NEWS
Friday, August 22, 2003
The Ann Arbor Police are excited about their new Tasers, devices that shoots two small darts up to 20 feet, penetrating the skin by "no more than one-fourth of an inch" that then zap people with enough electricity to make them collapse and curl into a ball involuntarily. In the Ann Arbor News article, Chief Oates and Co. insist over and over that they are "humane" and have no side effects, since "once it's over, the pain is gone, and you can immediately return to normal function." I suppose I'll take their word for it, but one website I found bragged that their Tasers could incapacitate people for up to 15 minutes. I also still doubt it's a good thing to experience what one officer described as "Waves of electricity [that] just take over your body." One Taser I found on the web bragged it was "specifically designed to stop even the most elite, aggressive, focused combatants." Some British police departments, in addition to over 70 in the U.S., are now using the Taser. (BBC: Taser Gun used in second arrest)Stun gun devices like Tasers are either banned or restricted in the U.S. states of Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, and the countries of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and Amnesty International wants more research on Taser's effects before more police buy them.
Posted by Rob at 3:45 PM
