Reply #54: Actaully, that last statement is slightly wrong.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

The Tasers give them a level of force that is non lethal but keeps them at a distance from the suspect. If a cop has a TASER out, I guarantee you there is a cop behind him with his pistol drawn covering the subject to back him up. Nine times out of ten you don't have one wihout the other.

You will still use deadly force in the same situations as you would before.

There are even studies out that say that pistol shaped TASERS make the situation more dangerous for both officer and suspect. When an officer, who by the nature of the situation you can guarantee is in an altered mental state, reaches onto his(her) belt and feels a pistol grip, they can't tell if it is a TASER or a 9mm pistol. Sometimes you get a ZAP when you wanted a boom, and a boom when you wanted a zap.

They have had to implement specific training procedures to make sure officers carried TASERS and handguns on different parts of their belts to minimize the chance of mistaking one for the other.