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"appropriate force". I'd contend that an electric shock across the heart is too much force for stopping someone accused of spraying graffiti. It seems to me t
by firmgently 9y ago
"appropriate force".
I'd contend that an electric shock across the heart is too much force for stopping someone accused of spraying graffiti.
It seems to me that this is the grey area where the officer's humane discretion should come into play: "is it worth risking another human-being's life in order to prevent their evading capture for a crime of this level?"
It seems like this grey area often gets flattened into "is this human being complying? If no, pull trigger."
- Natsu 9y agoPolice have use of force guidelines. It would be good for concerned citizens to pay attention to and advocate that those guidelines be written in such a way that it's clear when each level of force is truly warranted or not. I tend to agree that shocking someone is a bit excessive for mere property damage, but I don't know all the details about this. The situation would change a lot if, e.g., they were tasering someone already restrained as a punishment, or conversely if they were tasering someone who ran into a dead end, then turned to attack them. Given that the details in the article were quite thin, I'd want to see more evidence before rendering judgement.