Trib Steals TASER Story

The Tribune is going to owe the Chaplains a crap-load of money this month, stealing numerous stories from the blog, like this one:

• The Chicago Police Department has tightened its policy on Taser use, rewriting the rules to discourage officers from shocking people who are running away or otherwise vulnerable to injury.
  
  The change drew little public notice when the department enacted new use-of-force policies in October.
  
  The revised order was issued a month and a half after a Chicago Tribune investigation detailing the department’s reliance on the weapon pointed out that the rule changes the department had announced did not specifically ban shocking people who simply run away and pose no serious threat. That prohibition has been adopted by other large police departments and endorsed by reform advocates and use-of-force experts who note that Taser shocks can cause people to fall and sustain devastating head injuries.

Here's an idea - don't run away from the police. Obey the lawful orders to stop and cease resisting.

• There's a 73% chance that Foxxx won't charge you
• and another 78% chance you'll make bail, even on murder and hate crime charges
• and another 82% chance you beat the charge at court.

The Trib gets this part correct:

• But five months after the new rules were unveiled, the department issued a Taser policy containing a lengthy revision. The order now includes a section that advises officers not to shock people who run away, are intoxicated or could fall and suffer a head injury, among other things.The new language stops short of firmly banning Taser uses under those circumstances but says that “when practicable, department members should avoid” those uses.
  
  The department’s force policies are significant not just as guidelines but because they dictate conduct that can lead to discipline for an officer.

But they draw the wrong conclusion. The order doesn't "dictate conduct." It pretty much puts an officer in the trick bag for any bad outcome arising from the conduct of the criminal. If we understand Newton's Law of Motion and his Law of Universal Gravitation, a TASER doesn't negate these realities when muscular paralysis is introduced into the equation, so why carry or use a TASER that will only lead you to Federal Court? They even cite this example:

• The rule change is a step in the right direction, said Dominique Franklin Sr., whose 23-year-old son died after an officer deployed a Taser while trying to arrest him for allegedly stealing a bottle of vodka from a downtown convenience store in 2014. Dominique Franklin Jr. fell and hit his head on a pole, suffering a fatal head injury.
  
  His father called the rule revision “bittersweet,” because it comes more than three years after his son died. He said he suspects little will change unless the department’s culture also changes and discipline grows more reliable.
  
  “Too many cops do stuff because they feel they can get away with it,” he said.

Leaving aside the dark humor this episode provided, dear old dad's quote provides an eerie insight into today's troubles:

• "Too many shitheads do this stuff because they feel they can get away with it,"

No chases? Car jackings skyrocket. No bail restrictions? Recidivism explodes. No serious jail/prison time for theft, robbery, UUW? Guess what's popping up all over the "quiet" and "safe" neighborhoods?

But if they take away yet another tool that prevented cops from having to go "hands on" all the time and suffer injury after injury after lawsuit for "beating" someone instead of "subduing" a resisting criminal, well - we're seeing the results of that now, aren't we?