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[Swiss Mercenary]

I didn't ask you if it would be likely to happen or not - I asked you which you would prefer.

Except that this isn't an A or B situation. It's an A or B or C one. Prior to the invention of A, it was B or C... Predominantly C. Now it seems to be turning to predominantly A.

I think Tasers are useful tools... But it's clear to me that they aren't being used right. Isolated examples? Maybe. Then again, "Innocent tasered survives, when they could have been talked to" usually doesn't make the news.

Negotiations will not work on people that are not thinking rationally, or cannot understand you. If you're speaking English and he's speaking French, negotiation is not possible.

So find a bloody French speaker. You're in an airport, for Pete's sakes. He isn't a threat to anyone around him. He isn't trying to escape. He isn't reaching for weapons. He isn't doing anything hostile.

If he or she is in a state of distress to the point where he or she is not thinking rationally, negotiation is not possible. Under those circumstances, using a taser forces them to sit down, shut up, and listen. Of course, it does that under any circumstance.

Or it causes a fatal heart attack. The "They would have died to their condition anyways" excuse is unacceptable. We're all going to die. Doesn't give the police the right to hurry us along on that road, when we aren't a threat to anyone.

Policing protocol follows an escalation of force... Negotiation -> Manual restraint -> Club/Taser -> Shooting.

What happened in that case, is no real attempt was made at negotiation or manual restraint, and it was immediately escalated to tasering. And just that seems to happen more and more often.

You can say that these people can't be talked to all you want, but when the cop only makes a half-assed attempt at talking them down, your words sound pretty hollow.

The correct term for weapons like tasers is "less-than-lethal." This label is also applied to grenades filled with rubber balls and bits, rifles and handguns using rubber bullets, and beanbag shotguns, among other gadgets.

I'd say that rubber grenades and beanbag shotguns typically aren't used, nor should they be used on people that are of no harm to anyone around them.


"Protect and Serve" doesn't mean "Beat the ----- out of anyone who doesn't immediately curl up in a fetal position", as somebody put said earlier.