A Shocking Development!

Today I see that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have announced that they've decided to restrict their officers' use of the the Conducted Energy Weapon, which would be more generally known as a Taser.

Allegedly, a dozen people in Canada have died after being subjected to a twenty six watt jolt from the Taser during the last four years. Naturally, Taser International, Inc., states that none of the deaths have been proven to be connected to their product. It is true that no one has ever been actually electrocuted by a Taser; falling to the ground when zapped is the largest cause of injury, and preexisting medical conditions have frequently been determined to be the cause of death.

To date, the Conducted Energy Weapon was carried and used by the Mountees (who the RCMP refer to as 'regular members') at the individual officer's discretion when a suspect was behaving in some kind of 'threatening manner'. Today, the policy has been revised so that it may only be deployed when someone is 'combative or actively resistant'. Somehow, I don't see any real change there. Can you picture a bona fide case of threatening behavior by someone who wasn't being combative or actively resisting arrest? I can't think of too many examples!

The Taser is an interesting concept, but there's a reason it tends to be controversial.

The first thing to keep in mind is that it is designed to be a less than lethal weapon. By definition, a lethal weapon is one which a reasonable person would expect to cause death. A knife or a gun are lethal weapons because if someone threatens to use one on you, you think that you're about to die. In that position, you're not likely to remind yourself that many, many people have been shot, stabbed, and slashed and lived to tell about it. Less than lethal means that it's not normally expected to kill a person. However, it does not mean non lethal. Less than lethal includes batons, pepper spray, metal flashlights, Tasers, rubber buckshot fired from riot shotguns, tear gas, et cetera. Any one of those can be fatal to a weak, allergic, or otherwise susceptible person. A lot of people have been killed in hand to hand combat, too, for that matter.

To a large degree, if a person is subdued with a Taser, they were about one step away from being shot by the officer. Lesser levels of force were not effective in bringing the person under control, usually because said subject was psychotic, enraged, or under the influence. Obviously, talking it out didn't succeed. In this respect, the CEW is a lifesaving device. The situation escalated to the point that the officer was about to resort to their last option, their sidearm. Once it's gone that far, the odds that the person will suddenly calm down really aren't as good as one would like them to be.

One thing a lot of people don't realize is that in order to be authorized to carry and use one on duty, an officer has to take a turn on the receiving end first! This has been the case with pepper spray and other law enforcement tools for many years. I've never met a law enforcement officer who hasn't been handcuffed, for instance. In training, they take turns cuffing each other! It is a skill that takes some practice to perform smoothly. Officers usually spend a fair amount of time learning pain compliance techniques through a hands-on approach, sometimes while wearing the 'Red Man' brand armored suit, which does generally prevent injury even if the wearer still feels the punches, kicks, and baton strikes. Every cop I've ever met hated pepper spray. One deputy I know sums it up succinctly with a great rhetorical question: 'They didn't have to shoot me before I could carry a gun, why did they have to spray me?'. But, he admits, he'll never use it on anyone unnecessarily because he knows exactly what it feels like to get a face full of it. And that's exactly the idea.

I'm not a fan of the Taser myself. For one thing, I do whatever I can to stay away from people who are being combative or threatening. The problem with that is that it's the law enforcement officer's job to go tangle with that guy. Avoidance really isn't an option for them. If I'm in a confrontation, it's because I either had nowhere to escape to, or my escape was negated when an assailant gave chase. That circumstance is much more serious than someone being combative or actively resisting arrest - he's trying to inflict great bodily harm or worse. That usually calls for deadly force, the display of which may diffuse the situation, hopefully by causing the aggressor to take off running. That happens maybe sixty to seventy five percent of the time. Still, that's twenty five to forty percent of the time it doesn't. How would you feel if your doctor diagnosed you with a potentially fatal condition that historically had a twenty five to forty percent mortality rate? Firing a Taser cartridge at the attacker might stop the assault, but if it doesn't, what is your recourse?

The Taser M26 or X26 has a maximum range of about 35 feet, and the X26c that a private citizen might be able to purchase and carry in some states can reach someone up to fifteen feet away - not quite a car length. Both darts have to hit your assailant in order to complete a circuit. If one or both miss, no shock will be delivered.

The Taser is a single shot weapon. After being fired once, the cartridge has to be removed and replaced. If you're about to be shot, knifed, or pounced on and bludgeoned or strangled, is that something you'll have the time and ability to do? That's very doubtful. Remember, lethal force, specifically a firearm, is considered justifiable if you're being assaulted by someone with a knife, chain, or bat who is within 21 feet of you because a normal person can reach you from within that seven yard distance in the time it would take you to draw and fire, and the X26c doesn't even reach that far!

The Taser fills a gap in the force continuum between chemical irritant spray/tactical baton and the service pistol or revolver that the uniformed patrol officer used to have to work around. Plainclothes officers, detectives, and others who carry a concealed handgun generally don't have to mess with this as they usually aren't carrying pepper spray and a baton anyway. The uniformed officers are supposed to do the 'hands on' dirty work and those in suits carry the gun for its value as a last resort piece of survival equipment should they be attacked while performing their investigations or administrative duties. Additionally, most departments require officers to be appropriately armed at all times while on duty. Cops literally get in trouble for violating regulations if they don't have their gun handy; most departments won't let their officers take the 'Sheriff Andy Taylor' or 'Deputy Barney Fife' approach!

I don't know exactly what an M26 or X26 costs an agency these days. I suspect it depends on how many are ordered. For an individual to buy an X26c, the $1000 package includes the taser, a training manual, a holster, two replacement cartridges, and a few other goodies. Each cartridge costs about $25 - and I thought the Federal Premium personal protection cartridges I carry in my sidearm were a 'rip' at a dollar a piece! An entire box of twenty costs less than one cartridge for the Taser does! Of course, I plan on that box of twenty being a lifetime investment because I never want to have to fire any of them! Again, though, I'm sure a bulk order placed on official letterhead and billed by invoice are a bit more reasonable. Even at $15 or $20 each, those cartridges are far from economical.

I have a thirty inch waist. By the time my duty belt is holding a sidearm, an extra magazine or two, a Sure-Fire or similar tactical light, a baton, chemical irritant, handcuffs, a radio, a pouch for nitrile gloves, and a key holder, there isn't any room left for a Taser! Typically, the taser is carried behind and slightly lower than the service handgun (almost always an automatic pistol in today's world), and the taser is also shaped similarly, though bulkier. What are the odds that an officer in a tense situation reaches for one and grabs the other by mistake? Very undesirable, indeed.

I'm thankful to be sitting at home rattling this out in the comfort of my office and not out in the 'concrete jungle' somewhere having to try to take an offender into custody. I sure hope that in reading this, you've gained a new perspective on some of what our men and women in blue have to deal with every time they go on duty. They'll always have my respect regardless of what equipment their department issues them or how it orders them to use it!

Take care,

the TiGor