It's a good job that he had a Taser...

[Happynoj]

Could he really not deal with a 10-year-old girl?

Police were called to a home in Ozark, near Little Rock, over a domestic disturbance, according to a report by Officer Dustin Bradshaw.

When he arrived, the girl was curled up on the floor and screaming, he wrote.

The youngster was also kicking and resisting every time her mother tried to get her in the shower before bed, the report continued.

Mr Bradshaw wrote: "Her mother told me to 'tase' her, if I needed to."

The officer tried to take the girl into custody but she was "violently kicking and verbally combative" and struck him, the report continued.

So he delivered "a very brief drive stun to her back", the report said.

The girl's father Anthony Medlock told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that his daughter has emotional problems, but she was unarmed and should not have been tasered.

"My daughter does not deserve to be tasered and be treated like an animal," said Mr Medlock, who is divorced from the girl's mother and does not have custody.

Ozark mayor Vernon McDaniel said the youngster was not injured but wanted Arkansas State Police to investigate the incident.

"People here feel like that he made a mistake in using a Taser, and maybe he did, but we will not know until we get an impartial investigation," Mr McDaniel said.

The state police refused to launch a probe, saying it only gets involved with criminal investigations rather than matters of policy.

Police Chief Jim Noggle said no disciplinary action was taken against the officer and insisted Tasers are a safe way to subdue people who are a danger to themselves or others.

"We didn't use the Taser to punish the child - just to bring the child under control so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else," Mr Noggle said.

The girl, who was taken to Western Arkansas Youth Shelter in Cecil, will face disorderly conduct charges.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091119/...e-3fd0ae9.html

[RWP]

Parents always know best.

[René_Julien]

Personally, I don't like the idea of tasers being used in law enforcement.

IMO it's more a form of torture than effective use for "upholding the law".
It allows for policemen to be lazy on the job.

[RWP]

Originally Posted by René_Julien

Personally, I don't like the idea of tasers being used in law enforcement.

IMO it's more a form of torture than effective use for "upholding the law".
It allows for policemen to be lazy on the job.

I have to disagree. The Taser is a good way to bring a suspect down without injury to either the cop or the perp. It is way more effective than Mace
and and doesn't leave a stain.

[Darkstrike]

You never know what she might have done man, she could have kicked him in the shin and given him a boo boo.

[El Barbero]

The quote from the Police Chief "to bring the child under control" clearly demonstrates the decietfulness of either Political Leaders or Law Enforcement, or both.

1. Political Leaders in at least three countries, USA, Canada and the UK 'sold' the idea of Tasers to the public as being a non-fatal option to firearms. Meaning that in this case that some years ago this ten year old girl would have been shot for being unrully and not wanting to take a shower.

2. If Political Leaders did not decieve the public then Law Enforcement are greatly exceeding thier authority as Tasers were intended to be used instead of firearms where lives are at risk, and not as a means of control.

3. If she had a firearm pointed at him fair enough but if full grown man cannot overpower a ten year old girl, without using a Taser, then he needs psychiatric help as he cannot see the 'wrong' he did.

4. The same goes for the Police Chief becase there is no way in hell that any Officer can know whether or not a Taser is "a safe way to subdue" without putting the person at risk, there have been enough Taser deaths already to show that it's not always safe. Equally how can he defend an officer who cannot overpower a ten year old girl.

[René_Julien]

Originally Posted by RWP

I have to disagree. The Taser is a good way to bring a suspect down without injury to either the cop or the perp. It is way more effective than Mace
and and doesn't leave a stain.

For me the problem seems that a policeman would grab his taser too quickly.

Over here police doesn't use tasers. So when they do grab for their rubber stick or pistol it's because a situation is drastic enough.

I can't bring exact studies up, but I remember stuff from psychology books when I was in school.
Two test persons, one wired too get electric shocks, the other one can apply them.
And then tests like if the wired person gives a false answer to a question the other one can apply an electric schock as he seems fit.

I think the basic results were that the person dealing the punishment is always to vigorously. Something like in a situation were a person has power over someone but isn't much aware of the responsibility trusted upon him.

(Someone who had a lot more psychology lessons than me surely knows what kind of studies I'm talking about, and can enlighten this better.)

Especially with electrocution, the person giving it mostly has no sense how much the receiver is hurt.
While with a rubber stick or pistol the lines are more clear.


A part of a policeman's training is to deal with persons psychologicly.
The use of a taser is a discredit to that training, as it is often taken out of laziness to do proper law enforcement.


Well, just IMO off course.


I'd rather be hit with a baton (police did that to me once) than being tazered.
Tazering wouldn't give me satisfied customer satisfaction.

[NS2A]

The cop is trained.

The mom said he could taze.

I heard on the radio this morning the cop used the stun feature, which is not the same as the prods. Stun doesn't paralyze a person like the prods do. A lot less invasive to the perp.

