TASER recently released a directive that the TASER System should not be aimed or fired at a persons chest due to the small and unlikely but still possible risk of an adverse cardiac event.
My problem with this is, many police situations may not lend themselves to being able to avoid aiming at the chest. A typical police stop that may involve taking the TASER out of it’s holster is most likely not a serene, quit, calm event where the officer can allow that kind of hesitation.
If their is a problem with the TASER unit that can cause inadvertant death, then either TASER should fix the problem or TASER use should be considered the same as pulling a firearm with the potential for death.
In my opinion, this is simply TASER trying to cover their collective butts so as to avoid future lawsuits. By putting it out there not to aim at the chest, if a death does occur, they can say “we told you not to do that, so don’t blame us”. In their efforts for future financial self preservation, they are asking officers to put themselves at greater risk.
The best course of action would be to determine the appropiate use of the TASER system by law enforcement. Does a 6 foot+ tall police officer really need to TASER some kids mom when traditional restraining and compliance techniques would have been just as effective? Should someone be tasered just because they didn’t do what the officer said? Maybe, but if the situation is not a violent one, then other less traumatic techniques could be used to handle and difuse those situations.
On the flipside, someone with a knife can be easily subdued from a distance without putting the officers at risk and many lives have been saved by TASERS that would have been lost in the past, as the officer would have had no choice but to shoot the person.
The question isn’t just one of the safety of the TASER unit but one of how, when, where and why law enforcement should use the TASER system…After all, the TASER is just one of many tools available to a law enforcement officer.