Traffic Police to get Tasers

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:51 am

Traffic police in Avon and Somerset to get Tasers - Telegraph

My local police force is to give Tasar's to taffic cops. For gods sake !!! How long will it be before there are cases of abuse of power?

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:11 am

oscar;1216089 wrote: Traffic police in Avon and Somerset to get Tasers - Telegraph

My local police force is to give Tasar's to taffic cops. For gods sake !!! How long will it be before there are cases of abuse of power?

glad they are finally getting them, we have had them here now for quite some time....police need all the help they can get.:-5:-5

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:16 am

Odie;1216105 wrote: glad they are finally getting them, we have had them here now for quite some time....police need all the help they can get.:-5:-5 We have had some cases of abuse of power with tasar. It depends on how 'gung ho' the officer is. There has been many deaths linked to tasar in the US. I am just totally against them. I think they are barbaric.

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:16 am

Better Tazers than guns!

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:18 am

Rapunzel;1216111 wrote: Better Tazers than guns!

they have both here.

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:31 am

Rapunzel;1216111 wrote: Better Tazers than guns!
If the criminal knows police have tasar, how long before the criminal arms himself further?

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:19 am

Odie;1216113 wrote: they have both here.

At the moment we don't have either here! The airport police are armed but not, in general, the bobby on the beat.

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:20 am

Rapunzel;1216165 wrote: At the moment we don't have either here! The airport police are armed but not, in general, the bobby on the beat.

in larger cities like Toronto and higher crimes rates..they need both as criminals have guns, knives and just about anything you can imagine.

It was never this bad 25 years ago.:-5:-5

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:23 am

oscar;1216128 wrote: If the criminal knows police have tasar, how long before the criminal arms himself further?

The criminals are already armed further! There are regularly shootings and stabbings around the major northern cities and in London. I think the question is, if every policeman goes fully-armed onto his beat, how long before guns in the UK are as commonplace as guns in the USA? I don't want to see armed policemen on our streets although sadly I'm sure that will happen eventually.

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:39 am

Rapunzel;1216165 wrote: At the moment we don't have either here! The airport police are armed but not, in general, the bobby on the beat. Sorry Rap, but some forces have had tasar since 2005.

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Wales-wide backing for Taser guns

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:34 pm

oscar;1216175 wrote: Sorry Rap, but some forces have had tasar since 2005.

Not here where I live though. Although our local police station does, I believe, have guns now. Not sure where they keep them but apparently they were the last police station in the country to be issued with them.

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 3:57 pm

Rapunzel;1216211 wrote: Not here where I live though. Although our local police station does, I believe, have guns now. Not sure where they keep them but apparently they were the last police station in the country to be issued with them.
Only some forces have them.

Baa! Outrage after police officer blasts runaway sheep with Taser gun | Mail Online

Talk about abuse of power !!! They even zapped a sheep because it was causing a traffic jam when a swift kick up the bum would have beensufficent or dragged away by the scruff of the neck. It was a sheep ffs, not a rampaging bull. :-5

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 5:56 am

Rapunzel;1216211 wrote: Not here where I live though. Although our local police station does, I believe, have guns now. Not sure where they keep them but apparently they were the last police station in the country to be issued with them.

Note, "Taser", not "Tasar".

Firearms officers - the ones trained to use "real" firearms (a Taser is classified as a "firearm") have had access to them for some time (since 2003?). The difference now is that the Home Office has said that policemen who are not Firearms Officers may be equipped, although "not routinely", with Tasers. They say that individuals will go through a "selection process" and have "training" approved by ACPO. Note, not all police are, apparently, going to use them.

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:04 am

Odie;1216105 wrote: glad they are finally getting them, we have had them here now for quite some time....police need all the help they can get.: -5: -5

I for one am dismayed that this step has been taken. Reasons:

o - They will be used on people as a "non-lethal" weapon, and people will die (this has already happened).

o - I distrust the police. This is a normal trait in the general population. This distrust has now increased in a great bound, a quantum leap, if you like. I don't want one of these Taser-equipped people anywhere near me.

o - Even properly trained, there will be the temptation to use these things rather than not use them - policemen are not generally known for their intelligence, and it will be easy to make a locally bad situation worse.

o - Escalation by criminals - you've got a truncheon, I need a similar, at least, weapon. You've got a Taser? I need a similar, at least, weapon, and I will be prepared to use it before you use yours. You've got a gun? Same scenario.

Bill Sikes · Post by **Bill Sikes** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:04 am

Odie;1216166 wrote: in larger cities like Toronto and higher crimes rates..they need both as criminals have guns, knives and just about anything you can imagine.; ). :- 5:- 5

Escalation of armament. QED.

Odie · Post by **Odie** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:43 am

Bill Sikes;1216347 wrote: I for one am dismayed that this step has been taken. Reasons:

o - They will be used on people as a "non-lethal" weapon, and people will die (this has already happened).

o - I distrust the police. This is a normal trait in the general population. This distrust has now increased in a great bound, a quantum leap, if you like. I don't want one of these Taser-equipped people anywhere near me.

o - Even properly trained, there will be the temptation to use these things rather than not use them - policemen are not generally known for their intelligence, and it will be easy to make a locally bad situation worse.

o - Escalation by criminals - you've got a truncheon, I need a similar, at least, weapon. You've got a Taser? I need a similar, at least, weapon, and I will be prepared to use it before you use yours. You've got a gun? Same scenario.

It is a lethal weapon

Post by **Oscar Namechange** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:31 am

Police revolt over Government's decision to let untrained officers use Taser guns | Mail Online

I agree with Bill..... I don't want one of these anywhere near me. To let traffic cops have them to me just sounds absurd.

It leads to abuse of power. Only recently a nightclubber was zapped not once but three times within an inch of his life, the third zap when he was already unconsious on the ground with four police officers on him.

Another man was 89 years old and was tasared because he ran away from his nursing home.