 
Tasers are properly useful in many situations, but having them seems to be making too many cops lazy about how they do their jobs. Read the article for the play by play on what this cop did. |
Some [Barre, VT] city councilors and a handful of residents Tuesday night suggested revising a policy that governs the police department’s use of Tasers, and raised questions about a local officer’s decision to repeatedly use his stun gun to subdue a 58-year-old homeless woman who suffers from a mental illness.
[…]
During a lengthy discussion, councilors, who received their first official briefing on the incident that occurred last Wednesday morning in the parking lot of the Cumberland Farms on North Main Street, did not shrink from their decision to authorize the acquisition of Tasers last year.However, some told Police Chief Timothy Bombardier that the events that played out last week were not quite what they had in mind when they approved the purchase and adopted the policy outlining how officers should use the newly acquired devices.
Some councilors questioned why Cpl. Henry Duhaime chose not to call for backup before deciding to use his Taser on an arguably defiant, but not outwardly aggressive woman that he repeatedly asked to leave the parking lot of the convenience store before placing her under arrest. [… The woman] wasn’t an immediate threat.
[…]
Meanwhile, Councilor Michael Smith relayed concerns from many of his constituents who perceived Duhaime’s decision to use the Taser on Osborn as “a relatively casual use” of a potentially life-threatening device.Smith said he had concerns about where Tasers fall on the department’s use-of-force continuum given last week’s incident. He said he thought the council had set a higher standard.
Mentally ill or not, the officer has to protect himself while at the same time getting his job done. Receiving help from a second officer does not at all rule-out appropriate force on the subject to gain her compliance with the officer’s legal orders.
Hindsight is always 20-20, the cop(s) have to make split-second decisions about the appropriate level of force to use. Cops get injured all the time from supposedly “harmless” individuals.
#1 – You are so right! If an officer is mentally ill or he’s not mentally ill, chances are he’ll use the taser.
Since all the Police stations in America got tasers (due to 9/11 anti terror funding grants), Cops do seem to be forgetting simple takedown procedure.
We use Tasers in my Department but there position on our use of force scale is much higher. Basically, the subject has to use force or openly threaten the use of force against the officer before the Taser can be employed. Too many departments put Taser just above verbal commands in their force continuum. We have to, absent a threat, put our hands on they guy first before we deploy the Taser.
I hope you are not expecting thoughtfulness or kindness from a police officer. That is expecting a lot from a bully.
Zippo,
Is there ANY circumstance where you don’t defend the cops?
I, myself, give cops the benefit of the doubt since they sometimes have to make split-second decisions.
However, whenever these cases come to light people always… ALWAYS… defend the cop. No matter what.
The cop gets caught on video tasering a toddler with a balloon and people will say “but the cop didn’t know what was IN the balloon.”
Most people just submit to authority figures. Period.
Given that we only have this much information:
“defiant, but not outwardly aggressive woman…wasn’t an immediate threat.”,
you are defending the officer?
all true guys but lets remember that electrocution is violation under the human rights act.
like you guys have pointed out what do you expect from a bully who is power hungry.
Would it be good public policy to require that cops get tasered (randomly, without warning) at least once a year to remind them that tasers are not toys?
The Cloven Swine lie with the Beast and doth do I tingle with the power of Edison, he who bring-ith light.
#10 – While you’re up, could you bring-ith me a beer?
TFA from The Argus contained at least four shameful proofreading errors.
#3 – You do realize the “simple takedown procedure” of old involves a baton used to whack the alleged disobedient person?
All other points aside – am I the only one who finds it more than a little bit humorous that “Duhaime did shout “Taser, Taser, Taser” as required by the policy”? This may be a brilliant policy as some criminals would probably fall to the ground and double up in laughter prior to being shot.
SHUT UP SLAVES!
I bet the cop is on paid leave as we speak…
youtube.com/watch?v=mnwi6wO03As
here’s some fresh badcop footage
I have to say Good Call on just using the Taser. Why waste more tax payer money by having another cop come out off of a call or route to help. You have the tools to controll the situation, use them.
Tasers when used properly are an excellent weapon. This police officer had this tool to control the situation. I hope he evaluated the situation wisely before using the taser versus another weapon such as the baton or pepperspray.