Are Tasers proving their worth for American police departments?

Tasered While Black (publisher) says: Well The Ventura County Star seems to think it works for he Ventura County Sheriff's Department. And they have data to back it up. Sounds like other police departments could learn a lot from the Ventura County. read the article (below). What do you think?

They write, 'When the Ventura County Sheriff's Department decided just over a year ago to arm its deputies with Tasers, The Star asked for an annual report so the public could evaluate their use and gauge their effectiveness. The department responded, and the numbers show Tasers — small handheld weapons that deliver an electrical shock to a violent suspect — have reduced the risk of injury to deputies, offenders and members of the public. Remarkably, Ventura County sheriff's deputies have not been forced to shoot anyone with a gun since 2006, a statistic the Sheriff's Department attributes to Tasers being fully implemented by the department.

From 2000 to 2006, there were, by comparison, 17 deputy-involved shootings in the Ventura County sheriff's jurisdiction. Statistics kept since 2002 indicate that the majority of those shootings involved suspects who were mentally ill.

In 2007, deputies used Tasers approximately 123 times or just over 10 times a month, Chris Godfrey, a commander in the Sheriff's Department, told The Star's Editorial Board at a meeting Tuesday. Of the 123 total uses, confrontations were resolved successfully 107 times.

Tasers have proved to be so useful to law enforcement that all police departments in Ventura County now use them, according to Cmdr. Godfrey.

For the most part, deputies used their Tasers in situations such as suicide prevention, pursuits, subduing the emotionally disturbed and those under the influence of alcohol and drugs. All those hit with a Taser, via dart-like probes, became incapacitated. However, once the Taser is shut off, those hit recover immediately.

Cmdr. Marty Rouse knows firsthand what it feels like, having been "tased" during training. "It is like all your organs are doing a dance," he told The Star Editorial Board. "It's incapacitation."

Among the department's 2007 findings:

— In 22 incidents, fear of being hit with a Taser was enough to make a suspect quit resisting and surrender.read More HERE