DKos: This Could Be The Last Thing You Ever See - The New TASER X3

[Hissyspit]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/24/796756/-This-could-be-the-last-thing-you-ever-see:-The-New-TASER-X3

This could be the last thing you ever see: The New TASER X3

by Zwoof

Sat Oct 24, 2009 at 08:13:37 PM EST



With greater fanfare than a Hollywood movie premiere, the new TASER X3 Electronic Control Device (ECD) was unveiled at TASER International, Inc.'s annual conference held at Fort McDowell Resort near Scottsdale, AZ, on July 27, 2009.

~Police & Security Magazine, Sept/Oct 2009

How is the New Taser X3 different?

It's SEMI-AUTOMATIC, and can engage 3 targets simultaneously. For example, the X3 can ZAP a Grandmother, a teenager, and a pregnant woman in one fell swoop.

It could be said that more that 3 targets can be engaged if you count dead babies. (December 15, 2001: Hannah Rogers-Grippi, 6 months fetus, Chula Vista, California)

more below

Zwoof's diary :: ::
There are some very serious problems with the X3. In semi-automatic mode while engaging multiple targets, it is very easy for the police officer to deliver either multiple shocks or even multiple prongs (prongs...this is what they call them. I call them barbed meat-hooks) into a single victim. In fact, this happened at the above mentioned gala in Arizona.

Semiautomatic Mode:
...Every trigger pull will deploy a Smart Cartridge until all the loaded have been deployed. This happened during the Master Instructor training program.

While demonstrating and teaching tactical operations of the X3, an experienced TASER ECD instructor deployed X3 probes into a Master Instructor candidate. The X3 was in the semiautomatic mode. After telling the candidate to move, the instructor pulled the trigger to reenergize the ECD. The candidate was struck with the second set of probes and reenergized through the first set of probes (recall the X3 was in semiautomatic mode). Yes, you could hear the candidate's loud objections throughout the building. After a very sincere apology, the instructor gave the candidate two " Challenge Coins" - one for each deployment.

Police & Security News (p.55)

The article goes on to report that the settings are confusing and it would be easy for an officer in the field to make this same mistake. The problem is that in the field, the target might not be a healthy police officer but a member of a "High Risk Population". This is double speak for "pregnant, infirm, elderly, small children or low body mass persons". The X3 instruction manual cautions users that these people may have a greater risk of serious injury or death from the use of an ECD.

MORE

[Danger Mouse]

1. Is there honestly a GOOD reason to have these out there?

Cause I can't think of one. Not a single one.

[Cid_B]

5. Then you aren't trying hard enough...

Less injuries to Officers

Less deaths for offenders

Another step in escalation of force before drawing a 9mm

________________________________________________________

That was easy...

[Danger Mouse]

7. More dangerous to bystanders.

More dangerous to at-risk individuals
More difficult to use properly.
How is this going to help or protect anybody? What does this accomplish that a normal taser can't?

[MadHound]

8. More deaths by supposedly non-lethal weapons,

More stupidity by police officers,
More chances for them to torture innocents and others,
We seemed to get by just fine, with fewer deaths, before we had tasers.

Tasers are used by officers not to subdue suspects but rather to punish those who are the least bit uncooperative. Talk back to an officer, get tased, don't move fast enough, get tased, look at one wrong, get tased.

The fact that you're defending this practice tells us more about you and your mindset, none of it good.

[Hansel]

16. They kill too many people for petty crimes because the

police have convinced themselves they are non-lethal or they just don't care.

They are lethal weapons and have proven themselves to be so. And there is absolutely no reason to use them unless the police are facing a threat that can pass the laugh test. They are using them for asinine reasons and need to put stronger restrictions on them.

There is no chance in the world that a cop would pull a 9mm on a child throwing a temper tantrum or an old woman being obstinate.

[tularetom]

2. I want one

The holidays are coming and once again we will have 25 or 30 family embers in for Thanksgiving. Usually it deteriorates into a shouting match courtesy of some of the knuckle draggers like my son in law and nephew. Things would be a lot calmer if I had an X3.

[Nostradammit]

3. You're going to end up with "family embers"

if you use that thing on them.

:) :grr:

[Vickers]

14. That's coal, man.

:P

[formercia]

10. Line the "family embers" upon the mantle.

[TexasObserver]

4. Recommend

[adamuu]

6. good post. n/t

[crim son]

9. "Loud objections" my ass.

