IS THE TASER REALLY WORKING OR DID THE COPS ALREADY HAVE IT RIGHT?

by Trey Rusk

Running Code 3
December 16, 2017

I remember being told to spare my hands when having to use non-lethal force when I was a patrolman. When I had my first encounter with a fighter, I grabbed him by the arm in an attempt to put him in an arm lock. Real fancy stuff straight from the academy. I soon learned my academy instructor was full of shit! The bad guy pulled away by spinning and landed a punch in my gut. I lunged at him and tried to tackle him. We both wound up on the floor scratching and gouging until my partner hit him upside the head with an issued slapper. He curled up in a fetal position and I put the cuffs on him and we hauled him off to jail.

Cops carried slappers and tear gas back in the day. A slapper was a leather covered device that was spring loaded with a couple of ounces of lead in the business end. There was no pepper spray so old fashioned military tear gas was carried in a spray can. The slapper was an effective law enforcement tool. The tear gas usually wound up on everyone involved, crooks and cops. I once saw a fight break out at the booking desk and a cop who was not even involved stood on a chair and tried to spray the prisoner from across the room. Needless to say we had to evacuate the entire booking area because tear gas unlike pepper spray is just that, a gas that gets in the ventilation system. Pepper spray is somewhat better than tear gas but not by much.

The modern police non-lethal weapon of choice is the Taser. I hope I never have to use one because they are lethal. So much so that the manufacturers have lowered the voltage/amps because of all the lawsuits filed. Making the weapon impotent on many occasions.

The other weapon used is the ASP baton. This weapon is a collapsible night stick with a metal ball on the end. Training with the ASP is supposed to teach the police to limit their blows to the shoulder, thigh, upper arm and calf in order to inflict enough pain so that the crook gives up. What a load of BS! People that get clobbered with a metal stick get hurt. Not because of a lack of training mind you, but because the crook won't stand still so he can be hit in a designated place. I don't know if those reading this blog have ever been in a real fight, but there are no Marquis of Queensbury rules. Somebody is getting hurt.

I want to reiterate that law enforcement had it right long ago when a whack on the skull with a leather slapper which seldom left a mark worked better than the tools supplied to police today.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The problem is that them thar lead slappers are not politically correct.

I also carried an Argus ‘Iron Claw’ which would leave anyone resisting arrest do the chicken dance. It too is not politically correct.

I wonder if the time will come when guns carried by cops will also not be politically correct?