.jpg)
The travesty of justice has officially been on the streets of Notgreatside for the last 3 weeks. I am a common or garden response officer and I have been out on the streets with a taser for that time.
It is a pain in the arse. Firstly they issued us with different belts to ensure that they couldn't be removed by offenders easily. Now depending on where I buy my clothes from I am either a 34 or 36 inch waist. I thought 36" just to be safe. Not sure who makes the belts but they obviously have different scales on their tape measures than the rest of us. Very last hole and that is a squeeze sometimes, no more fatty foods for me and no they can't issue me with another one yet as they have been specially ordered.
There is the rigmarole of being issued with a yellow piece of plastic and 3 cartridges, I handled firearms for 11 years whilst in the forces and am intimately familiar with load and unload drills and actually using weapons. I don't need someone who has never handled a weapon to tell me what to do. Weapon safety is drilled into me and has been since 1987. It is also a pain when you finish late not to have a duly "authorised" sergeant around to "unload" the taser, I have incurred overtime waiting to hand the bloody thing back!
It gets in the way when you get in the car, right where the seatbelt needs to go, just another piece of kit to fill my already full belt.
Does it work though........oh bloody hell yes. The scrotes notice it immediately, they are well used to the police and all the stuff normally carried. They pick up immediately on the bright yellow piece of plastic and not surprisingly ask "is that real". My stock answer is no it's a dummy just like you are for asking the question. I have only drawn it on one occassion and "red dotted" someone. It worked instantly stopping him in his tracks and avoiding yet another cocaine and alcohol fuelled fight which would have surely ensued. Incidentally, why do families always fight and argue at christenings, weddings etc?
In short and from an officer who is using one whilst not being part of a specialized team. It is a pain, more kit, procedure and writing. It has already in my experience stopped a situation dead in it's tracks and prevented a prolonged struggle. It is a deterrent and also a statement of purpose. It hasn't changed the way I work, my mouth is still my biggest tool and long may it remain so. What it does is provide another avenue of non-verbal communication which in my still limited experience has proved effective.
To all the people protesting against human rights issues what would you prefer? A subject who has momentarily been in fear of being tasered and calming down and not being injured or the police actually using force against him to achieve their aim and him suffering injuries. It is a double edged sword but it is helping in a small way to gain some sort of control in the area where I work.
I await the criticism.
Incidentally have completed all the stages for my application and am now on tenterhooks awaiting the outcome of the final interview.
.jpg)
8 comments:
Still got my original CS (unused) you've reminded me to hand it back as it's way past it's sell by date.
Good luck on your application, and hope Mrs CC is well .. I expect a cabbie when next up your way
SOC
Will be pleased to oblige, if it ever comes to that mate.
Regards.
I await the criticism.
Most criticism seems to be based on the idea that a taser looks like a gun and fires something out of it.
The difference is - of course - that it merely incapacitates rather than doing lasting damage. So it's more like CS than a gun.
Do you think you will be more likely to use your taser than your baton? I would think that in many situations being shot by a taser would be preferable to being thumped with a stick.
CC,
It's nice to see that Response are being issued with Taser in most forces.
My force is one of the very few who is NOT issuing to Response.. so as such we are in our rural, out of the way area, in the exact same position we were in BEFORE the govt roll out of taser... shit out of luck! (IE call up the firearms unit to come and assist - or now call up the firearms unit or perhaps the big knuckle dragger squad to come out and assist or whatever that other unit is that's been lucky enough to end up with the tasers).
Oh well, perhaps some day some one will wake up and EVERY force will be told to do EVERYTHING the same.. thus making the UNIFORM SERVICE "UNIFORM". :-)
Anyway, glad to hear that red-dotting someone works....
BAL.
I think your role amply justifies the use of a taser ie as a response officer.
If you have to deploy the weapon, (and like you I'm ex-forces) then it should be used in a disciplined fashion. However the short, and nasty shock of a taser, compared with blunt force trauma is in my view a fair exchange for your customer.
I am pleased that front liners aqre being equiped with the 'tools' they need to do the job, and bugger the Human Rights Act. Why should their perceived 'rights' overreach that of the victim, or those preventing or assisting in detaining a criminal.
Best of luck to you on the application.
Tom
"The difference is - of course - that it merely incapacitates rather than doing lasting damage. So it's more like CS than a gun."
What a relief - of course - that the expert on everything is amongst us to provide an answer to the unasked question.
CC, I must apologise for bringing a BTD with me when I visited last time.
Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but are tasers not standard issue for all patrol officers? I know it is for us. We are required to have them in the car. Carrying them is a personal choice but the bossed like us to have at least one officer with less lethal on calls.
Post a Comment