Today’s decision by the Ontario government to allow rank and file police to use tasers takes law enforcement into an unknown land. It isn’t necessarily a bad place. But some will wonder if the simple human nature of ordinary cops can adapt to a weapon that disables but doesn’t kill. The old cartoon about the student being tasered because he didn’t show his university ID comes to mind. In other words, police practice at the most routine level will have to be watched very carefully. The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Madeleine Meilleur says her department will stay on top of how the weapons are used. Here’s why the ministry should figuratively walk the beat with ordinary cops. The threat to use the taser can be abused. Misuse can occur even when no one is actually whacked with a 500-volt stinger. It also remains true that no police officer will risk going up against a gun with a taser. In such cases, there is a high probability that someone will be shot. The announcement has raised a day-long complaint from the family of Aron Firman. The 27-year-old young man who died from a taser bolt in an encounter with OPP. Mr. Firman was mentally disturbed. Circumstances of the case seem incomplete. The family’s lawyer, Julian Falconer, says this a “band aid” application in response to the death of Sammy Yatim. And it may be. But neither Mr Falconer nor the government has a fix for “adrenalin judgement”. Training will not halt the chemical jolt that is rooted in the survival instinct. It is good to remember that deaths frequently occur not because men and women are cops, but because they are human. Start there to find a solution. Rank and file cops in Ontario to get tasers
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Today’s decision by the Ontario government to allow rank and file police to use tasers takes law enforcement into an unknown land. It isn’t necessarily a bad place. But some will wonder if the simple human nature of ordinary cops can adapt to a weapon that disables but doesn’t kill. The old cartoon about the student being tasered because he didn’t show his university ID comes to mind. In other words, police practice at the most routine level will have to be watched very carefully. The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Madeleine Meilleur says her department will stay on top of how the weapons are used. Here’s why the ministry should figuratively walk the beat with ordinary cops. The threat to use the taser can be abused. Misuse can occur even when no one is actually whacked with a 500-volt stinger. It also remains true that no police officer will risk going up against a gun with a taser. In such cases, there is a high probability that someone will be shot. The announcement has raised a day-long complaint from the family of Aron Firman. The 27-year-old young man who died from a taser bolt in an encounter with OPP. Mr. Firman was mentally disturbed. Circumstances of the case seem incomplete. The family’s lawyer, Julian Falconer, says this a “band aid” application in response to the death of Sammy Yatim. And it may be. But neither Mr Falconer nor the government has a fix for “adrenalin judgement”. Training will not halt the chemical jolt that is rooted in the survival instinct. It is good to remember that deaths frequently occur not because men and women are cops, but because they are human. Start there to find a solution. 