I cannot sit back and say nothing. I am appalled at the recent stunning of an eleven-year-old boy in B.C., by a policeman carrying a taser.
Using an electric shock seems to be the knee jerk reaction of the rookies or wannabe law enforcers of these days. How threatening can an eleven-year-old be?
And if the child is posing a serious threat, you have to stop and think of the cases, policemen are usually bigger physically than an 11-year-old and secondly, what kind of solution did the police use before Taser guns were invented? First in 99.9% per cent of why was a second policeman not employed?
And if one was involved, there are two fully-grown adults to one half grown pre-teen. Another advantage the police had over the child is the innate ability to reason whereas the child does not have the reasoning powers of an adult.
So mentally, physically and intellectually the police had an advantage over the youth and could think of no other way to fix the situation than jolting. This is called bullying in the real world.
Tasers should be outlawed. Shocking children such as this eleven-year-old and the seventeen year old, resulting in the child’s death in Manitoba a couple of years ago is unacceptable. Also is jolting the mentally ill, which also occurred in Canada a few years ago.
In addition, what about the confused foreigners that come to Canada to visit their relatives, and display communication frustrations, should policemen stand at airport entrances carrying a Taser ready to use?
The next time I see a three-year-old child throwing a temper tantrum in Wal-Mart, should I call the police and have him shocked since his own mother can’t calm him down?
The next time I see an old timer demanding his rights should I call the police to have him shocked? What are the limits and boundaries of using such weapons as a mean of diffusing a tense situation?
This unfortunate aboriginal child of eleven years has no parents but the law to stand up for him. He lives in a group home.
Life is harsh for him already and the police have only added to his miseries as well as now his probable distrust and dislike. In my opinion Police need more training for they are displaying by their own behaviour their inability to react appropriately to the rigours and stresses of their jobs.
They need to study more in depth human psychology, and take some courses on compassion so they are better prepared to deal with difficult situations. How will this jolt affect the boy as he hits his puberty years? What physical limitations and developmental challenges will he face until he reaches adulthood?
As an aboriginal, will his rights be heard? Should not the policeman who did this be held criminally responsible?
But no, he is under the protection of the judicial legal mumble jumble of the system. I call for the Ministry of Children and Families to stand up for this child and take action. If a civilian (a non-cop) did this, it would not go unpunished. This is a definite bullying situation. The policeman did it because he could.
Finally, how about this: in the state of Nevada, it was the law, and may still be, that all policemen carrying a Taser are required to undergo a Taser test themselves each year.
That is 50,000 volts of electricity is shot through their bodies such as they shoot others through their arteries and muscles. Perhaps if all of Canada made such a law, policemen would think twice before using their own weapons so freely, especially on the helpless.
Come on RCMP, show your true colours of bravery. Go ahead and take the Taser test before you use it on others, stop reacting and start acting.
Vanita Sims
Fruitvale