[Sharky]

Officers Shot By Tasers

POSTED: 6:04 am EDT July 27, 2007
UPDATED: 9:46 am EDT July 27, 2007


VILLA RICA, Ga. -- A lot of people think their job is a pain, but Villa Rica officers went through some actual pain Thursday.

The Villa Rica Police Department has embraced the use of tasers despite recent controversy over the weapons.

Officers not only learn how to shoot the tasers, but they also learn first-hand what it feels like to be shot by one.

VIDEO: Officer Gets Shot By Taser


The police chief ordered officers who will be carrying tasers to go through training to prove the weapon is safe when used properly, among other reasons.

"I think they get an appreciation of the pain it does cause. It is short-term, but it does hurt and we don't want to keep using it and abusing it," said Villa Rica Police Chief Mike Mansour.

Critics believe tasers shouldn't be used until it is proven that the high-voltage gun is not deadly.

Only those officers that will be carrying the taser guns were required to participate.

 

[Sine Nomen]

I think this is a good thing, both for officer responsibility and preparation for nasty situations. It's not unlikely to expect a criminal to tase and officer, and I'd like to know that they wouldn't panic if it does happen.

 

[ber950]

I think this is a good thing, both for officer responsibility and preparation for nasty situations. It's not unlikely to expect a criminal to tase and officer, and I'd like to know that they wouldn't panic if it does happen.

I bet an officer has been accidentally tazed by his partner before.

 

[Sine Nomen]

I bet an officer has been accidentally tazed by his partner before.

How sure are you it was an accident? :wink:

 

[legacy38]

They are a tool just like firearms and batons. The "controversy" around them is media and trial lawyer induced. If someone is already to the point of excited delirium they are on the way out of the door anyway, and I have not seen a case where a death after a taser use also didn't involve a person either in excited delirium or whacked out on drugs.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

legacy, I think they are GREAT if properly used, but some departments use them for "compliance." My personal view is that they should not be used until a baton would be used. Using them on somebody passively resisting is no more proper than smacking such a person with a baton. Using them on a seven year old is no more proper than smacking a seven year old with a baton.

 

[ber950]

excited delirium

You realize that there is not a medical consensus that this condition really exists.

There are a lot of claims that it is just cop :bsflag:

 

[Sharky]

I agree with their effectiveness. I think they have their severe downfalls however. I know it may help the officer with a cracked out person that may be wild and violent, but there is always gonna be bad publicity in the media.

 

[legacy38]

legacy, I think they are GREAT if properly used, but some departments use them for "compliance." My personal view is that they should not be used until a baton would be used. Using them on somebody passively resisting is no more proper than smacking such a person with a baton. Using them on a seven year old is no more proper than smacking a seven year old with a baton.

I think a baton should only used if a taser wasn't effective.

For the record, I don't carry a taser.

 

[legacy38]

excited delirium

You realize that there is not a medical consensus that this condition really exists.

There are a lot of claims that it is just cop :bsflag:

People claimed that OC was killing people too until that was shown not to be the case. Now they claim that it is tasers.

 

[ber950]

excited delirium

You realize that there is not a medical consensus that this condition really exists.

There are a lot of claims that it is just cop :bsflag:

People claimed that OC was killing people too until that was shown not to be the case. Now they claim that it is tasers.

Oh I have seen enough police video to know something is up with these folks. The doctors are not sure just what.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7608386

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

legacy, I think they are GREAT if properly used, but some departments use them for "compliance." My personal view is that they should not be used until a baton would be used. Using them on somebody passively resisting is no more proper than smacking such a person with a baton. Using them on a seven year old is no more proper than smacking a seven year old with a baton.

I think a baton should only used if a taser wasn't effective.

For the record, I don't carry a taser.

Like if the seven year old keeps acting up? :lol:

 

[legacy38]

[quote="Malum Prohibitum":2lj66cni]legacy, I think they are GREAT if properly used, but some departments use them for "compliance." My personal view is that they should not be used until a baton would be used. Using them on somebody passively resisting is no more proper than smacking such a person with a baton. Using them on a seven year old is no more proper than smacking a seven year old with a baton.

I think a baton should only used if a taser wasn't effective.

For the record, I don't carry a taser.

Like if the seven year old keeps acting up? :lol:[/quote:2lj66cni]

I've got a three-year-old, and I'm not certain I could hit her with a taser.

The major advantages of a taser over a baton are that the taser is typically immediately effective and that it generally doesn't leave broken bones that are going to last for weeks after the encounter.

Certification to carry OC requires getting sprayed with it as well. I gotta tell you that I hate that stuff, and I get severely ticked when somebody uses that stuff in the middle of a scuffle. I'd never uses unless in a barricaded suspect situation.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

OC is great for clearing angry crowds.

 

[legacy38]

OC is great for clearing angry crowds.

If it's a crowd I'm going to back off and break out the 40mm and deliver the nastiness from a distance.

A taser set up for contact deployment works great for clearing out a crowd when they see that thing start arching.

We had a guy cut loose with his OC inside of crowded room in an effort to break up a fight, and it contaminated everyone in the room.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

You don't even have to spray the crowd. If you spray the guy that is fighting, when you get him under control, you look up, and the crowd that was closing in on the fight (yelling hostile things) is now dispersed!



Most people have never had a whiff of that stuff, and I always found the main effect to be psychological (while it made copious amounts of snot run out of my nose and my eyes kept wanting to close, I could still function when sprayed). People who get a whiff of it for the first time generally scatter.

I never used a Taser. They were not really in such wide use until relatively recently. I did once back up an officer rendered unconscious by one of the hand held "stun gun" type devices by an armed robber. It always made me leary of anything like that.

 

[legacy38]

For the military guys that are reading this, CS ain't nothing compared to OC.

 

[Thorsen]

For the military guys that are reading this, CS ain't nothing compared to OC.

Yeh, I was wondering that. The CS I was exposed to in the military resulted in copius amounts of snot, tears, and a clenched up throat. Nasty and you didn't want to stay in it, but I guess if you had to you could operate.

What exactly does OC do that is different?

 

[Ashe]

I've been hit with (I think it was 8%) OC for ASF training, while extremely unpleasant, I was fully capable of completeing the Exam which included using the baton, blocking and even cuffing a non-compliant Suspect.


On a side note it was one of my buddies playing the non-compliant, so I made sure to wipe my face witth my hand and use that hand to wipe his face with while he was resisiting :bigshock:

 

[legacy38]

For the military guys that are reading this, CS ain't nothing compared to OC.

Yeh, I was wondering that. The CS I was exposed to in the military resulted in copius amounts of snot, tears, and a clenched up throat. Nasty and you didn't want to stay in it, but I guess if you had to you could operate.

What exactly does OC do that is different?

The end result is pretty much the same thing, but they produce the results in a different manner, but the OC in my experience is far more potent.