Tazed and Confused

The whole Tazer controversy has been building for some time, and came to a head this week when the son of a prominent newsman died after being Tazed. I find myself being asked by many who know me what I think of the situation.

I think it is as much a travesty as a tragedy.

Don't get me wrong, I think that the Tazer is an indispensable tool to police officers which has saved many more lives than it has taken. However, some officers have begun to reach for it as the first option in their arsenal.

I'm sure there will be officers out there critical of me for speaking out & crossing the blue line, but I've never been a big fan of the blue line anyway. Incidents like these are a black eye for anyone with a badge, and an ever larger number of people are taking notice at just how often they take place.

I may be a bit skewed in my assessment of this last event because I have received vastly greater amounts of training on dealing with mental illness, both in and out of a law enforcement perspective, than most officers will ever get. The responding officers to the above referenced incident likely have never dealt with someone truly mentally ill, and were far out of their depth.

In my opinion, the problem goes back to police training, or in some cases a lack thereof.
When I went through the academies, both corrections and police, there was a great deal of emphasis placed on the Force Continuum, which dictates the use of force. I learned the "one plus" theory: in a given situation, you use up to the level of force one step higher than the subject is using. In order to do that, you have to learn the Force Continuum:

• Verbal Action
• Physical Action
• Less than Lethal Weapons:
• Pepper Spray
• Tazer
• Baton/Asp
• Lethal Weapons/Deadly Force

So you can see, that if someone is verbally refusing to comply with lawful commands, under the "one plus" theory you can use physical action (i,e; arrest control tactics) to gain compliance. If the person is physically resisting, you may utilize the Less than Lethal Weapons. It does not say you must use them, and you are supposed to consider the ramifications prior to the use of such weapons. Different agencies have different priorities for the order in which those weapons can be used, but regardless of the priority, you must make a decision to use a weapon that has been determined to possibly cause serious injury and/or death. I'm not advocating that officers sit around and try all day to talk someone into compliance. But I am advocating that officers use their weapons out of real need instead of convenience.

From a cop's perspective, he (or she) has his own priority tree to follow:

1. I (and all the members of my team) go home uninjured at the end of this shift.
2. Anyone else's safety.
3. Anyone else's property.

So for a lot of cops, the easy thing to do is yank the Tazer and go to work when there is the slightest chance they might get their uniform dirty. It gains compliance faster and with much less risk of injury to the officer (and believe it or not the subject) than any other method. It also offends me that so many incidents take place with little to no attempt to solve the situation without someone taking a ride on the Tazer Rodeo.

In the above referenced situation, obviously the rural cops had little to no experience in dealing with someone having a mental health incident. A man running and screaming butt naked down the highway is probably more than a little disconcerting for an officer who doesn't see something like that often. In addition, the Tazer is completely safe (although painful) on the overwhelming majority of healthy people. Nearly every instance of someone dying after being Tazed involves a prior health condition on the part of the arrested. However, if those officers had had better training in dealing with a person in mental crisis, or if they had had better verbal skills, a young family would probably not be without a father and husband today.

I also wonder if it shouldn't be a requirement for all new officers to work for 6 months in a correctional or mental health facility. I know from personal experience from working on the Maximum Security Forensics Unit of the Utah State Hospital that having to go in and talk down a 6'4" 300 pound naked man who thinks he is Jesus without any weapons does wonders for both your verbal communication skills and your physical control skills. In those situations, you gain a respect for the ability to verbally gain compliance in the vast majority of incidents, and the confidence in your physical abilities to successfully take care of the situation physically without any weapons in the few times verbal skills don't work.

The Tazer is a fantastic tool available in situations where the other alternative without it would be the likely use of deadly force. There are a large number of people alive today thanks to the fact that officers who cannot gain control of the situation with lesser uses of force have an option short of pulling their gun and ending a life. I for one hope that officers learn, and learn soon, that they should use those other skills and tools before falling back on the Tazer, before legislative action takes that otherwise life-saving tool away from them.