Spinal Fire Scientia Est Potentia

I have several problems with tazers. The first is obvious. They have become the premier tool for cops to deal with any situation. Rather then use tools that would be far lower on any force continuum, it is just assumed that the tazer will always do the trick. For crying out loud, a cop could just pick up and carry ANY 9 year old out of a situation and not have to resort to torturing the child.

Secondly, it is also assumed that they are harmless...which they are not. Numerous scientific studies have shown that multiple tazings and tazings on people with various health problems...including mental health problems, can have long term negative effects. Cops primarily get their information on tazers directly from the companies that are selling them. I didn't want to argue with my teacher on this point...

Thirdly...and this is my biggest problem with tazers...is that cops are now starting to use them as tools for complience. If you question or hesitate in any way in response to a cop's orders, you are threatened with tazing. There are two issues with this point. First is that this approach frees LEO from attempting to understand and deal with the manifold causes of behavior. This is only going to lead to lazy police work and misunderstanding...perhaps even tragedy. Secondly, and most importantly, it is an abuse of power. You cannot fight against a tazer and you cannot even question a cop before being threatened with tazing. Thus it is now impossible to question authority. In my honest opinion, this is the death of civil disobedience.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/04/kinberg_0410

This link is an interesting story about a graffiti artist and his file in a police state.