Cautious approval for another tool in police armoury
Given the choice, people experienced in these matters would opt to be brought down by a Taser rather than a police dog, says The Daily News. Really now?? Is that because police dogs are uncontrollable?
A 40kg German Shepherd swinging on the back of an offender's arm or leg is terrifying and very painful. But why does a dog have to swing off an arm??
It will leave injuries that can take months to repair, with life-long scars.
A dart from a Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle will paralyse a human for 10 or 20 seconds, and hurt like hell.
But after that, the recipient will be back to normal, or at least back to whatever state they were in when the police felt the need to briefly incapacitate them.
The Taser has no lasting side-effects – other than handcuffs and, perhaps, jail. Why don't you say the real reason... because they are cheaper. Stop comparing dogs to laser guns!
However, not everyone is convinced of either the New Zealand Police's need for another front-line weapon, or the negligible risk to those targeted.
There is a group called Campaign Against the Taser, led by Auckland lawyer Marie Dyhrberg and backed by the Greens, the Maori Party and civil rights groups.
They argue that the police already have batons and pepper spray, in addition to dogs, when officers' powers of negotiation are being ignored and the risk of injuries, or death, continues to rise.
The critics fear that Taser guns, after an artificially careful 12 months of trial, will become the negotiator of first choice. In an era of rising violence, especially in crimes fuelled by drugs – and, in particular, methamphetamine – it is almost certain that some of their worst fears will come true. HUM... now this is an interesting area. Why don't the Green Party and Maori Party start asking some hard questions about drug use.
Ever since that weed- marijane- cannabis has been demonised (ie cannabis is bad for you) and police started arresting people for smoking a leaf (dumb and dumber.. why don't they arrest people for eating excess fat as that's worse for you). The more they arrested, the more people started using other drugs that are undetected in the blood. That's why P or crystal meths entered society. There was a need created by the media, police, lawyers, politicians... Hey you... if you don't agree, why don't you comment on it.. there's a place for you to do it on this blog!
So, why don't the Green and Maori Party (and labour and national) start the process of taking the profit out of drugs, then there wouldn't be a need for drug dogs or laser guns, or lawyers, or rehab worker (well, not that many), prisons, etc etc...
After all, many a good idea has been undone by human nature.
And police officers are not infallible, especially at 3am, in the middle of a dangerous and fast-moving incident. Critics cite American statistics taken between the introductory 1999 and 2005, which show more than 100 Taser-tagged people have died. And how many have died from police dogs?
...to read the bits in between
It is true that a decent society, a perfect society, would have no place for Tasers.
But the real world is not like that. But it could be !! Shoot for the stars!
It is the meth-heads that decent society has no place for, and if the police say they need another tool at their disposal, used by trained and limited squads, then the trial should get the public's blessing, however cautiously. Who wrote this crap?
A 40kg German Shepherd swinging on the back of an offender's arm or leg is terrifying and very painful. But why does a dog have to swing off an arm??
It will leave injuries that can take months to repair, with life-long scars.
A dart from a Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle will paralyse a human for 10 or 20 seconds, and hurt like hell.
But after that, the recipient will be back to normal, or at least back to whatever state they were in when the police felt the need to briefly incapacitate them.
The Taser has no lasting side-effects – other than handcuffs and, perhaps, jail. Why don't you say the real reason... because they are cheaper. Stop comparing dogs to laser guns!
However, not everyone is convinced of either the New Zealand Police's need for another front-line weapon, or the negligible risk to those targeted.
There is a group called Campaign Against the Taser, led by Auckland lawyer Marie Dyhrberg and backed by the Greens, the Maori Party and civil rights groups.
They argue that the police already have batons and pepper spray, in addition to dogs, when officers' powers of negotiation are being ignored and the risk of injuries, or death, continues to rise.
The critics fear that Taser guns, after an artificially careful 12 months of trial, will become the negotiator of first choice. In an era of rising violence, especially in crimes fuelled by drugs – and, in particular, methamphetamine – it is almost certain that some of their worst fears will come true. HUM... now this is an interesting area. Why don't the Green Party and Maori Party start asking some hard questions about drug use.
Ever since that weed- marijane- cannabis has been demonised (ie cannabis is bad for you) and police started arresting people for smoking a leaf (dumb and dumber.. why don't they arrest people for eating excess fat as that's worse for you). The more they arrested, the more people started using other drugs that are undetected in the blood. That's why P or crystal meths entered society. There was a need created by the media, police, lawyers, politicians... Hey you... if you don't agree, why don't you comment on it.. there's a place for you to do it on this blog!
So, why don't the Green and Maori Party (and labour and national) start the process of taking the profit out of drugs, then there wouldn't be a need for drug dogs or laser guns, or lawyers, or rehab worker (well, not that many), prisons, etc etc...
After all, many a good idea has been undone by human nature.
And police officers are not infallible, especially at 3am, in the middle of a dangerous and fast-moving incident. Critics cite American statistics taken between the introductory 1999 and 2005, which show more than 100 Taser-tagged people have died. And how many have died from police dogs?
...to read the bits in between
It is true that a decent society, a perfect society, would have no place for Tasers.
But the real world is not like that. But it could be !! Shoot for the stars!
It is the meth-heads that decent society has no place for, and if the police say they need another tool at their disposal, used by trained and limited squads, then the trial should get the public's blessing, however cautiously. Who wrote this crap?
1 Comments:
At 3:38 a.m.,
Natalie's Life said…
Off-duty cop dog bites kids
Sam the police dog has been removed from active duty after two children were bitten on the weekend.
One of the victims suffered a head injury that required stitches, while the other victim suffered minor injuries to his hand, said EPS spokesman Jeff Wuite late yesterday.
Sam was off-duty at the time of the incident, Wuite said.
An internal investigation is underway.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2006/08/31/pf-1788909.html
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