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Taser use draws fire from Amnesty International

2K views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  Kilvinsky 
#1 ·
Local cops in Bay State suburbs are zapping suspects with Taser jolts at a shocking rate as the state looks the other way and even Boston police have shied away from the controversial weapon, a Herald review has found.
In 2007 alone, the weapons were fired at least 200 times in 30 towns, according to a Herald analysis of quarterly reports from the 30 departments using high-powered stun guns. That's a four-fold hike from the year before, according to documents from the Executive Office of Public Safety.
Some small-town cops now think of Tasers as the police backup they never had.

"For urban departments, they have a whole bunch of people who show up," said Greenfield Police Chief David Guilbault. "Here, it's one-on-one, or it's 20 to 25 minutes before another person comes. And since we've implemented (Tasers), we've seen injuries go way down."
Added Wareham Lt. Irving Wallace: "If I had the money to buy everyone a Taser and put everyone through training, I'd do that."
Tasers came under fire last month in New York when a man threatening suicide on a ledge fell to his death after being zapped.
The Herald reviewed reports from Wareham, Freetown, Norton and Greenfield showing Tasers were used on many suspects accused of disorderly conduct and threatening suicide with weapons.
One notable foul-up occurred in June 2007 in Nantucket, when a cop pulled the trigger 13 times in the mistaken belief the taser's probes didn't have to hit the suspect, just come close. "It was more of a training issue for us," said Deputy Chief Charles Gibson.
The stunning rise in Taser use has drawn the fire of the local Amnesty International chapter, which says Tasers were supposed to be a non-lethal alternative to gunfire.
"Now it seems clear that police departments are using Tasers not as an alternative to lethal force but to get compliance," said Joshua Rubenstein, northeast regional director for Amnesty.
The organization says that since 2001, 320 people have died after being "tased."
Rubenstein said he was disturbed to learn that despite vowing closer scrutiny, the state no longer reviews the circumstances of Taser use - and only tracks the number of zaps and the gender and race of targets.
Not all cops in the 'burbs are sold on the high-voltage stunners.
"There are many questions," said Milton Police Chief Richard G. Wells. "I think that it's still kind of new. I'd be more inclined to see what some more studies show."
Even Boston police have yet to arm their officers with the very weapon Hub brass urged the state to embrace four years ago.
"My concern was some questionable incidents where people died during the use of Tasers," said Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, adding that he's considering the weapon.

Stun guns deliver 50,000 volts:
 
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#2 ·
Ah, Amnesty International, God love 'em. For every good deed they do, they screw up three times.

I for one am sick and tired of useful things being taken away because 1 in 1000 die from it. Sounds cold? I don't care. How many people are not getting a drug that was helping them, curing them, keeping them alive because a few people had a bad reaction to it.

And now because SOME folks don't take well to a taser, some groups are trying to stop it's use, regardless of how many cops, civilians and even suspects' lives have been saved by use of this item.

I can't speak for the rest of you, but I wish groups like AI would just dry up and blow away. I'm sick and tired of these imbiciles sticking their creepy little noses in EVERYWHERE on some bleeding heart crusade.

Just please, S.T.F.U!!!!!!
 
G
#3 ·
Put Mr AI in a room w/ a taser. Also, put in the room a crazy guy w/ a baseball bat. Will Mr AI choose 1) cry like a baby & scratch his vajaja, 2) call 911 for help from the POs that he wants to screw over, or 3) use the taser?

I am guessing #1, then #2. He would probably drop the taser.
 
#4 ·
In 2007 alone, the weapons were fired at least 200 times in 30 towns, according to a Herald analysis of quarterly reports from the 30 departments using high-powered stun guns. That's a four-fold hike from the year before, according to documents from the Executive Office of Public Safety.
How many of these 30 towns had tasers in 2006 or just got trained in their use during the last 6 months of 2006 but had them the whole calendar year of 2007? No wonder the figures may be a bit askew.

Does the EOPS also take into account the decrease in officer related injuries and less use of pepper spray or hands on tactics used by the police now that tasers are in play? Naw, I didn't think so.

Tell Amnesty International and Joshua Rubenstein to go hold protests in those armpits overseas that hack off limbs if you vote the wrong way in an election or practice a different religion. We're the most tolerant government in the world. A.I. should focus their aims elsewhere and STFU as Kilv points out.
 
#8 ·
Thats exactly how I took it, thats why I asked what Hospital he worked at,obviously every area is different. I worked the 11-7 for 4 yrs and we would restrain a patient atleast once a night...and have all out battles once a week..although legally almost every time one went off we could have sprayed them we didnt..I was on with 3 other good sized guys and most true psych patients dont need to be sprayed..That was just in the er...we had a locked psych unit on the 2nd floor..but my point was out of over 200 restraints I only used my oc 5 times and almost got fired every time.
 