I've seen the videos and I know what tasers do to people.

[Mika]

11. Does everyone get "Challenge Coins" after "deployment".

Do they give them posthumously?

---

[1776Forever]

12. I am very concerned about this being used against chronically ill people who appear to be on drugs..

and I am writing to my Senator to protest the use of these because of it. Isn't what they have now, including fire arms, enough? Why do they think they must "improve" this "weapon"?

Very scary report follows:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/sections/zehm/?ID=126584

Deaths raise Taser questions
Spokane police used weapon on man who died after scuffle

Jody Lawrence-Turner
Staff writer
April 17, 2006

The cause of Otto Zehm's death is still being investigated.

But because the mentally disabled janitor died after a scuffle with Spokane police, the city has been thrust into an international controversy over law enforcement use of Tasers, a gunlike electronic shock device.

Reports of deaths after Taser shocks have prompted scrutiny of the weapon, which is supposed to be nonlethal, and caused some agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, not to include it among its cache of tools.

Police fired Taser probes twice at 35-year-old Zehm during a March 18 scuffle at a Zip Trip convenience store. Acting Chief Jim Nicks said in a news conference that his officers used appropriate force.

Using a Taser twice on a person isn't an abuse of the device, said Erin Callahan, director of Amnesty International for the western United States. And while the human rights group contends that Tasers are sometimes used unnecessarily, Callahan said the primary concern is the device's effect on people who are hit.

According to an Amnesty International report, more than 150 people nationwide have died after being shocked with Tasers since June 2001. Ten Taser-related deaths have been reported since the beginning of this year.

Of the total number of deaths, three – one in 2004 and two in 2005 – can be directly attributed to Taser shocks, according to Amnesty International's report. The device was a contributing factor in the other deaths, the human rights group says. Other factors included mental illnesses, drugs, obesity and heart disease....

..........

I think this will only get worse in the future when these go on the street!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. Such Over-Dramatic Garbage.

Taser injuries are a MINUSCULE percent of overall incidents. The facts show that they have more than significantly reduced the injuries of both officers and offenders, there are only a handful of cases that hold water as to the taser being responsible for death, and they have been proven to overall be more than safe. But as usual, let's make the exceptions the rule just so we can be outraged about something!!!

[Flaneur]

15. Links, please. For "significantly reduced injuries"

We have several hundred deaths now of people who died--coincidentally or not--after being Tasered. It didn't significantly reduce the risk of injury to them.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. Take About 5 Seconds Of Your Precious Day Out On Google And You'll Find Them.

And the several hundred deaths are over the course of what; 8 years? Out of what, hundreds of thousands of actual incidents? And how many of them have been truly found to be the fault of the taser? None yet so far but maybe only a handful? And if that warped logic is your defense, then do you also feel a repeal of opening refrigerator doors is in order? What about simply taking a walk on a nice day... Should that be deemed illegal as well? I could go on and on.

[JoeyT]

18. Yes, the death rate probably isn't that high when you consider the rate of use.

Which is damn near nonstop. A day doesn't pass that we don't see a half dozen stories usually with video of LEOs standing around someone that's thrashing and screaming on the ground because they didn't like the guy's tone or he didn't hand over his driver's license fast enough, or he had a broken back and couldn't stand when ordered to. (All videos posted on the internet.) There's a reason they're screaming: The fucking things hurt.
Sure, used correctly they can bring a safer end to a bad situation than shooting someone. The problem is all to often they're not used correctly, and in those situations they're an instrument of torture. So the question comes down to: How much torture is justified by using the phrase "safer for LEOs"? Especially since it probably isn't even true. It's not like they were wandering around unarmed and suddenly given tasers. Pepper spray is effective, trust me. (Especially the foam kind.)

This argument wouldn't even be valid were LEOs not known for covering up each others' illegal behavior. How often is a police officer willing to testify against another police officer that was in the wrong? Far less often than a taser kills someone. So yes, instruments of torture should be illegal for people that are known to shield one another from prosecution.

(I should add my knowledge of what tasering/pepper spraying/stun gunning feels like weren't acquired in the process of being arrested. It was a test of less-than-lethal weapons for a womens self defense class.)

[Leftist Agitator]

19. How much do you donate to DU to be allowed to spew your bullshit?

I'm just curious...