Sunday, September 30, 2007

Dear MPA


Dear Mr Mpa people Please can I have a Taser

I promise that I will use it in accordance with all my other officer safety equipment , such as my handcuffs, CS Spray and bendy batton.

All of which "could" cause serious injury or death ...



Miss Cindy Butts who is on record for saying

"Gun crime destroys lives and brings fear and intimidation to our communities. The MPA gun crime scrutiny made 17 recommendations to add value to the Metropolitan Police Service’s existing activities and suggest constructive ways to move policy forward, and we believe our findings are of real significance.”



Yet also states on behalf of the MPA regarding the issuing of Tasers to uniformed front line officers...


"The proposal brought to us today was for Tasers to be used in addition to firearms, which is a significant development and one we were not happy to agree to without greater explanation of the implications and justification for this move.

“We have therefore called for a more thorough report to the October meeting of the full Authority. This will require a detailed business case, a clear indication that the Met has taken into account the concerns that London’s communities will rightly raise, and a commitment to communicate how, when and why Tasers will be deployed in the future.”



Which is , on the face of it a cop out , more paperwork and redtape while officers continue to be stabbed and shot dead up and down the country

The public need protecting from the pond life that are been released early from prisons , the police are accused of been risk adverse ?

I say its our policy's that are risk adverse.

Does that make us institutionally something ?




4 comments:

Chrysalis said...

It doesn't help when the world news is showing a police officer repeatedly tasering a woman, even as she lays down on the ground. The media loves showing that footage again and again.

My cousin is a police Sgt. and they all carry them. Better to be tasered than shot, I would think.amv

Motorheadbanger said...

As an ordinary member of the public, I don't believe Tasers should be standard Police issue, sorry.

CS spray was introduced in my region a couple of years ago. Since then there have been numerous complaints of officers using the spray as a first resort, before even bothering to try and 'talk down' a situation. It's becoming an easy route to lazy - and bad - policing.

My fear is that the situation will be no different should Tasers become general issue, and within a couple of years it'll be fairly common to see the same kind of 'shoot first ask questions after' useage that a large pile of Youtube videos reveals.

I think the answer is to the kind of trouble on the streets which has created a need for CS Spray and Tasers is to tackle the root of the problem. If someone assaults a Police Officer, they should get a mandatory severe Prison sentence. And of course sentences should be severely increased for all crimes of assault or carrying weapons in a public place.

Sadly though, this being the 21st century, nobody is allowed to come down hard on the bad guys for fear of damaging their human rights in some fashion. Until common sense once again becomes the norm in society the legal system will be the one thing allowing violent crime to persist....so I guess it's inevitble that 'non lethal' weapons will become increasingly used by our Police forces.

All I ask is that Police Officers use them responsibly, and not as a lazy alternative - because that kind of laziness will crush what reputation the Police have left amongst the general public to the ground. And that can only make your job even harder.

thinblueline said...

mhb, I would hope that is what we all want from officers.

For a service that oh the whole polices with consent and without firearms to the extent of our brethern else where

The British bobby will allways have his/ her quick wit and smart gob :)

Anonymous said...

I carry an X26 taser. I've been awarded the destinguished medal for saving a life by using the taser. I have tased while on the run, from behind and face to face.

During all these times I was justified yet if a camera was there it may not have told the whole story. The story of the guy who was just "acting weird" yet I had taken him for mental eval. once before and if he was able to run away things would get dangerous.

To "Motorhead": I wish more people wanted justice like you do for criminals. And yes, a cop needs to have good reason to use any force but wouldn't you rather have bad guy subdued and cop not in a fight then a potential for cop to lose and bad guy get away?

Cops don't fight fair but we fight within the law ... unlike the bad guy who could careless about the law or the public that holds the cops to such a high standard.

Investigations - 183 | Crimes Solved- 85 | No Crime - 47
% Detection rate - 46.4 % (Counting year April 08 )


Investigations - 129 | Crimes Solved- 53 | No Crime - 36
% Detection rate - 49.3 % (Counting year April 07 )