Florida: Number One

Well, it looks like this outskirt of civilization has finally outdone California in something: killing its citizens with Tasers.

In an excellent front page article in this Sunday's St. Petersburg Times, reporter Meg Laughlin reports on the killing of Derrick Humbert by Bradenton police. They shot him with 50,000 volts of electricity because he had been riding his bike at night without lights and ran when they stopped him.

Her article reveals that the slogan of Taser International, "Taser early, Taser often" repeated in training exercises for police officers around the country. Their goal is to get it into people's mind (that's our minds) that the Taser is effective and does not cause injury.

Of course, shooting people with thousands of volts of electricity for no good reason is not isolated to Florida. We have that issue right at home in Frederick.

The concern, of course, as reported in the article, is that these exaggerations (lies actually) of Taser International in their marketing of this vicious, deadly weapon "provide the basis for local police policy".

And just what is local police policy on the use of non-lethal deadly weapons on people accused of no crime?

We don't know. The police policy manual is secret. We don't have the right to see it, read it, or comment on it.

The Department of Justice and the Police Executive Research Forum, according to the article recommended: "That a subject fleeing should not be the sole justification for police use of (a Taser)."

Is it? We don't know.

What we do know is that, as in Florida, whenever the police use deadly force, the officer is always exonerated.

What is needed is a Police Civilian Review Panel with authority, oversight, and real power to control local police forces.

In this age of police authority wildly out of control; fears of Terrorists, the outraged unemployed, and angry environmentalists, many people willingly give up their liberty to people they think will keep them safe.

Of course, the job of the police is to protect privilege, property, and the establishment. To that end, they will violate the rights of any individual, knowing that they will never be held accountable.

As long as there are people who will take from others, hurt others, we need a police force. But we must recognize that military and para-military forces (like the police) are anathema to a free society. They must be tolerated, but tightly leashed. Their job is to catch criminals; they have no part to play in reducing crime or addressing the causes of crime.

They have no right to attack people they think might be thinking of possibly committing a crime.

People must control police.

We need civilian control of the police now.