This is from a thoughtful piece by Pierre Tristam on the Tasering of a disruptive special ed student in Florida:

Finally, this one note, because the point is automatically made in defense of Tasers, and was made again this time around: “Better a Taser than a gun.” Yes, if those are the only two choices. But they’re not, or ought not be, just as the emphasis on ‘officer safety’ and paramilitary training ought not pervade today’s policing at the expense of public safety.

And the notion that Tasers are either non-lethal (upwards of 160 Taser-related deaths says otherwise) or more humane than, say, a clubbing, is also false. A Taser shot is a massive, paralyzing electrocution that shocks the entire body. It only appears less violent than the use of a night-stick or a beating because it’s not as directly invasive, because it appears “clean,” controlled, quiet.

But all a Taser does is sanitize the old clubbing, rendering it acceptable. It employs the same means as the electric chair, only less lethally, and more portably. The weapon’s and the chair’s genesis are equally barbaric. Couple a Taser with the “force matrix” mentality, and what we have is an open invitation to police force under the guise of safety.

I’m reminded, as I am every time I see SWAT teams all dressed up in their body armor like so many beetles, of Sonny Lee.

Sonny was a detective sergeant when I was a young reporter in Arlington, Virginia. He was a little below average height. solidly built, and legendary in the department for his toughness and bravery. If you wanted somebody to kick down a door and drag out the suspect inside, Sonny was your man.

One day I asked him if he had ever had occasion to use his gun. “Hell, no,” Sonny said. “If a man needs a gun to do this job, he’s in the wrong line of work.”

Posted by Jerome Doolittle at February 17, 2007 10:50 AM

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