A victory
Good:
Police need reasons to believe a suspect is dangerous before firing a Taser and can’t use their stun gun simply because the person is disobeying orders or acting erratically, a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Monday.
The decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sets judicial standards for police and for people who claim they were victims of excessive force after police hit them with a Taser dart.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Well, it is the 9th Circuit, so if it goes to the Supremes there is a very good chance it will be overturned. Without reading the decision, I will bet it makes a hash of legal arguments and is illogical in the extreme.
December 29th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
That’s a myth, Mikee. The 9th Circuit is in the middle of the circuit courts as far as percentages of cases overturned.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
If this spreads to other courts, this is seismic.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Make no mistake, I don’t do drugs, I’m no more than normally insane, but if a cop pulls his taser on me, I have no choice but to try to kill him. He may as well pull his pistol, in fact, I would probably fare better against the gun than I would the taser. My heart will not tolerate the taser, hell I can’t even get within 18 inches of an arc welder. So, for me it is a life and death situation, the fact that every cop and his brother enjoy using the taser for their entertainment means I have no choice but to try to put them down, should they decide to amuse themselves at my expense.
I am quite sure I am not the only person in this predicament. In a proper setting the need to worry would be infinitesimal since there is no reason for me to be at odds with any officer, but many of them will and do taser people who just ask them a question. One more time, that hand drops to that taser, I have no choice, I have to take him.
This is not a situation of my making, this is a situation caused by the extreme abuse and frequency of the use of the taser by cops.
December 29th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I think this is a good decision. I’m in favor of LEOs using tasers when they are needed, but there are times when they aren’t and they’re used anyway because it’s easier or less of a hassle. I thik people in general tend to forget that a taser, while less leathal than a gun, can still be pretty damned leathal. You’re electrocuting someone when you use it. That ain’t healthy.
December 29th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
It’s also San Francisco where non-compliance is high on the list of priorities and where the Police force is among the most ineffective in the entire country.
Disruptive and non-compliant people, of which there are many in SF including many organizations of disruptive people (and Anarchists) who see themselves as “civil-rights” activists (see also, “Critical Mass Friday” that originated in S.F.) are completely indifferent to Police commands and ignore the Police – so the Cops Tase’ people like popcorn.
And the non-compliant behavior is mirrored throughout the Bay Area, especially across the Bay in Oakland and northward in neighboring Richmond – the murder-capital of California.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
I think the widespread deployment of Tasers is probably the worst thing to ever happen to public perception of law enforcement. And most officers and departments don’t even seem to be aware that they have a PR problem. When I was a kid, parents taught their kids to respect and look up to police officers. Almost every parent I know now instead teaches their kids to fear them.
The overuse of Tasers is bad enough, but departmental handling of their use makes things worse. Hardly a week goes by without a news report or YouTube video of some cop using a Taser in a situation that clearly didn’t call for it. And virtually every time the department involved responds by performing an “internal investigation” and then announcing that the officer involved acted according to department policy. What does that say about the policy?
One last problem is that even officers who don’t believe in “Taser First” as a personal rule are willing to assist those who are. Look how many of these videos have multiple officers on scene and none of them object.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Retired road bull here.
The “taze first” policy is an outgrowth of the “pepper first” policy of the early-mid 80’s.
Both of them are police management mentality for refusing to let officers/deputies use body strength in physical confrontations.
Somehow, centuries of cops using manual force to control resisting arrestees suddenly became wrong, and these “stand-off, hands-off” techniques became required.
I’m sure that the next technique will be sound-blasting or slippery-goo to do the same thing.
BTW, as any road bull knows, all this fancy equipment does is make more work for the arresting officer, and more opportunities for the arrestee to escape during the processing.
Police management ignores the KISS principle with all this gadgetry.
December 31st, 2009 at 3:46 am
Good, what I’ve been saying all along.
December 31st, 2009 at 10:59 am
1 All of this is an outgrowth of the Rodney King case. Even though the cops were wrong in that case, hands off has been taken to the extreme.
2 A Taser is not considered lethal. It imparts 3 joules of electricity. In contrast, an AED shocks at 200-360 joules.
3 With that being said, force should not be used to prevent “backtalk” or “disrespect” Force is far overused by police today. This country is rapidly becoming a polce state.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
@divemedic:
I agree, Tasers should not be used as compliance tool. Using them that way only serves to increase people’s (often justified) disrespect for cops and reinforces the stereotypes that cops are bullies with a badge.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:42 pm
When the police in my area first got them, they had a contest to see who could tase the most people. They were doing it to 6-10 people a day. They used to laugh and brag about it. I work EMS. It sickens me.