Taser on Quad draws viewers
Zoe Martin
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: TruLife
The Taser's darts hit the silver demonstration board, making it spark and pop like a Fourth of July firecracker - 50,000 volts of holiday cheer.
Alpha Phi Sigma, one of Truman's justice systems honor fraternities, hosted a Taser use demonstration on the Quad last week as part of its recruitment events.
Senior James Young, vice president of Alpha Phi Sigma, said the group consists of students with various career interests under the umbrella of criminal justice, but many students in the major go into law enforcement. Young said more officers are being armed with Tasers at this time although their use is controversial.
"Columbia's now putting in some money to go ahead and get all their officers outfitted with Tasers," he said. "Some of the officers here in Kirksville have them, and so … people are curious about why are we using this for security purposes instead of the other methods."
Young said Tasers are one of several less-than-lethal methods to subdue individuals for arrest, including bean-bag guns and OC spray, or pepper mace.
"All of them have their ups; all of them have their downs," Young said. "It does fall on a continuum. There's only so much force you can use and once you hit that point, your options are pretty limited."
Young mentioned a Moberly, Mo., man who died at the end of August after being Tasered, but he said this was a rare exception to an effective law enforcement tool.
"It has its risks," he said. "That's something that officers can't control. If they're being rushed at by somebody who's an aggressor, their options a lot of times are either you've got the mace - which may or may not be effective because if you're facing downwind, you're not going to want to use mace - you've got the Taser and your gun. The gun's lethal, Taser's not. So it's one of the risks you have to weigh. It's classified as less-than-lethal because the majority of the time, it's not."
Adair County Sheriff Leonard Clark, who conducted the demonstration, echoed Young's sentiments and backed them up with his 28 years of experience working for the sheriff's department.
Alpha Phi Sigma, one of Truman's justice systems honor fraternities, hosted a Taser use demonstration on the Quad last week as part of its recruitment events.
Senior James Young, vice president of Alpha Phi Sigma, said the group consists of students with various career interests under the umbrella of criminal justice, but many students in the major go into law enforcement. Young said more officers are being armed with Tasers at this time although their use is controversial.
"Columbia's now putting in some money to go ahead and get all their officers outfitted with Tasers," he said. "Some of the officers here in Kirksville have them, and so … people are curious about why are we using this for security purposes instead of the other methods."
Young said Tasers are one of several less-than-lethal methods to subdue individuals for arrest, including bean-bag guns and OC spray, or pepper mace.
"All of them have their ups; all of them have their downs," Young said. "It does fall on a continuum. There's only so much force you can use and once you hit that point, your options are pretty limited."
Young mentioned a Moberly, Mo., man who died at the end of August after being Tasered, but he said this was a rare exception to an effective law enforcement tool.
"It has its risks," he said. "That's something that officers can't control. If they're being rushed at by somebody who's an aggressor, their options a lot of times are either you've got the mace - which may or may not be effective because if you're facing downwind, you're not going to want to use mace - you've got the Taser and your gun. The gun's lethal, Taser's not. So it's one of the risks you have to weigh. It's classified as less-than-lethal because the majority of the time, it's not."
Adair County Sheriff Leonard Clark, who conducted the demonstration, echoed Young's sentiments and backed them up with his 28 years of experience working for the sheriff's department.
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