Expert: Chris Wagoner - 5/3/2010

Question
Hi there,
I am currently a law student in High school. I would like to take the opportunity to have some guidance on the basis of a research which i am currently doing on, about Taser guns. I have the knowledge that some people are against it and furthermore, they think that it provides accessive power to the police and is unnecessary. since you are a well known experienced officer, can you please provide me with some of your thoughts. should Taser guns be necessary in the society?
Thank You.

Answer
Hi Hamza,

The TASER fills a very needed gap in the ability of police officers to take control of people who are resisting arrest. Look at it this way. If you have a person that is actively resisting arrest, without the TASER you have only certain options. One you can fight with them (using hands and feet) and someone is going to be hurt. You can use an intermediate weapon like a nightstick or ASP. That basically is hitting someone with a metal rod or stick, going to cause very bad injuries and is very painful. Or you have a tool like the TASER that disables the suspect for 5 seconds, allows you to take them into control and no one gets hurt. Even the TASERed person is not hurt by the TASER (I know I have been TASERed about 10 times for demonstrations).

The TASER allows police to stop a person from hurting themselves, others or the police. There would have been a lot less suspects and police hurt over the years if we had TASER's many years ago.

One only has to look at the factual statistics to see that the TASER has been a great additional to law enforcement non-lethal force use. Cincinnati Police compared before TASER and after TASER, officer injuries down 56% and suspect injuries down 35%. There are many more like that. In addition there are many documented cases where police could have used deadly force and killed the suspect but instead used a TASER, sparing the suspects life and taking them into control.

The Madison WI. Police Department noted these:
A review of MPD Taser deployments shows that in six cases it can fairly be said that the Taser deployment allowed officers to avoid having to utilize deadly force.
Examples:
• An armed robbery suspect fled on foot from officers, then was surrounded but refused to
surrender. The suspect indicated that he had a weapon, and reached into his waistband as if
he was attempting to draw the weapon. The Taser was deployed and the suspect was taken
into custody without injury to officers or the suspect. After the incident, the suspect told the
officers he was trying to force them to shoot him and thanked them for not doing so.
• A suicidal subject sat on the edge of his bed, armed with a large butcher knife. He
repeatedly told the officers that he was going to charge them with the knife and force them to
shoot him. The Taser was deployed and the suspect was taken into custody without injury to
officers or the suspect.
• Officers knocked on an apartment door, attempting to contact a sexual assault suspect. The
suspect opened the door with a small knife in his hand. The suspect refused to drop the
knife, and began to raise it to the officers. The Taser was deployed, and the suspect was
taken into custody without injury to officers or the suspect.
• A suicidal subject in a hotel room armed himself with a box cutter. The subject refused to
comply with officers, telling them, “you’re going to have to kill me.” The individual had
6 inflicted cuts to both of his wrists, and was bleeding as a result. The Taser was deployed,
and the suspect was taken into custody without injury to the officers or further injury to the
suspect.

Also, several of the instances in which Taser use was threatened or the Taser was displayed (but not deployed) involved armed subjects. Those incidents easily could have rapidly escalated to deadly force encounters without the presence of the Taser.

SO in my opinion the TASER has done several things, allowed police officer injuries to go down, cost tax payers less in claims. Caused injuries to suspects to go down, saving tax payers money, saved suspects lives by allowing police to use the TASER instead of shooting the suspect, and one life saved is worth how much?? I just wish they had TASER's when I was a road officer. I would not have been injured as many times as I was, nor would the suspects.

Hope that answers your questions.

http://www.taser.com/research/statistics/Pages/FieldUseandStatistics.aspx

http://www.taser.com/research/statistics/Pages/3rdPartyEndorsements.aspx

Be safe and stay well..