Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers at Anti Essays

Tasers in Law Enforcement




I. Thesis- Tasers are an effective non-lethal weapon that needs to be used in Law Enforcement.

II. Tasers have become more popular and more frequently used as the demand for non-lethal weapons has increased greatly since its introduction in 1998. With this demand, Taser sales have sky-rocketed thanks to the innovative technology from TASER International.
With the Taser becoming increasingly popular with law enforcement agencies around the world, individuals have begun forming opinions about the device, mostly regarding injuries sustained from being tased. Many people feel tasers are inhuman and are not used properly by police officers, but in reality, they are better for the officers and the citizens alike. According to Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Keen, “According to popular belief, tasers have never been found to be the main cause of death. In cases where death has occurred, the deceased was found to have had health complications.” Deputy Keen is trained and certified to use the taser, and has used the device to subdue multiple subjects when he was out of baton or pepper spray range. The most attractive attribute of the taser is the fact that Tasers are non lethal unlike traditional firearms which are lethal 100% of the time. There has not been another device found to be more effective and safe as the taser.
III. Taser opponents claim tasers kill people. Like stated before, tasers have never been found to cause death. Subjects, who are tased, then die, usually have a known or unknown heart condition that causes their heart to fail. When an individual is tased, 500,000 volts of electricity rush throughout their nervous system causing their muscles to essentially “freeze”. When this happens, the individual falls to the ground and because the subject is “frozen” they cannot control how or where they land. This is how 97% of taser related injuries occur....