G
#9 ·
Thats exactly how I took it, thats why I asked what Hospital he worked at,obviously every area is different. I worked the 11-7 for 4 yrs and we would restrain a patient atleast once a night...and have all out battles once a week..although legally almost every time one went off we could have sprayed them we didnt..I was on with 3 other good sized guys and most true psych patients dont need to be sprayed..That was just in the er...we had a locked psych unit on the 2nd floor..but my point was out of over 200 restraints I only used my oc 5 times and almost got fired every time.
Well, in the grand scheme of things once a week really isn't that often. :cool:

As for the patients who really go out of control (drunks are worse than psych IMO), that's what the police are for. We can use our OC, restrain the patient, and be gone before the nurses stop coughing. And we don't have to answer to the hospital administration. :p
 
#10 ·
Cops say Tasers offer simple, safe way to collar suspects


Photo by Angela Rowlings
Taser.

Small-town cops stepped forward yesterday to praise high-voltage Tasers, saying they prevent suspects from resisting arrest and in many cases stop people threatening suicide from killing themselves.
"This is the best tool I've ever had access to as a police officer," said Norton Police Officer Michael McKenney, one of the department's three Taser instructors. "It's highly effective, alleviates time and effort for the officers and injuries for the suspects."
The Herald disclosed yesterday that suburban cops are zapping suspects with stunning frequency - reporting roughly 100 incidents in 2007, at least a fourfold increase from the year before, and raising eyebrows with human rights watchdogs.
More recent figures, confirmed yesterday, show that trend continues to accelerate: 30 departments reported firing Tasers in 80 incidents in just the first six months of this year, according to a Herald analysis of quarterly reports to the state.
Here are some examples of typical Taser use by suburban departments:
On July 6, Wareham police reported two drunken men were shoving each other near a crowd watching the town fireworks. One of the suspects allegedly wouldn't get into the cruiser and was yelling "go (expletive) yourself," prompting a cop to zap him with the less-powerful drive-stun setting, which entails jabbing the Taser itself, not its electrodes, into the suspect. The suspect "jumped" into the cruiser after receiving a jolt to the thigh, according to police.
Norton cops tasered and subdued a 22-year-old combative patient at a drug rehab facility after he allegedly came at them with clenched fists after assaulting other patients on Feb. 13, 2007, according to a police report.
State police requested that cops in Freetown assist them in tasering a suicidal man in Dartmouth on Feb., 26, 2007. According to a police report, the man, 28, was cutting his wrists in a car. He was taken safely into custody.
In August, Wareham cops stunned a man who allegedly threatened to "shoot up" a house before leading cops on a car chase. A police report said that when the suspect finally exited his car, he refused to get on the ground.
"I could not see his hands as he continued to move away from me," the officer wrote in his police report. "Fearing for my safety, I deployed my Taser and struck him in the arm and leg."

(7) Comments | Post / Read Comments

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2008_10_23_taser/
 
#11 ·
Funny enough, I got home from work yesterday morning and put the TV on. No, that's not the funny part.

There was an INFOMERCIAL on for personal tasers!!! Of course they could not be sold in Mass. (or a few other states) but they made the excellent point that IT WORKS!

I only saw the last 15 minutes (which means I saw the 3rd rehash) but I found it amusing that they were marketing these devices to civilians and here in good old Mass. there's a question about whether the POLICE should have them.

God save the Commonwealth.
 
#13 ·
I cant imagine those personal tasers actually working..if anything they would just give someone a false sense of security. Anyone ever actually see one of those in person?
Civilians can carry them legally here in NC. Scary, those X26C(civilian) models give a 30 second ride :shock: instead of our 5. Although, from the way I understood it at a slightly less amperage. During our training they told that the 30 seconds gives the victim time to get away...:)

http://www.taser.com/products/consumers/pages/taserx26c.aspx
 
#15 ·
I'm talking a real bad flip out, not your typical restraint (which is quite rare now a days maybe 1 or 2 a day at the most). Theses type of incidents that I am referring too are: when a patient barricades themselves in a room, or just goes totally nuts tearing the walls apart. Or someone who wants to fill a bed admits someone "discharged from Bridgewater". Scary stuff.
 
#18 ·
Ah,
I for one am sick and tired of useful things being taken away because 1 in 1000 die from it.
Actually, taser is never and has never been the cause of death!! Usually, it the cocaine or other factors which lead to death!!!

In RI, we love the taser!! You resist, TASED!! Police 1, criminals 0!! Lol!!

Seriously, why wrestle with a suspect when we can incapacitate them and avoid injury!!!
 
#19 ·
In RI, we love the taser!! You resist, TASED!! Police 1, criminals 0!! Lol!!

Seriously, why wrestle with a suspect when we can incapacitate them and avoid injury!!!
Two points:

1) I could not agree more. Why oh why do we have to fight with these stinkbags when you can end even the risk of a fight with one jolt? If nothing else, the taxpayer no longer can complain about these cops who 'get hurt' and stay out of work. (I don't worry about tax payers, but there's always the dipstick who whines about the injured cops!)

2) Rhode Island seems like L.E. heaven. Ok, I know the Ocean State isn't perfect either, but any and all dealings I've had with cops and RI, you guys are way ahead of things.
 
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