Tasers in Schools

From Liliana Segura at Alternet:

“In March, the Los Angeles Times reported that “the number of law enforcement agencies that have given Tasers to officers who work on school campuses has grown to well over 4,000,” according to Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications at Taser International. That’s up from 1,700 in 2005.”

“In December 2008, Amnesty International released a 130-page report, “Less Than Lethal? The Use of Stun Weapons in U.S. Law Enforcement,” which found that since 2001, 334 people had died after being tased. (This figure is already obsolete.) The vast majority of these deaths were due to cardiac or respiratory arrest. Of the 334 victims, 299 of them were unarmed.”

*****

The article concludes on a pretty strange note. Remarking that school violence may now necessitate some form of non-lethal weaponry. It seems to me plain that the more they turn schools into militarized zones, the more they should expect extreme forms of violence. Also, it’s a bit outrageous that there’s no mention of root causes such as bullying, racism, homophobia, and parental abuse…

On the other hand, it points to something very scary. Maybe the cops really don’t understand just how deadly tasers are.