The Taser is a cop’s favorite weapon. A police officer used to walk with a large stick or even carry a leather one with metal in it and keep it in their belt. Wearing a gun sometimes made them want to take it out of the holster and do some self defense shooting. Now they have the Taser to subdue uncooperative citizens and often.

The hottest thing in police work these days is the Taser. It is a device that sends painful jolts of electricity into the human body throwing muscles into uncontrollable spasms. It is a way of using force without getting close to he suspect. Frequently, just the sight of a Taser will force the suspect to give up without a fight. It is so effective, police forget not to use it and subject them to excruciating pain for no reason. Some even die from the use of a Taser

Anyone hit by the jolts gives up resistance very quickly. Get used to it because Taser is being used by more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. It all started when 2 brothers, Rick and Tom Smith, founded Taser International and tried to corner the stun gun market on these devices.

The Smith’s believe that more than 500,000 police officers have them and now speculate that it has become the officer’s weapon of choice. It is the use of electricity to subdue a potential suspect without having to resort to the blunt force of a billy club or the deadly force of a fire arm.

The Taser uses compressed gas to fire two small darts attached to copper wires. When they pierce the skin, electric current flows through the body seizing up the muscles forcing the suspect to crash to the ground screaming in pain. It is a whole new device, a new way to control people.

Jeoffrey Albert has written the definitive study to date of Taser use for the National Institute of Justice. He says, “When used properly, it is a very effective tool in law enforcement.” I say it is a way back to the Middle Ages to torture people without judge or jury involved yet and I was a cop for ten years and I taught law enforcement in the Police Academy.

His own study found instances of what he calls, “lazy cop syndrom.” I call it “Lets juice him and laugh and ask questions later.” Cops use this thing like they were making a Jack Ass video. Most citizens don’t even know it is coming and unlike the traditional billy clubs that leave swelling and black and blue marks, you just have to wait for the person to shake the shock off. No visible marks anywhere. It’s your word against mine! The cops use the Taser instead of proper police proceedures. We could make SerpicoII with this new corruption.

Taser has become the go to weapon of choice and the officers are using them way too quickly. However, it is certainly effective. As soon as a suspect does not listen to the officers questions, they know to pay attention real soon. As a result, casualities are down on both sides. The number of suspects that had to be taken to the hospital after they were arrested has gone down every year since the Taser was brought in and so has the number of Police Officers injured. The cops believe that it is the best weapon out there for their purposes and is effective.

Some say that it has changed the face of police work forever. It is true that people are still alive today because of this less lethal device.

The first Taser was invented by space scientist John Cover. He designed it to look like a flashlight fired by using gunpowder. It is named from a old science fiction book called, Tom Swift And His Electric Rifle. The Thomas A Swift Electric Rifle (TASER)

The Smith brothers struk a deal with Cover and reengineered his weapon. Today they run a very successful business from Scotsdale Arizona. The place is part fortress and part Star Trek with its keyless entries to all doors. They obviously are trying to project high teck there.

There they converted a device powered by gun powder and replaced it with compressed gas. It cleverly frees the product from all the regulations of fire arms and turns TASER into a $100 Million dollar a year business. It is an unregulated tool that allows anyone to legally use it. The production line turns out 100,000 Tasers a year with manual assembly.

It puts out about 2.1 million amps of a jolt which is a very low current and runs on a digital camera sized battery. So, the voltage is high and the amount of currant is low. That is the difference between being electrocuted and living to tell about it. Police have tased over 100 million individuals. You Tube has many videos of this type of torture. 485 people have died from the over use of the device.

Do they make the most dangerous of situations safer? Or is it a beastial way to torture people?