Isle of Man Police to carry Tazers as standard issue

[Tumble]

Just heard it on the news this evening... along with the pepper spray and night-sticks, they'll now be allowed to immobilize chavs and other violent individuals with electric guns.

Makes me feel safer anyway. The way i look at it, all it means is that people who try to disrupt normal proceedings are gonna get a shock.. quite literally. I know I'll never be in a position to receive that treatment so I'm not worried. I reckon if you do get it, it's your own fault and you shouldn't have been being naughty in the first place.

Might even make Chantel and Wayne respect the police a bit too..

[rajagra]

Let's hope the police receive the necessary training...

http://www.stellaawards.com/2003format.html
THE WINNER of the 2003 True Stella Awards: The City of Madera, Calif. Madera police officer Marcy Noriega had the suspect from a minor disturbance handcuffed in the back of her patrol car. When the suspect started to kick at the car's windows, Officer Noriega decided to subdue him with her Taser. Incredibly, instead of pulling her stun gun from her belt, she pulled her service sidearm and shot the man in the chest, killing him instantly. The city, however, says the killing is not the officer's fault; it argues that "any reasonable police officer" could "mistakenly draw and fire a handgun instead of the Taser device" and has filed suit against Taser, arguing the company should pay for any award from the wrongful death lawsuit the man's family has filed.

[Tumble]

good job our police don't carry ballistic firearms regularly then... we do have a weapons squad, but I highly doubt they'd be bothered with a tazer when they're packing H&K's.....

[Zak33]

Makes me feel safer anyway. ... I reckon if you do get it, it's your own fault and you shouldn't have been being naughty in the first place.

Might even make Chantel and Wayne respect the police a bit too..

true.....damn right.

The only worrying issue is what happens when someone steals it from the officer and uses it on them

its one of the reasons British Police tried to avoid hand guns for so long.

[KnightWhoSaysNi]

Making a taser look just like a gun, increasing the chance of a mistake under stress, does seem a little silly. Maybe it should be shaped like a star trek gun, fear of looking like a dork will prevent crooks from taking them .

[TeePee]

There is another reason against there use, although I am not a supporter of it.

Police throughout the country have access to tasers, and they are used occasionally as an alternative to lethal force, and are only deployed in firearms situations. The logic is it's better to shoot an offender with a taser than a bullet, if he is going to be shot anyway.

The problem is that if an offender has a pacemaker fitted, the taser will kill him. If the choise is taser or bullet, then using the taser is still the best bet. But when tasers are used whenever an offender is deemed violent, but where lethal force is not justified, then use of a taser could be deemed unreasonable in court.

[grimpy]

whats the percentage of the population that have pacemakers fitted tho? hardly any.

[TeePee]

Exactly, which makes the poilce able to use them freely, until the point where, purely by chance, they are dishing out lethal force in a situation where it's unreasonable.