greenonedave

I have noticed that more police force areas are taking on board Tasers.
Surely subjecting someone to a 60000v shock must border on being torture,
I can recall the horror of the national newspapers when various prisoners around the world ( polictical or ordinary ) where given electric shocks as a form of torture.
Indeed electric shocks have been used in war time as torture.
Why have no civil liberty groups complained?
Now it seems perfectly alright for the police to do the same.
Am I going soft or is this complete hypocrisy ?

Nate

iTrader: (2)

Having spoken to a couple of officers that frequent this site, a criminal would prefer to be taser'd than CS gas used on them, they also said they would prefer the taser option themselves.

I did also see a video clip when they were trying the taser on a string of officers (it was turned down though).

To answer your question though, no a firearms license would be required and a taser is highly illegal

Snazy

Indeed illegal, but standard issue to most cops in the USA.
Its the ampage the kills not the voltage.

Which is why a jolt from a car battery will put you on your ****, but string 8 1.5 volt duracells together and you will get a tickle.

Besides, if someone gets Tazered, and deserve it, they also deserve all the discomfort that comes with it. I find it quite amuzing myself. And as Nate said, better than CS most would agree.

Snazy

YouTube - Cop hits guy with tazer - half dozen times..funny

Brilliant use, I would have kept going til the battery died lol

Down like a sack! Still didnt learn lol

2 mins in........... suspect in custordy

g7prs

iTrader: (5)

I know of somebody ( cough cough ) who has a steering lock with a built in taser . It has conductors along its length and when the steering wheel is moved a fifty thousand volt charge jumps across the conductors.

g7prs

iTrader: (5)

A small night time video of the autotaser.

YouTube - Protect your car with the auto taser 08-1998
YouTube - Auto Taser electrified steering wheel lock 2 of 2 - NIGHT

andythejock01wrx

This reminds me of the chap who wired his Cossie up to a lampost many years ago after it had previously been stolen (and recovered). The next crook was electrocuted (he lived), but IIRC the police charged the motorist.

[Davey]

Sounds like Urban Legend to me Andy,.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

I think if given the option of having a 9mm parabellum round in them from a Glock/MP5 or being Tasered - they'd rather get tasered.

I believe all police officers who are qualified to carry taser are tasered as part of their training on the system?

Anyhow Greenonedave, your argument against the use of Taser's by the police is totally flawed. A police officer using the device in order to prevent further criminal acts is allowed by law. The use of physical techniques in order to obtain information is not allowed by law.

And yes, your going soft.

andythejock01wrx

Could be ! You never know when you hear of stuff by word of mouth - it's like Scoobynet !

mart360

could you quantify the bit "A police officer using the device in order to prevent further criminal acts is allowed by law."

Understandably if Blagger bill was standing there with a sword being arsey, and stroppy, then yes fair enough, but an average person refusing to come quietly? Its quite worrying. So technically failing to furnish details is a criminal act, and you can be taser'd hmm


mart

fatherpierre

It's all about balance.

I had to fill someone's face with CS on nights recently. It was that or dish out pain with my asp and risk breaking bones.

If I'd have had a taser, I would have used that over the CS or asp.

Snazy

I would suggest failing to stop when ordered (on foot obviously) resisting arrest etc.
Why is that worrying? If you're doing wrong...... either dont, or go quietly.
I dont think Prasius quite meant failing to give details.

Considered a firearm, the police will have to write up, and justify every use of them anyway

Snazy

Nice one lol
In my opinion, if they can justify using, the person on the receiving end deserves it.

chris1scouser

it is not "ILLEGAL" for the bizzies to carry and operate tazers and CS gas, however it is "UNLAWFUL" for any civilian to carry or operate either. thats the way the wording goes anyway. ILLEGAL is against the law UNLAWFUL is the way plod get away with it because they are the law.

fatherpierre

Very rare to have to use anything other than a bit of force and 'arm angles'.

But when there's a 20st idiot who's had 15 pints of lager a few wraps of coke coming at you with a walking stick, the options are limited!

He cried like a baby in custody.

Snazy

Fair play, and good on ya mate.

Chris I think you will actually find that a lot of actions by a police officer can be considered "illegal" if they cannot justify their cause for carrying out the action.

Lets not be picky about it, handcuffing someone against their will is "illegal" but its part of a police officers job to do so.

Could be worse, it could be the USA.
A friend had a prisoner die in custordy after heavy restraint was used..
His "punishment" was 2 weeks off on full pay to get over the death.
Do something wrong, pay the frickin price, dont bitch about it.

Jaybird-UK

This isnt a bad anti theft device either

YouTube - South African Anti theft device

Shark Man

If your bored and have a gas hob.

hold a burner with your one hand - or an earthed object, and put a finger on your other hand on one of the electrodes. Then hit the ignitor button

Tickles a bit. Mine puts out at least 2000volts...I can't measure any higher as thats as high as my multimeter reads

yoza

http://scienceandresearch.homeoffice...df?view=Binary

All you need to know...

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Mart - I was talking about people who where using threatening behavior of some kind in order to avoid arrest. The fact that police officers have a wider selection of methods available to them in order to protect themselves and members of the public is a good thing, as it allows them more options in order to carry out an arrest using the minimum force necessary. No police officer is seriously going to use a taser in order to do a stop and search - the level of force simply isn't justifiable, and I would suggest the use of a taser would be most commonly used in a situation where the criminal has a weapon of some kind, or a large physical advantage and the officer wanted to keep distance from them.

So its actually a good thing for civil liberties groups when you consider an alternative is to arm all police officers with firearms - which would end up in some violent criminals being dead rather than twitching a little

Leslie

I am sure that there is a danger of killing someone with a heart problem regardless of the fact that it is low amperage.

Les

Snazy

Possibly, but it would no doubt be comparable to the stress on the heart a forced arrest with 6 cops restraining him would have.

The Snug Rhino

maybe GP's should hand out advice to those with weak hearts.....dont **** off the police. That should sort it.

Snazy

zs_phil

iTrader: (1)

up until this time last year you could buy tasers from a company on the net and they promised you would recieve them it was in a national paper and the journalists bought 2 and recieved them both a couple of days later ,the website is no longer available in the uk or has been closed down .

Snazy

I think thats until they were officially classified as a firearm.

andythejock01wrx

Don't have any problems with Police using CS, and, where necessary, taser.

However, is the taser not more dangerous ie a number of fatalities in the US ?

andythejock01wrx

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Taser controversy refuses to die

Apparently 70 people have died after being tasered by US police over the years, although the manufacturers claim that there were "other factors" in each case, typically drug abuse.

Sounds like Police escalation of use force when encountering bad guys should be :

1) "Arm angles" and baton.
2) CS spray
3) Taser
4 9mm (or .50 calibre Browning if they're really not playing ball ).

AndytJ

(1 and 2 are interchangeable - you could do more damage with a baton than with CS)

Snazy

I think that will differ from state to state also. Will ask Jared what they do in his force
Downside of CS is the good change of gassing yourself in the process, not a very accurate weapon as such. In bad cases of drugged people, the gas is gonna have a worse effect on the cop than it will on the bad guy.