There is more,
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Troubled Suburban Atlanta Police Now To Get Tasers - Even After 12 Fatal Shootings
Tasered While Black: As reported by Harry R. Webber of The Associated Press, A Grand jury found that 1 of 12 fatal shootings by DeKalb police were unjustified. Get this, Webber reports a special grand jury questioned in a report released Thursday whether the right training is being provided to a suburban Atlanta police department whose officers killed 12 people in 2006, four times as many as the year before.
There is more, as reported by Harry R. webber, The panel also recommended that all law enforcement officers, including those in DeKalb County, get more training at night, in use of force and how to de-escalate situations. It also suggested that law enforcement officers should be equipped with Tasers, and that all law enforcement officers should undergo alcohol and drug screening immediately after a use of deadly force incident. DeKalb County police currently don't use Tasers. More HERE
There is more,
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Their shooting four times as many people as before, so now they're going to be authorized to tase people as well? I predict that the last thing a lot of Black people will say before they get shot by the police and die is, "No, don't tase me again!"
The police are going to tase suspects so that they can subsequently take closer and better aim when they shoot them.
Police are also going to tase and shoot people who are not suspected of anything, like Ron and Roy Pettaway.
As much as I understand the reality of excessive force being used on far to many Black folks, I have to interject this.
The report says the police need more and better training. I think that's the big issue that is going to be overlooked as you focus your sights on the Taser. There is a law enforcement culture that is far more causative of the way officers tend to conduct themselves. Officers are more often than not excessive, with class being more of a definitive indicator than race.
And as far as the taser goes, isn't it reasonable to assume that if Tasers had been available perhaps Ron Pettaway would still be alive? I know some people do die from tasers, but the numbers are overwhelmingly in favor of the taser being an essentially non-lethal means for applying necessary force. If we refuse to acknowledge this, it's going to make the case for correcting the problem that much harder.
Exodus does have a point... It is of some benefit to introduce an additional (mostly) non-lethal tool is it may reduce the instances where an Officer would reach for a handgun.
However, I still believe that we at the community levels should exercise some control over what enforcement tool are brought into our communities.
This is the time to act. When a department introduces tasers or any other force mechanism, they have to re-write their force continuum policies to include the new device. Activists at the community level should step up and press the ATL PD to place the taser at the second to last position (just prior to deadly force - handguns)
Post a Comment