(OMG!) Do you think police officers should be allowed to use Tasers on children?

[G_j]

I'm gonna be sick..
http://www.wftv.com/9wantstoknow/index.html

Choice Votes Percentage of 1252 Votes
Yes 926 74%
No 326 26%

[Squatch]

1. If that child poses an imminent and potentially deadly threat to the officer

then, yes.

As a "behavior correction" tool used to gain compliance of an uncooperative person, then no. They make nightsticks for that. (kidding)

[Bonobo]

14. Squatch, that doesn't make sense.

If the child is a deadly threat, then it should be met with lethal force.

A taser is a shitty weapon for self-defense.

I mean...in what circumstance might a child pose a "deadly threat" to a law enforcement officer? If the child has a gum right? (or a knife or a rocket-launcher).

In this case, I would not recommend a taser.

So why a taser? Precisely because you know a child is not a deadly threat. Either we need to get better and tougher law enforcement officers or we should say no tasers on kids.

In fact, tasers were snick into the police aresenal as defensive weapons, but are essentially used as compliance tools by lazy officers or as quick fixes by angry cops or as punitive measurements by self-appointed juries.

[King Coal]

2. I don't think you should let children be cops.

[rhett o rick]

9. Sorry, current screening won't eliminate them. nm

[Dr. Strange]

3. Poorly worded.

Just what ages are we talking about here? Tasering a three-year-old seems beyond the pale, but a sixteen-year-old wielding a knife might be a good case for bringing in a taser.

:shrug:

[Serial Mom]

4. Without even reading that, I say ABSOLUTELY NO

The intent of tasers, OR SO WE WERE TOLD, was to stop police from having to use a gun and take down a dangerous criminal without lethal force. Yeah, right, that worked out real well!

They are using the tasers in situations that do not require lethal force, in situations where they would never think to pull out their guns, but yet, the cops (cowardly) are using them more often, in situations that are not high risk situations, and with the results being DEADLY force in all too many cases.


I will go read it now.

[HockeyMom]

5. If a police officer cannot subdue

a 5 year old (case few years ago in FLORIDA) or an 11 year old (again FLORIDA), they need to be kicked off the force.

I am a 105 lb., 59 year old, woman who works with children and ADULTS with behavior, sometimes extreme, issues.

Have any of these people ever been SCIP trained??????? In neither of these cases, did either of these children have either a gun or a knife.

[HardWorkingDem]

6. Get so sick of questions like this....

and here's why: all context is missing.

Yes, any right thinking person would not want to use a taser or other form of restraint on a child, but I can think of several scenarios where such a thing might be plausible.

For one, what is the definition of a child? Five, six, seven, ten, twelve, seventeen?

Why can't people come up with a SPECIFIC and well defined poll question and go from there?

[glowing]

7. The spin on the story is disgusting..

Children are much more violent and harder to subdue than they were you know, before tasers were introduced to Resource officers.

[90-percent]

8. What's the big deal?

I mean, there have probably been no more than only 20 or 30 deaths nationally as a result of taser usage. The probability of killing someone, say, under 12, is probably only 5%, so it would only be a death sentence in only one in twenty misbehaving young-uns.

And if they're bad enough to deserve tasering, society is probably better off with them dead, anyway.

-90% Jimmy

:sarcasm:

[rhett o rick]

10. Tasering misbehaving teens is a slippery slope. Soon parents will get in on the action. nm

[Alexander]

11. Only if children are allowed to use tasers on cops.

In other words, no.

[12string]

12. tasers

I think that all cops should be tasered before they are allowed to carry one.

[ShaneGR]

13. The problem with the argument is its hyphothetical

Are there real examples of officers using tasers on "children" and what ages were they. What happened to the children involved in the cases. What happened to the officer involved?