Carlsbad's Taser Use Policy says that "the officer should only choose a Taser if other options won't be effective or will present a greater danger to the officer or the subject..." [LINK]
Highlighted above is a discrapancy that should be explicitly and prominently addressed.
Taser International, in one of the many examples where their opinions differ from the final consensus, has claimed that the taser is less dangerous than other forms of force. They make this insane conclusion by neglecting the puncture wounds and burns entirely, ignoring the mental trauma caused by the torture, and explain away any resulting deaths as being just a coincidence. And yes, by this insanity, tasers are nearly harmless - provided the subject doesn't crack his head open and die.
Problem is this. The 9th clearly and explicitly stated that tasers are "a greater intrusion than any other" less-lethal weapon they have ever encountered.
So if your department's training is traceable back to Taser International, then all the trainees will be under the erroneous impression that tasers are a safer (and thus lower) form of force.
Court disagrees.
"The physiological effects, the high levels of pain, and foreseeable risk of physical injury lead us to conclude that [tasers] are a greater intrusion than other non-lethal methods of force we have confronted," Wardlaw wrote.
Fix your policies.
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