Use of force by police is a local decision, but experts say it should be a last resort

[damnedifIknow]

When a teenage driver refused an Independence police officer’s demand to exit a car last weekend, the officer reached for his stun gun, issued a warning and fired.

Though the FBI is investigating whether Officer Timothy N. Runnels used excessive force when he subdued 17-year-old Bryce Masters, it could be months before its answer becomes public.

According to experts, however, using force against an uncooperative but unarmed suspect should be a police officer’s last resort."

“We should be smart enough to look at different avenues,” he said."

* No national policy exists for appropriate use of force by police. Instead, each of the country’s 18,000 police departments sets it own policy."

*“As with any service weapon, officers can misuse (stun guns),” authors wrote in a 2009 report about police use-of-force cases. Stun gun misuse can range from “outright abusive or illegal use” to less obvious cases of officers pulling them “too early in a force incident,” said the report presented to the National Institute of Justice.

Officers need training not only on how to use the weapons, but also on when, experts say."

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article2184934.html

[MannyGoldstein]

1. How can this take months?

Hours. Maybe a few days.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

[damnedifIknow]

3. I agree and this worries me also

"No national policy exists for appropriate use of force by police." I don't think we should be leaving this all up to individual police departments.

[Unknown Beatle]

2. Yeah right. Stun guns.

What about regular guns with real bullets they're using now.

The study is about use of force using stun guns. Bwaahahahahahahaha! While cops are shooting and killing people they're worried about stun guns. What a joke.

Study first about cops shooting people with guns and then go with stun guns second.