Weapon not used in Cayman…yet
The United Kingdom’s Home Office announced an initiative this week to acquire 10,000 additional taser “stun guns” to arm English and Welsh police officers in the fight against violent crime.
“stun guns” |
A taser is a hand-held weapon that fires two prongs delivering a 50,000 volt charge, shocking its target and leaving the person incapacitated long enough to be restrained. The prongs can also be removed so that the Taser can be used up close to administer an electric shock.
The weapons are generally used by police departments as a “less-than-lethal” option in subduing violent or mentally ill suspects. They are widely used by law enforcement agencies in the US and Canada.
Until this week, UK police forces had generally limited Taser use to a select group of specialist officers.
“I am proud that we have one of the few police services around the world that do not regularly carry firearms,” UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in a statement released Monday. “But every day the police put themselves in danger to protect us, the public. They deserve our support, so I want to give the police the tools they tell me they need to confront dangerous people.”
Tasers have not been introduced in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, where firearms use is also restricted to specially trained officers in the police Uniform Support Group.
Former Police Commissioner Stuart Kernohan had discussed a proposal with Governor Stuart Jack to arm select officers with tasers as early as last year. However, that plan was never implemented due to various reasons, including changes in leadership at the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
Former Acting Police Commissioner David George, who departed the islands Tuesday, said he was unaware of any such plan when the Caymanian Compass questioned him about it this past summer.
A statement was released by the RCIPS on Wednesday in response to Caymanian Compass questions about the potential use of tasers: “A business case was prepared some time ago by Commissioner Kernohan. It will be reviewed shortly.”
There is an on-going international debate over whether tasers are safe. The human rights group Amnesty International claims more than 300 people in the US and Canada have died after being shocked with the stun guns.
However, supporters of the guns have generally claimed that such deaths are caused not by the weapons themselves, but by health conditions that are exacerbated by electric shock such as congestive heart disease.
Amnesty International actually does not oppose the weapons’ use as long as they are deployed in limited number and operated by highly-trained specialist officers. The group does consider the stun guns “potentially lethal weapons.”
Several police departments in the US have claimed that use of Tasers has reduced the number of fatal shootings by officers who previously had to resort to firearms if a subject was too violent or too strong to control. Nearly all US police officers carry firearms in the course of their duties.
Taser International, the main manufacturer of the stun guns, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, claims the weapons are safe for law enforcement officers to use.
A number of lawsuits have been filed internationally in cases involving the weapons. In one recent case in Utah, USA, a man was awarded US$40,000 after he was tased by a Utah state trooper following a traffic stop. A court ruled the officer did not tell the driver he was under arrest before he was tased.
Taser International was recently dismissed from a US federal court case in Nevada involving a death in police custody where a Taser device was used. Taser International’s General Counsel said “extensive medical and scientific evidences establishing the safety of the TASER device, as well as the autopsy report…cleared the TASER device from the cause of this unfortunate in-custody death.”
Several other high-profile tasing incidents have made headlines within the past few years including one involving the death of a Polish man at Vancouver International Airport in 2007, which was captured on video.
Another incident involved the tasing of a man who caused a disruption during a speech at the University of Florida given by US Senator John Kerry. The man could be heard yelling ‘don’t tase me bro!’ after police officers tackled him. He was not seriously hurt.
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