Law enforcement officers are sent out each day with the intent and expectation of stopping crime. Citizens count on them to rescue them in times of emergencies and to take the ‘bad guys’ off the street. But, what resources are we giving them? Most law enforcement officers carry a gun and a taser. Of all the devices that they are armed with, the taser is the most controversial. I believe that this is because most citizens were under the impression that situations when a law enforcement officer had to use force, it would no longer be deadly force. The taser provides a unique alternative to the gun. A taser disables a person by introducing electrical impulses into the body, which temporarily renders the person unable to control their muscles to move. Research has shown that these impulses are not fatal and do not provide any long term effects. This allows the office the opportunity to defuse a dangerous situation with less chance of fatally harming the suspect. A win-win right? For the most part, yes. However, there is no such thing as something that is ‘zero risk’ when you are talking about introducing a foreign object, such as a bullet or electrical impulses into a person’s body. But, the chances of a suspect being fatally wounded by a taser is much less than that of a bullet. There have been cases where a suspect was shot with a taser and died. In all of these cases, the suspect either had an unknown medical condition or was under the influence of a substance that caused their body to react in a much more violent way than another person. In my opinion, citizens should support the use of tasers. They have less potential to fatally harm the suspect, they take the opportunity of an innocent bystander being harmed by a shooting away and allow our officers to do their job.


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