Lately I have seen many blogs and news articles reflecting negatively towards law enforcement. It seems like every time an officer has to do his job he (or she) gets criticized from the media and general public.
Recent stories include a reverend getting arrested, a college student who was tased at a John Kerry Q&A, and eleven officers shooting an armed suspect who refused to drop his weapon.
Many people (bloggers, media, general public) have insisted that the use of a tazer is excessive when 6 officers are present to apprehend the subject. People have also questioned that 11 officers firing 104 shots might be "going overboard" for only one guy with a gun.
Keep in mind that these people making accusations, for the most part, have no experience in law enforcement. Working as a paramedic, I frequently have use multiple hands to hold down a baby long enough to start an IV. I have enough trouble getting my 9 month old daughter to hold still while I change her diaper. I'm talking about someone 10 times smaller than me! Try to image the difficulty in controlling a full grown man who absolutely refuses to cooperate. I think people would be surprised as to how difficult it can be to get an uncooperative subject on the ground with his hands behind his back long enough to cuff them, without hurting him.
The tazer was invented to provide officers a means to control these types of behavior without having to resort to weapons like pepper spray, batons, or even firearms. Believe me, the effects from a tazer (both long and short term) are far less severe than that of pepper spray or a night-stick. For example, my wife and I were at the fair grounds a couple days ago, and happened to be next to a man that was intoxicated and fighting with the deputy sheriffs. Being that they didn't have tazers, they had to resort to pepper spray to control the man. Unfortunately we were directly down wind from this incident and as a result had burning eyes and throats for an extended period of time. I guarantee this man felt the effects much longer than we did. Tazers are quick, to the point, and safe for everyone around.
As far as the man who decided to point a loaded handgun at 11 police offers pointing guns at him ordering him to "drop his weapon", sorry but no sympathy from my end. As far as I'm concerned, he deserved every bit of the 30 bullets that entered his body. These officers have only a matter of seconds (if that) to decide whether or not lethal force should be used. Nobody wants to be "that officer" that got shot by the one bullet that left the subjects gun before everyone else decides to pull the trigger.
The same goes with any type of weapon used by law enforcement. When a police officer tells you to put your hands behind your back or you will be tased.......just do it. The guy with the gun wins. If you feel it is unjustified, then dispute it in court. There just isn't any sense in fighting.
Now I know that carrying a gun and wearing badge doesn't mean "always right". There are bad apples in law enforcement, just the same as there are bad paramedics, teachers, parents, etc. However I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority of our "boys in blue" are decent people just doing their job.
We all hate it when cops pull us over and break up our parties. But just keep in mind that they don't make the rules, they just enforce them. If they were really the bad guys that everyone makes them out to be, then nobody would call them for help.
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