Ex-policeman who supplied Tasers fired at Raoul Moat siege kills himself

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Daily Mail

A former policeman who supplied the controversial Tasers used to stun murderer Raoul Moat is believed to have committed suicide after his company lost its licence to sell the weapons.

Peter Boatman, 57, is thought to have feared his business Pro-Tect Systems would collapse after the lucrative Government licence was revoked last week.

He had also recently learned that his company might face police action for breaching the terms of its licence and supplying the weapons directly to Northamptonshire Police, where Mr Boatman was a former inspector.

Pro-Tect Systems supplied four experimental long-range X-12 Tasers to the force that were used during the tense six-hour stand-off with gunman Moat in Rothbury, Northumberland, in July.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316915/Ex-policeman-supplied-Tasers-fired-Raoul-Moat-commits-suicide.html?ITO=1490

---

300 foot effective range. Doubt they'd be used again in the UK for some time, if ever , and hopefully never in the USA.

[thunder rising]

1. It's so heartbreaking when the neo-con death merchants kill themselves...where's the empathy?

[jobycom]

2. Death merchant? Do you know something about him that's not in the story?

Dude made Tasers. Those are used to try to save someone's life when the only other option is deadly force. Cops over here use them wrong and have caused too many deaths, but they've also saved a lot of people who would have otherwise been shot.

The article says the guy even shot himself many times with Tasers to prove they were safe.

Maybe I'm too liberal, but I do think it's heartbreaking when someone suffering from depression kills himself instead of seeking treatment. I imagine the man's wife and children find it heartbreaking, too. You must be a tougher person than me, I guess.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dipsydoodle]

5. He'd have had a job

shooting himself with one those. It fires a "shotgun" cartridge. Imagine that hitting you in the face.

Fuck him.

[jobycom]

10. That was his mistake, using that before it was tested, but he was trying to save the guy.

[dipsydoodle]

18. Never mind tested

It was an unauthorised firearm. Its not the policeman who shot the guy who's committed suicide - its the supplier of the weapon.

[jobycom]

21. Yes, the supplier was an ex-cop who worked for the force who used the Taser on Moat.

He supplied the Tasers to that force, before they were authorized for use, because of Moat, according to the sources I've read. The cops fired twice at Moat when they thought the negotiations had failed, and Moat killed himself.

I'm not saying Boatman did nothing wrong, and for all we know the Taser may have caused him to shoot himself, but the celebrating his death because he sold Tasers (this year's equivalent of pit bulls, it seems) is horrifying.

[Pavulon]

16. Better than buckshot. Removes your head at the jawline , ouchie(nt)

[Dawson Leery]

9. What is important is that Mr. Boatman can no longer cause harm to others.

[jobycom]

12. What's important is that a human being suffering from depression killed himself

and you are happy. Mr. Boatman wanted to stop a murderer from killing himself. You are happy he killed himself. Doesn't take a mathematical equation to work out who the better person was.

[pattmarty]

13. Look Mr fucking "liberal", have you ever been fucking broke?..........

........I don't mean having only 10 dollars in your pocket, I mean fucking broke, with either no job or a really shitty job? Have you had 3 kids at 21 yrs old and a shitty job and a shittier apartment? Have you been in a "juvenile" jail at 16 for nothing more than running away from home? I have, and I NEVER thought of killing myself or anyone else. So go play your pseudo liberal phony shit somewhere else.

[jobycom]

15. Yes.

Except the jail part. I watched my brothers and sister wind up there, but avoided it myself.

So tell me what that has to do with gloating over someone's suicide?

[pattmarty]

20. He was weak, that's what. If you have a business, wealth, family.............

.......and (I assume friends) then if you exit via suicide, you are weak in character. I am now 63 yo and have been somewhat fortunate in that I got a belated education and was fortunate to get a union job and retire (modestly). This guy was a POS and like I said "weak in character". I am not cheering that he "suicided", but the did what he did and FUCK HIM. If you want to defend a human piece of shit JUST because he "suicided", then you are in need of some help.

[jobycom]

22. You have no experience with mental illness.

By all accounts he was thrown into a deep depression over Moat's death and his company's role in it. He needed help for that depression. Don't give me that George Bush Bootstrap bullshit. I've seen people stronger than either of us try to kill themselves (one succeeded) because of depression they couldn't fight. I've never faced it, either, but I've looked in the eyes of people trying to fight it, and to call them weak is even more despicable than calling a man you've never met and know nothing about a "piece of shit" for no other reason than... Well, Hell, you haven't even given a reason. You just "know" that he was, I guess. If me getting the "help" you want me to get makes me that judgmental and inhuman, I don't want it. I'm a liberal because I'm sick of that kind of shit. Why are you a liberal?

[pattmarty]

23. I'm done. Have a nice life, mr "liberal".

[jobycom]

24. Figured you'd do that, mr "strong."

People who can't handle it tend to bail out. See?

[pattmarty]

26. Yeah, you're right, mr liberal. You win.

[jobycom]

29. Yep.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. You're right, jobycom has won

I've rarely seen anyone do such a good job of character assassination on themselves as you just have.

[Turborama]

39. There's one word that defines a real "Liberal". Empathy.

I think of it as the glue that binds us all together. And you have boatloads of it!

