Taser Research Proposal Essay

Police brutality is one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States and it occurs in every community. The job of a police officer is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crime. They are engaged in a dangerous and stressful occupation that can involve violent situations that must be controlled. In many of these confrontations with the public it may become necessary for the police to administer force to take control of a situation. Sometimes this force takes the form of hand to hand combat with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all police officers in communities are good cops. At least once a year the news is covering a story about a person

Technology used in policing enhances law enforcement organizations’ ability to function because it has improved police databases, reports, tracking, and forensics (DOJ, 2004). In addition, a less-lethal weapon is designed to disable, capture, or immobilize a suspect without killing them. However, occasionally deaths do happen as a result of less-lethal weapons which include kinetic energy, electrical, acoustic, and chemical weapons. Furthermore, violence, disease, and infected evidence are dangers that law enforcement officers face today.

The use of deadly force by police officers is a very important subject in today’s society. Many consider the use of deadly force excessive in most cases. However, there are many aspects to look at when considering this topic, such as: Why was deadly force required? When did the officer feel it necessary to apply deadly force? What will be the implications for the officer after the fact? How does the use of deadly force affect society as a whole?

In light of the recent spate of police-involved homicides of suspects who may or may not have put the lives of the police involved in fear for their safety and well-being, this paper seeks to examine the use of deadly force by police officers in the line of duty. The training involved in using one’s service weapon in situations that call for a determination of the use of force will be explored, as will the rules, regulations, and extenuating circumstances that lead to the firing of a service weapon in the line of duty, resulting in the death of a suspect. The Supreme Court cases that have led to and/or upheld laws allowing a broader interpretation of what is considered justifiable use of deadly force will be briefly examined. Additionally, the use of non-lethal weapons, such as Tasers, by police forces and how the availability of these weapons influences the rate of deadly force will be inspected. Finally, an elucidation of the various perceptions of the general public of the police after use of deadly force is used within their communities will be addressed.

The Court in Bryan v. MacPherson stated that when the officer used the Taser with the probes, aluminum darts tipped with stainless tell barbs connected to the Taser insulated wires, toward the target at a rate of over 160 feet per second. MacPherson, 630 F.3d at 824. The Court noted that once a person is struck, the Taser delivers a 1200-volt into the individual’s muscles, making the impact powerful. Id. at 824. The electrical impulse instantly overrides the victim’s central nervous system paralyzing the muscles throughout the body, rendering the target limp and helpless making the person experience excruciating pain that radiates throughout the body. Id.; see Draper v. Reynolds, 369 F.3d 1270, 1273 (11th Cir. 2004); see also Lewis v. Downey, 581 F.3d 467, 475 (7th Cir. 2009). Although the uses of Tasers by law enforcement can help defuse a dangerous situation, the force must be justified by the governmental interest

Taser International, Inc. v. Ward, Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, May 13, 2010

The use of conducted energy weapons in the police force has become increasingly popular since they were introduced only a short while ago. The TASER is claimed to be the safest and most productive type of less lethal force in use today, with a very quick recovery rate and no-long term side effects. The TASER has quickly taken over the harsh use of pepper spray, the brutal force of the baton and in some cases the firearm. However, the TASER has faced massive amounts of bad press and negative views among members of the public. Electro-muscular disruption has become a very controversial issue among society, some describing it as extremely

According to theguardian.com, 634 people have been killed so far in 2015 by police officers or while in custody (theguardian.com, 2015). Years of good policing practices and community trust can be jeopardized by a single act of, or perception of, the excessive use of force (EUF) by police (www.justice.gov, 2015 ). Police deal with difficult people and situations on a daily basis, one of the biggest complaints from citizens is that excessive and sometimes unnecessary force is used by police officers during arrests. In the wake of past claims of police brutality such as Rodney King and more recently publicized victims like Freddy Gray, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown, I will use the functionalist perspective to determine if giving police the liberty to exercise the force they deem necessary per arrest situation is effective or if stricter guidelines for the use of force and training is needed to deal with citizens. I believe most citizens exert some type of resistive behavior when they feel they are being unlawfully arrested. I will investigate separate claims of excessive force use by police against citizens in America. I will also look at other countries’ police brutality complaints to determine if the issue lies mainly in America or if it is a global issue. I will use the inductive research method as well as qualitative research such as present and historical data, past journals, court cases, news publications, and statistical data to conclude my findings.

