Don't Taser Me Bro!

Are police going taser happy? That's a legitimate question considering the recent upsurge in Taser incidents across the country. Putting aside the high profile Taser deaths in Canada, US police use of Tasers are on the rise. City after city line up to make large stun gun purchases, touting the weapon as a great non-lethal deterrent. Maybe it is, but I have serious reservations regarding its use and officer training.

Who could forget the 6yr old boy in Miami who was tasered by police. We all remember Sept. 17th - A UF college student got the country's attention by being violently tasered for refusing to leave a debate.October 29th--An 82 year old Grandmother is tasered in Chicago. October 31st--A 14yr old trick or treater in Atlanta is tasered for disorderly behavior. This past Tuesday, November 20th-- A 28yr old Utah man is tasered during a traffic stop for refusing to sign a ticket. (The fact that he was forced to sign is another pet peeve of mine. Don't even get me started on our right to refuse to sign their stupid tickets. Is that an arrestable offense?)

What exactly are Taser-able offenses now? What are the guidelines on when a cop can wrench you out of your car along the roadside and zap you, your 10yr old, or your grandma with 50,000 volts? Seriously. I want to know. Anytime we have this kind of ambiguity of the rules, I think we'll find that there will soon be frequent abuse. Think about it folks. We have about 18,760 police agencies in the U.S. and somewhere close to a million police officers across the country. The minimum requirements are GED or High School diploma, and the pay is crappy so we are not getting top of the class folks. All these police officers have been told that tasers are the non-lethal holy grail so they are zapping taser darts in the public at the drop of a hat. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want these guys running cowboy across the country with their finger on the 50,000Volt button when they pull over me and my family for running a stop sign. We need guidelines. We need clarity of regulations. We need uniformity of application.

I'm just the Average Black Man, and that's my two cents.

http://averageblackman.blogspot.com/