Cops are in love with tasers and will never give them up, even if it kills. A lot of people would have to die first; the people with really good lawyers.

My experience has certainly been that cops are zealous about Tasers. If one considers the alternative to be a gun, then I guess they're great. But others argue that the alternative is a lower level of control, and that Tasers are too often employed as the first alternative these days.

If you put yourself in an officer's shoes, of course there's the issue of wanting to protect yourself. Pepper spray, for example, is less effective against what they might call a "goal-oriented" assailant.

I don't know. It's a tough one. I think if I were a cop, I'd want to use the Taser.

Yeah, I'd want a Taser too, but wouldn't it be a lot safer if we just invested in some serious martial arts training for cops? I mean if they could get all Jackie Chan, it might result in less gunplay and fewer deaths. Or maybe not... I've heard that those guys are on the juice, so maybe kung-fu would just make them more dangerous.

I'd prefer they all had training in how to deal safely with people in mental health crisis.

Wait, the PPB hires pigs that weigh less than 100 lbs? I thought one had to be at least 5' 10" to put on the uniform.

Did you know that TASER stands for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle?

The study cited doesn't seem to replicate the typical use of a Taser by police. For one thing, a Taser is designed to immobilize a subject through up to a couple of inches of clothing. Clothing and air are not good conductors of energy, hence the high voltage. I doubt that they put the pigs in hoodies and jackets to make it realistic. A person being Tased is not taking the full jolt of electricity.
Additionally a 40-second application of Taser followed by an equally long second application doesn't correlate with how its actually used in police situations. The use of Taser, or the threatened use of it, subdues most people in far shorter time.
Pepper spray just doesn't work to safely subdue the mentally ill, the drug/alcohol fueled, and those hell-bent on causing mayhem. For all the dead pigs in laboratory experiments, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who are alive without harm because of the use of Taser.

Jay:
The prongs are meant to stick, unless you are wearing clothes designed to keep the prongs from piercing you are going to get the jolt.

Also I have seen too many videos of people being hit 3,4 even 5 times. We have no idea the harm we are causing people who get tasered in the long run, there have apparently not been any independent studies done.

Weapons should never be a first resort, but many people believe that because teasers are less lethal that they can be used any time.

To that I call BS.

"The Portland Police Bureau, sadly, has a policy against tasering private citizens for demonstration purposes. So I am yet to “try out” the experience."

As I recall, you had a chance to "try it out," but you spent all of your Christmas money to avoid it. Not that I wouldn't have done the same thing... or rather, not that I would've volunteered for that auction.

Mmmmmmmm... bacon.

Wow, that headline had me hoping for something way different than the post delivered. Way to lead me on, man...