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| Could this someday become a common sight? |
Which
some want to believe is a preferable alternative to having police officers
resort to using their service revolvers to kill the would-be criminal suspect.
Just like how Captain Kirk will someday in our future always order his men to
set their phasers on “stun.”
WOULD
IT HAVE been better off if Laquan McDonald had merely been knocked off his feet
a year ago when police officers felt threatened by the way he was wielding a
knife? Would he still be alive?
I
really wonder. Because the honest truth is that a taser, particularly if used
by someone determined to deliver a severe blow, can be a deadly weapon.
And
a taser in the hands of someone with a sadistic streak could wind up being a
weapon capable of delivering intense and severe pain that could ultimately have
someone suffer an agonizing death.
So
excuse me for not being overly swayed by the announcement made by a
newly-refreshed-by-a-Cubano vacation Mayor Rahm Emanuel that every single
police officer in Chicago will carry a taser amongst his gear on the Sam
Brown-type equipment belt.
ONE
OF THE facts that has shocked some people in the weeks since the death of
McDonald became an internationally-discussed tragedy is that many Chicago
police officers don’t have tasers and wouldn’t have a clue how to properly use
them.
Back
in 2010, then-Superintendent Jody Weis issued a memorandum detailing the types
of tasers an officer could carry, the proper way to wear them (on an officer’s
support side – opposite of his pistol – of the equipment belt), and even their
appearance (black, free of wrinkles and no high-gloss finishes).
 |
| Did 'Star Trek' past give us weapon of future? |
It
also says officers must have completed a department-conducted training course
in their use before they can carry them. That is the rub.
For
the department has not had the money to buy enough tasers to properly equip
every officer now patrolling the streets. So there hasn’t been much pressure on
police to take the training course.
SO
THIS COULD easily turn into an instance where we’re pressuring
already-overburdened police officers to have to carry another piece of gear.
And a piece of gear that could easily wind up inflicting torture-like pain in
the process.
Have
we merely created future situations where we’ll be reading news accounts of
police using their tasers to inflict bodily harm on people who don’t look
exactly like them when it comes to skin complexion?
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| You just know some will prefer the feel of the .29 S&W or its equivalent |
That
attitude being all-too-prevalent amongst our law enforcement personnel is the
real problem that must be overcome. All other issues are secondary. Concern
over more use of tasers almost misses the point.
We’d
still have to ensure we have officers capable of making a distinction of when
the taser ought to come into play and when there’s the need for a pistol or
whatever other firearm we permit our police officers to have is just absolutely
essential!
CONSIDER
THE CIRCUMSTANCES surrounding McDonald’s death, where it seems police wishing
to subdue the 17-year-old had called for a taser – meaning someone had to find
one of the officers who had completed the training course and was armed with
such a weapon to come to the scene.
Yet
whether it was impatience or constantly-changing circumstances, that scenario
was taking too long to complete, and it would seem that officer Jason Van Dyke
fired those 16 shots that are now the subject of the taunt activists like to
direct at Emanuel’s way whenever they get the change.
There
are bound to be similar circumstances in future instances. Similar judgment
calls to be made.
Anybody
who thinks this change in police equipping all police with tasers by summer is
going to cause police to inflict less pain and suffering on certain people is
living in the same fairyland that makes some people think there’s anything
worthwhile about watching the Chicago Cubs.
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