:fistbump:

[jobycom]

40. Thanks.

I kind of needed that. And I'm still laughing over your beer story in your profile. :rofl:

[Iowa]

14. Nonsense...

Tasers typically aren't used to avoid "deadly force"; they're used to punish, or torture, or to exert alpha-male "authority", or so that dumb cops don't have to learn how to talk someone down. Cops are completely out of control and need to be reigned in. They have become a tool of the plutocracy and a direct threat to liberty. Now THAT is the liberal viewpoint, so don't come here and try to pass your cop-centric view as "liberal".

[jobycom]

17. Wrong.

Tasers are supposed to be used in lieu of deadly force. You've swallowed the hysteria, and that's understandable. Like pit bulls or fear of Muslims, you've gotten a warped opinion from hearing one hand clapping.

They aren't always used the way they are supposed to be. There needs to be more regulation and more punishment for cops who use them the way you describe. But that doesn't mean that a man who builds Tasers for a living is a death merchant. The man tried to stop a suicide. The suicide victim was a murderer that some of the cops probably wanted dead. Some of them, even in England, were probably hoping he'd either shoot himself or turn the shotgun on them so they could blow him away. This ex-cop who made Tasers for a living tried to find a way to stop him from killing himself.

[Downwinder]

6. It is sad when you have a world people don't want to live in.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[herbm]

7. Did he use a taser?

[d_b]

8. rest in piss

[droidamus2]

11. Use and misuse

I understand the original idea of tasers as an alternate to deadly force and that use is a reasonable approach. The problem I have is with the misuse or possible misuse of these technologies. We hear way too many stories of people being tased for basically just not obeying an officer fast enough, or pissing off an officer or the officer just being in a bad mood. Also consider that these technologies, along with many others such as heat and sound oriented crowd control, have a very scary possibility of being used against citizens simply using their right to freedom of speech. The government through the years (Chicago, 1968) has not hesitated to use and force at their fingertips to limit the peoples ability to express disagreement with the sitting government. Can we be assured that these new technologies won't be used for that purpose? I don't think so. Strong controls should be put on their distribution and valid use and even stronger penalties should be put on the misuse of those same technologies.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Using a taser

attached to wires for use in close proximity may have its uses but one which fires a cartridge 300 feet is another matter.

[Pavulon]

25. vs a 308 cal round sure. If you want the peson to live you use a tazer. If you want them to die

you push a piece of metal through their brain at mach 2. There's your difference.


I can post pictures of what a rifle round does to a persons head, "less lethal" is not part of that.

[pattmarty]

27. Aren't you on the wrong website? I think you're looking for "militia sites".

[Pavulon]

28. Is this the one where people use their brains, before they say dumb shit?

I know you are incapable of discussing this topic from a position of knowledge. The smart thing would be to say nothing or inform yourself.


If the police wanted to kill him they would have shot in the head with a bolt action 308 caliber rifle. He would drop like a rock.

If they wanted to try to save him from killing himself they would use a less lethal solution. It failed.

The article is about a person who breached process, not who killed anyone. His suffered a setback and killed himself, like many other people do.

The ignorant around here have chosen to make ill informed statements about tazers.

[pattmarty]

30. I stand by my statement. AND, you are a fucking "gun nut" talking.......

........shit about caliber and such shit that has absolutely not a goddamn thing to do with the discussion.

[Pavulon]

32. use that AND like you need a slur there.. Insert one and see how it sounds..

still no content from you. Got anything to say on topic, here I'll help.

Police tried to use a less lethal device to prevent a man from killing himself. That is a better option than lethal force, which they could have used.

The article is not a vote about legality of morality of less lethal solutions. Less means less, so less lethal solutions should be used when there is a critical need.

If that was my family member who had already met the requirements to be shot in the head with a high powered rifle I would appreciate the police trying something other than a rifle round. I would also be happy he did not kill an officer during the process.

Suicide is unfortunate, this person had not hurt people, he did not invent VX gas or something.

Content is harder than ad hominem, give it a try.

[pattmarty]

33. I love your content using a bullet and sounding like a fucking instructor.........

.........at "police academy". This was about this ass holes suicide. He owned a business supplying tasers to police forces. These tasers are the "easy way" to control people. Are there situations where they are helpful, sure they are. The BIG problem with these "less than lethal" devices is that they are misused by untrained, sometimes psycho people that plain don't give a fuck if they hurt someone or not. There are more and more stories of these contraptions being used in not only inappropriate manner, but in outright cruel and criminal ways. So push your bullshit elsewhere. Nice pic with the bullet, by the way sparky.

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. So you do think tasers are sometimes useful, then?

Odd of you to cheer the man's suicide, then, unless you cheer all suicides. He didn't own the business; he was one of the directors, who had earlier been a policeman (and in between, he worked in a company that consults on how to reduce workplace violence). So if you accept tasers can sometimes be helpful, your beef should be with the people who use them inappropriately, not people who supply them.

[pattmarty]

35. Nice try.

[jobycom]

37. Reducing workplace violence?

That's so weak!

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal

for his commitment to officer safety. So weak!

[Pavulon]

36. So this guy is an asshole because he sold tazers?

people misuse their cars, not henry fords problem. In some cases, well this was not one of those cases. The police used the less lethal option to try and prevent the guy from killing himself. How is that a problem?

The bullet is old school and will also prevent a person from committing suicide. Although the desired outcome will not be had. The police arent going to start walking off in response to a situation. Would you like them to go back to the baton or to the bullet?

You are still fucking up the content part I mentioned. I mean what the fuck is your point?