Re: Ride With The Taser
This is a post of mine from another forum. The first part has been covered here already:\
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A lot of the time things can be handled much better by all involved, this being a prime example. The police officer should understand the law better than the average motorist and therefore should have explained it. All the police officer had to say is, "signing the ticket is not an admission of guilt, it is only proof of receipt. If you refuse to sign the ticket I will have to take you into custody to formally book you to prove that you received the citation."
This should have been the case whether he was tasered or everything went smoothly and he was cuffed and taken in. The whole taser incident is another argument within itself. The whole para militarization of policing has taken away from the original intent of peace officers. So many of them seem to have something to prove.
I think a lot of it has to do with a certain percentage of the population that is attracted to the profession for the wrong reason. But I really feel that it somewhat has to do with the shift in training to a more military model. More and more small towns are forming swat teams when they really are unnecessary and turning everything into a "tactical operation". And to a somewhat lesser extent TV shows like "COPS" set a bad example.
Being nice and explaining things calmly is usually the easiest route for all involved. I think Dog Chapmen sets a pretty good example of what being nice and less threatening to people will accomplish
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