a manner consistent the Missoula Police Department policy on Use of
Force.

B. Unless it is impractical, unreasonable, or dangerous to do so, a verbal
warning should be given before a Taser is employed.

C. A Taser weapon may be used where:

1. Verbal dialogue has failed to bring about the subject’s compliance,

AND

2. The subject has signaled his intention to actively resist the officers'
efforts to make the arrest.


D. Lacking articuable exigent circumstances, a Taser weapon should not be
used when:

1. The subject is obviously pregnant, or
2. The subject is elderly or obviously infirmed, or
3. The subject is a child, or
4. The subject is handcuffed.

E. Once a subject complies with and remains compliant to the officers’
requests, orders or physical arrest, the use of a Taser weapon is no longer
justified.

F. Repeated Taser cycles should be avoided. All officers should use the taser
cycle as an opportunity to begin to gain control of the subjects limb(s) to
avoid further resistance.
****************************************************************************************

[MadHound]

1. Ah, so cops shouldn't be using Tasers on suspect in danger of falling eh

Yet cops have done just that, damn near killing a guy.

Cops should avoid repeated Taser use, yet they don't. Instead they zap people five, ten, fifteen times, until the person dies.

Cops shouldn't use a Taser when:

1. The subject is obviously pregnant, or
2. The subject is elderly or obviously infirmed, or
3. The subject is a child, or
4. The subject is handcuffed.

Yet they have, on multiple occasions, resulting in both injury and death.

So while cities and towns do put policies in place, the fact of the matter is that many cops are out of control when it comes to Tasers, ignoring these guidelines, and basically shocking the shit out of people for any reason or even no reason at all.

So apparently cops can't handle Tasers, which is what we've been saying all along. And if the cops can't handle Tasers, then we need to take these lethal weapons out of their hands.

[Echo In Light]

2. Some always fail to take such facts into account - facts, that for them, = "whining"

Damn liberals...

:sarcasm: