For five to seven years....tasers have become a common item to be seen with the cops around America. In Germany? It's taken a fairly long time to convince the authorities to accept the idea of tasers.
Today, HR (our regional Hessen public TV network) had a piece on the acceptance trail.
Frankfurt cops have been testing the taser technology (for four months now). It's been decided now that the cops over in Offenbach (far east side of Frankfurt) will carry the tasers. There's a certification process, and it'll be a regular side-arm shortly.
Some opposition groups have hyped up life-threatening injuries being a possibility....especially if this is some old guy in a threatening behavior episode. Folks with heart conditions? Yeah, it could potentially be fatal.
The thing is....if some guy runs around amok with a sword and is coming toward a cop....presently, the cop is going to try to shoot the guy in the leg or shoulder....hoping that the bullet won't cause the guy to die. If you had to pose the scenario of either a bullet-wound or a taser-stun....well...most cops would prefer to just stun the guy and hope out of a hundred applications....only one single heart-condition guy dies from the taser, instead of five to ten guys from a bullet-wound.
Making much of a difference? Here in Hessen, I would take a guess that a hundred-odd occasions come up each year with folks going nuts....making violent threats to the cops or general public....swinging a knife around, and a taser would make this a simple task to take the guy down.
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