How heavy was the girl? Seriously. I've seen some very large kids at my kids school. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think this kid was 150+ lbs. Add kicking and scratching to that.

So it's easy to armchair here.

[Happynoj]

Originally Posted by NS2A

The mom said he could taze.

If she had said that he could shoot the kid and he did, would that make it OK...?

[René_Julien]

Originally Posted by Happynoj

If she had said that he could shoot the kid and he did, would that make it OK...?

Yup.
That was a point I tried to make above.

A policeman should be psychologicly trained to think clear in a situation were civilians are losing their cool.

[Joe Gress]

Taser=The new night stick. Soon to be banned by law enforcement everywhere.

[Unrepresented]

Tasers use is one of the most effed up things cops are doing right now IMO, and that says a lot.

It seems to've become the de facto answer to any inconvenience the cop's got; torture and immobililize the suspect all in one convenient handheld device!

[Joe Gress]

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

Tasers use is one of the most effed up things cops are doing right now IMO, and that says a lot.

It seems to've become the de facto answer to any inconvenience the cop's got; torture and immobililize the suspect all in one convenient handheld device!

Well, he could just shoot your drunk ass instead.

[knumbskull]

wow, that runaway naked guy who got tazed a while back was really the thin end of the wedge, huh.

[RWP]

Originally Posted by René_Julien

For me the problem seems that a policeman would grab his taser too quickly.

Over here police doesn't use tasers. So when they do grab for their rubber stick or pistol it's because a situation is drastic enough.

I can't bring exact studies up, but I remember stuff from psychology books when I was in school.
Two test persons, one wired too get electric shocks, the other one can apply them.
And then tests like if the wired person gives a false answer to a question the other one can apply an electric schock as he seems fit.

I think the basic results were that the person dealing the punishment is always to vigorously. Something like in a situation were a person has power over someone but isn't much aware of the responsibility trusted upon him.

(Someone who had a lot more psychology lessons than me surely knows what kind of studies I'm talking about, and can enlighten this better.)

Especially with electrocution, the person giving it mostly has no sense how much the receiver is hurt.
While with a rubber stick or pistol the lines are more clear.


A part of a policeman's training is to deal with persons psychologicly.
The use of a taser is a discredit to that training, as it is often taken out of laziness to do proper law enforcement.


Well, just IMO off course.


I'd rather be hit with a baton (police did that to me once) than being tazered.
Tazering wouldn't give me satisfied customer satisfaction.

I am, possibly falsely, making the assumption that police in general use the Taser in a responsible manner. Obviously, this cop Tasering a freeking child is a very poor example of both good judgment on the part of the cop and how Tasers should be used. However, cops have a pretty crappy job in general and if I were a cop I would want every tool possible to deal with the low life trash I would have to deal with. Besides, cop beating perp with nightstick = law suite. Cop Tasing perp = great footage for Cops TV Show.

I remember that experiment with people shocking other people. I remember it was cool but can't remember exactly what it was about.

[René_Julien]

Originally Posted by RWP

I am, possibly falsely, making the assumption that police in general use the Taser in a responsible manner. Obviously, this cop Tasering a freeking child is a very poor example of both good judgment on the part of the cop and how Tasers should be used. However, cops have a pretty crappy job in general and if I were a cop I would want every tool possible to deal with the low life trash I would have to deal with. Besides, cop beating perp with nightstick = law suite. Cop Tasing perp = great footage for Cops TV Show.

I agree that cops have a crappy job sometimes.
I know a few personally. Much respect for what they are doing.

I don't mean to rag on cops in general, just in situations like this.


Also, we live in different countries with different laws.
Over here people don't go to court over the tiniest fart.

I got hit by the police with a nightstick once. I deserved it.
That was a different me.

Originally Posted by RWP

I remember that experiment with people shocking other people. I remember it was cool but can't remember exactly what it was about.

I'm still a bit hazy too.
I think I took part in such an experiment once.

[Armueller2001]

[RWP]

Originally Posted by René_Julien

...I don't mean to rag on cops in general, just in situations like this.

I know you are not. I use to work with the local police department's computer system. They have unbelievable stories to tell.

Originally Posted by René_Julien

Also, we live in different countries with different laws.
Over here people don't go to court over the tiniest fart.

I have real respect for that. America needs tort reform SO badly it's not even funny. Seems like every other person here is a lawyer and it is crippling us in so many ways.

[Steve]

I Florida that would be considered a system failure.

Stating with the 911 service that should have been able to determine that the call was better served by an ambulance than a cop.

Made worse by a cop that thought he was better equipped and trained to handle that situation than an ambulance which as a rule carry soft restraints, Valium and Haldol along with crews trained in their proper use.

I guess they do things differently in Arkansas.

[need4mospd]

Originally Posted by RWP

It is way more effective than Mace
and and doesn't leave a stain.

Says the man that's never pooped himself while being tasered...