2 ms·

Given that police already shoot unarmed people who literally are just standing around, or are sleeping, I’m not sure the bar can get any lower.

qgin 4y ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if tasers actually increase the impulse to “reach for a gun-like solution” and may have actually increased gun use in policing.
- angelbar 4y ago
  That already happened, recently one officer shoot someone because she got the wrong weapon
  - runlevel1 4y ago
    USA Today found there were at least 16 instances of weapon confusion since 2001.[^1] The first high-profile case happened just 3 months after BART Police were supplied with them in 2009.[^2] [1]: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/04/13/taser-confusion-errors-like-daunte-wright-shooting-rare-but-avoidable/7210538002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/04/1... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Oscar_Grant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Oscar_Grant
Spooky23 4y ago
Tasers displaced some beatings, not shootings. It’s harder to be held accountable because the taser company is partially accountable. When you crack Johnny Crackhead’s skull, the civil jury is more likely to be sympathetic. Back in the day, the cops would beat the crap out of people with nightsticks. Guns were less commonly used - that changed in the 80s.
Amezarak 4y ago
According to the WaPo tracker, police shot ~150 unarmed people last year. But this includes, per WaPo, people engaged in such activities as "gouging out the officer's eye." I think it's probably safe to assume an order of magnitude less people were literally just standing around or sleeping (is that a reference to Taylor? FWIW, that ended up being Twitter misinformation - she was awake standing next to her boyfriend, who was firing at the police through the door), for about 15. I would imagine it's a pretty good guess that police already tase at least 1000x that many people every year. I'm having trouble finding good national LEO statistics, but "Taser International" claims 900 Taser uses a day. I don't think we should do anything to encourage that.
- dmix 4y ago
  Plus 95% of shootings in WaPo's police database were armed people. The bigger problem is no-knock warrants which created dangerous situations for legal firearm owners and the police themselves, with the only rationalization being flushing drugs.
  - drewcoo 4y ago
    So if someone has a weapon, it's ok to shoot them? I would hope that police could talk a situation down to the point the nobody (else) gets shot.

qgin 4y ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if tasers actually increase the impulse to “reach for a gun-like solution” and may have actually increased gun use in policing.

angelbar 4y ago
That already happened, recently one officer shoot someone because she got the wrong weapon
- runlevel1 4y ago
  USA Today found there were at least 16 instances of weapon confusion since 2001.[^1] The first high-profile case happened just 3 months after BART Police were supplied with them in 2009.[^2] [1]: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/04/13/taser-confusion-errors-like-daunte-wright-shooting-rare-but-avoidable/7210538002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2021/04/1... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Oscar_Grant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Oscar_Grant

Spooky23 4y ago

Tasers displaced some beatings, not shootings. It’s harder to be held accountable because the taser company is partially accountable. When you crack Johnny Crackhead’s skull, the civil jury is more likely to be sympathetic. Back in the day, the cops would beat the crap out of people with nightsticks. Guns were less commonly used - that changed in the 80s.

Amezarak 4y ago

According to the WaPo tracker, police shot ~150 unarmed people last year. But this includes, per WaPo, people engaged in such activities as "gouging out the officer's eye." I think it's probably safe to assume an order of magnitude less people were literally just standing around or sleeping (is that a reference to Taylor? FWIW, that ended up being Twitter misinformation - she was awake standing next to her boyfriend, who was firing at the police through the door), for about 15. I would imagine it's a pretty good guess that police already tase at least 1000x that many people every year. I'm having trouble finding good national LEO statistics, but "Taser International" claims 900 Taser uses a day. I don't think we should do anything to encourage that.

dmix 4y ago
Plus 95% of shootings in WaPo's police database were armed people. The bigger problem is no-knock warrants which created dangerous situations for legal firearm owners and the police themselves, with the only rationalization being flushing drugs.
- drewcoo 4y ago
  So if someone has a weapon, it's ok to shoot them? I would hope that police could talk a situation down to the point the nobody (else) gets shot.