Experience the Real Issue With Taser Use
By 250 News
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 10:02 AM
Prince George, B.C. - The final report on taser use, delivered by Chair of the Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP stopped short of calling for a moratorium on taser use saying the police already have a wide range of methods available to them to defuse situations. Instead, Paul Kennedy is calling for the weapon to be only placed in the hands of the more experienced officer.
“No one is calling for the police to be disarmed, clearly in my mind it has a risk, but the risk in fatal outcome is less than having been shot twice in the chest.” “My preference is to approach it on the basis that there may be a risk to it, where in some cases there may be a fatal outcome, but it is less likely to be fatal than a gun.”
The key says Kennedy is experience, that the public wants officers to use the best judgement. “To equip junior officers with this device before they have learned real life experience is unfair to the public and to the officer.”
Kennedy says senior officers have years of experience which allow them to make a better assessment of the situation. He says in rural settings (populations of less than 5,000) a constable with 5 years experience should be allowed to use the weapon, and in major centers, a Corporal should be allowed to have a taser.
According to the data examined, (which Kennedy says is faulty) the person tasered is usually a male in his 20’s, “Typically there has been alcohol involved, and the tasering took place in the early hours of the morning on Friday or Saturday, what does that sound like to you? In most cases, people have been tasered in cases of public disturbance. We have dealt with this kind of behaviour since man discovered fire water, or whatever the elixir was of the day without using tasers, and I have problems with some of the data, when someone as young as 13 is tasered or someone 80 is tasered.”
He says he has 117 reports which outline how 13, 14, 15 and 16 year olds were tasered. "I have a report of a 14 year old girl fleeing from a car who was tasered, another of a 14 year old being tasered 4 times, and a 16 year old tasered 5 times."
So if young officers can have guns, why not tasers? “Good question,” says Kennedy “There are certain taboos and there will be some officers who, have gone through their entire career without having drawn their gun.” He says they do not draw the gun because of the understanding it can be fatal, and the officer understands there are consequences. “Clearly the use of a gun brings with it its own respect, and the taser does not.”
In the end, Kennedy says the matter is one of policy, and the public has the right to say what is or isn’t acceptable. “You have a say in what kind of policing you want. The citizen does not have the burden of officer safety, and the people are saying the current use of the taser is unacceptable.” He says if the people do not have a say, “Then what will be introduced tomorrow to enforce the law?”
The recommendations are not legally binding.
Previous Story - Next Story
Email
Print
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Del.icio.usReturn to Home
Posted by: numbers on June 18 2008 10:41 AM