The use of police weapons has experienced a revolution over the last century. In the 19 th century, many police departments in New York and Boston employed less-lethal weapons. However, in the wake of the 20 th century, police began receiving firearms in preparation for better-armed criminals. Other than criminals, police officers often have to deal with unruly and extremely violent citizens including the children. In order to prevent further harm, restore order, and protect themselves, new technologies such as the Taser are now on the rise. Research has established that more than 15000 police officers and military agencies use Taser (Police Use of Force: The Impact of Less-Lethal Weapons and Tactics). However, the use of this technology has been marred with controversy. Some of the issues associated with Taser include in-custody deaths, intentional abuse, medical conditions, and deaths. The case can be worse if the victim is a minor. Therefore, the police should have limits placed on the types of weapons a police officer can use on children.
According to Klein (2016), the number of children being Tasered has remained high for the last four years. The author provides an example of the impact that the Taser had on a child who shook uncontrollably from the impact of the electricity. Many states and federal organizations have also failed to assess how children are Tasered especially in the learning institutions. Taser is primarily an electrical weapon. Researchers have opined that it can be medically risky to use such a weapon on a child especially if they are not fully grown. The electrical jolts expose them to greater risk of cardiac arrest. The use of the Taser can also be a cause of psychological problems for the child due to the associated trauma. As such, this discredits the use of such weapons, and most importantly, it calls on the police to place a limit on the types of weapons they use on children.
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When assessing a weapon, it is imperative to look into its form of mechanism. The Taser, for instance, produces up to 50,000 volts of electricity. Driven into the body of a child, it has the ability to stun and disabled a person temporarily. Wihbey (2015) asserts that electricity produced has been associated with injury and death. The increased vulnerability while using the Taser makes it a potentially risky weapon for children. Other than the Taser, other weapons such as the pepper spray that have been used to restore order could have significant impacts on the welfare of the children. Although the weapons might not necessarily have adverse effects on the child, the reactions they cause afterward could have potentially deadly implications. Klein (2016) discusses a situation that happened in 2013 involving a student. The student was Tasered while trying to break a school fight.
However, the effects turned out to be catastrophic. The student fell on the ground hitting his head. He ended up spending the next 60 days in a medically induced coma. It is critical to appreciate that this was an older student who was in high school. The aftermath could have been more devastating had this been a young child below the age of six. It is therefore imperative for the police to come up with weapons that have limited toxicity, stress, and outcomes on a child’s body. The focus should not be to injure but to regain control by temporary paralysis by use of humane ways. Once the weapon used causes injury or threatens the life of a child, it amounts to torture which should be regarded as a serious human rights issue. Thus, police have the moral obligation to ensure that their weapons guarantee safety to children.
References
Klein, R. (2016). School police have used electroshock weapons on at least 4 kids since August. The Hechinger Report https://hechingerreport.org/school-police-have-used-electroshock-weapons-on-at-least-4-kids-since-august/
Klein, R. (2016). Set to Stun. The Huffington Post https://data.huffingtonpost.com/2016/school-police/tasers
Police Use of Force: The Impact of Less-Lethal Weapons and Tactics https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/233280.pdf
Wihbey, J. (2015). U.S. Department of Justice: Police use of force, Tasers, and other weapons. Journalist’s Resource https://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/u-s-department-of-justice-police-use-of-force-tasers-and-other-less-lethal-weapons/
