12-year-old tased by police officer

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

But if it depends, then why did you say "Should a 12 year old child get tased? No?" That's the part that confuses me?

So, first what confused you was when I said "depends", and I explained what I meant by that.

Now, its the simple answer to a simple question.

Okay, here goes:

Should a cop, with no justifiable reason, walk up to some random, 12 year old kid, and tase him or her, for no reason. No. But, that is how I see it.

Clear now?

Seems pretty simple to me: If your local police department was going to review its policies concerning tasing or adopt new policies, what do you think the official policies should be:

• There are no circumstances under which a 12-year-old should be tased;
• A 12-year-old should not be tased unless the police officer first determines [list criteria here] and gives a clear warning;
• It should be left to a police officer's discretion to determine whether, under the cirsumstances, a 12-year-old should be tased; or
• Some other option.

Actually, here in Houston, we just went through a similar situation with car chases. When should a cop chase a suspect in the car.

The answer is: as long as innocent life / by standers will not get hurt. It is a judgment that is left up to the cop.

You are right, policies need to be reviewed and critically examined on a regular basis. But even the best policy review can not account for every possible situation that may, or may not, occur in a given situation.

The only way law enforcement can satisfy the parameters that you and DrPhil are proposing is if we can predict the future. If so, then we can work in
absolutes. Since we can't predict the future, we are left with what we currently have - doing the best we can with the most current knowledge.