Use of fire arms as the choice weapon by police officers have been around since the late 1800s. Police departments started issuing firearms to police officers in a response to better-armed criminal populations, (Bulman, 2010). Recent studies have shown that less lethal weapons decrease the rate of police officers and suspect injuries. Because evidence supports less lethal weapons for police officer, many law enforcement agencies have agencies are stressing the use of less-lethal weapons. In the early 19th century, the less than lethal weapon of choice was the wooden club, (Bulman, 2010). Less than lethal weapons have evolved to technology such as conductive energy devices (CEDs), commonly known as the Taser.

Policing is a dangerous profession. As police officers, we have been entrusted the great responsibility to protect life and property and arrest criminal offenders. “The apprehension of criminal offenders and protection of property must at all times be subservient to the protection of life.” It is our policy to value and preserve human life, to include our own. Efficient and effective use of force can reduce injuries to both suspects and officers. The ultimate goal when applying use of force, is to make an arrest and bring a potentially unsafe situation to a smooth and peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. Many officers preferred that the subject allow himself to be arrested peacefully, but when that is not the case, officers must make

The first major delimitation is that fact that excessive force by police officers is a relevant issue at present time. Furthermore, the questions administered in the survey where constructed for yes or no responses. This produced valid data from professionals within the field of study. Moreover, the research did not cross over into other areas of nonlethal training. The study was strictly about training efforts within the department and its record of

This journal article discusses data on various types of less then lethal use of force weapon systems and the effect they have on the suspect and the officer who was forced to use it. It examines the future of police action and new advances in suspect restraint systems (Albert, 1999).

Tasers are a necessity for law enforcement to keep the peace and continue doing their job with a minimal amount deaths. However, there are some people that want tasers to be removed from the equipment of law enforcement, but they do not realize the alternatives. If law enforcement officers were to not have tasers, they would be forced to apprehend a criminal using close quarter combat or even worse, a gun. There are no alternatives to tasers. They offer a means of subduing someone who has broken a law and continues resisting arrest without greatly harming them or causing terrible injuries. For example, a police officer pulls over a man for driving way over the speed limit. The cop then gazes into the man’s gar and spots drugs. After a short

In the quest to develop safer use of force options for law enforcement the concept of neuromuscular incapacitation technology was produced leading to the development of a ‘Taser’ or conducted electrical weapon. Since the introduction of a taser law enforcement agencies have embraced this idea of a less lethal option to use in force situations. As a potential investor in the Axon company which continues to develop tasers and web based applications for law enforcement it is important to look at the company reports, specifically focusing on the annual financial report from 2016.

The major pros for taser gun is that, tasers are non-lethal weapon that can effectively take down the suspects without any violent consequences. However, if tasers are the best weapon for the law enforcers, why every countries around the world isn’t are using this effective weapon. Almost every European nations forbids using tasers in any form. The major issue that taser has controversies with is that it is using electricity on human body. Although taser is known to be safe non-lethal weapon as the Taser International argues, however there are few death of a person who was being tazed. Since taser guns are using electricity, when the subjects are suffering from a heart disease, it might have a negative impacts on the subject, worst case, causing death (Mun 2013). Since police officers do not know whether the suspects of intention has a issue in their body, such situations like this is hard to be avoided. Other cons of taser is over usage of taser on the suspects. As we already know, taser is non-lethal weapon, and due to this characteristic, sometimes law enforcers over uses taser. According to this news article, this man in America was tazed 8 times before getting arrested for being not cooperative to the police (SBS News 2014). If this suspect was suffering from a heart disease or other illness, getting tazed 8 times can be crucial to his body condition. Although the situation is threat to the officers, however