Tasers Guideline And Analysis

use “Conducted Energy Devices, CEDS” to control an individual, these weapons are usually known as Tasers. Tasers release a high-voltage jolt of electricity from a distance. A good situation in which law enforcement officers use this guideline is when they are trying to control riots. Using less-lethal technologies officers may be able to control a large group, if they are not able to restrain them, then officers will be left to use blunt impact, chemicals such as tear gas or pepper spray, or even conducted energy devices until they are able to get hold of the situation The last guideline that officers may use is lethal force, this is when officers use lethal weapons to control a situation. This guideline is taught to officers to only use when

Onyemaobim’s (2016) article he writes about a case where a police officer used lethal force on a suspect and killed the individual. On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, unarmed teenager, was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri by a police officer, Darren Wilson. The leading to this shooting was when Brown was caught on surveillance camera at a convenience store stealing cigarillos. Officer Wilson said he saw Brown and a friend walking down the street and ordered the two to stop and noticed that Brown fit the description of the convenience store theft. Some witnesses saw an altercation between Wilson and Brown in the police vehicle. Officer Wilson then testified that Brown reached into the police vehicle and tried to reach for his gun, which is when the officer fired 2 rounds at the teenager, the shots missed Brown which is when he began to flee on foot and the officer chases him. Brown and Officer Wilson come to stop and are face-to-face the next actions are not known but what is recognized is that Officer Wilson shot ten more rounds at which six of those rounds hit Brown, killing him. The outcome of the shooting, the grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson (Onyemaobim, 2016). In this case the use of lethal force was not accepted as the officer was against a teenager who was unarmed, instead of shooting the young man, Officer Wilson could have used empty hand control to restrain Brown or the officer could have used less-lethal methods, such as a pepper

In Ronald Wheeler’s (2015) article, it explains what happened between Garner and an NYPD police officer. On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, who was unarmed, was suspected of selling cigarettes by a NYPD officer. The officer tried to restrain Garner and put him in handcuffs, Garner pulled away and was put into a chokehold, drawn to the ground, and was continued to be held around the neck until he was unconscious. Garner went into cardiac arrest as he was being put into custody and shortly died. Medical examiners determined that the cause of death was due to the fact of Garner being in a chokehold and a compression to his chest, drove to his death. The entire situation was recorded and Garner was heard telling the officer that he could not breathe. Using less-lethal force for this situation was not appropriate as Garner was not fighting the officer, the officer should have not put the suspect into a chokehold for a long amount of time. As stated earlier this paper, officers are always put into a situation in which they have to react quick and sometimes their actions may not have been the smartest choice.