Comments on: Pepper Spray & Cocaine Could Be a Lethal Combo

By: detox

detox — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:30:26 +0000

More bad science. The control group is too small, and cheating on urine tests is too easy.

By: lowell

lowell — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:21:18 +0000

http://www.safebytheway.com

By: djleroy

djleroy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:35:19 +0000

JMW, You Rang et al.: “staying on the legal side of the law.” Ha, ha. That’s funny. You must not have much awareness of the geometrically increasing criminal code.

By: lisa lebowski

lisa lebowski — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:17:52 +0000

When one invests in a narrative myth, such as the absurd notion that these servile militarized servant-class stooges so many people call “police” are somehow necessary or appropriate or beneficial to ordinary people, then one is investing in a belief system that is innacurate. Innaccurate beliefs, when acted upon, generally result in injury…… So, comrades, how’s your job, family, neighborhood, etc doin’ ? Not so swell? Try doing something about it and the first guy to stop you is gunna be ……… a cop. And you know this.

And, friend Brian, when he repeats the key-phrase “non-lethal weapon”, is repeating an obvious false-hood. These infernal gadgets are lethal – that was the topic of the article above. Language is a primary control tool – think about what you’re saying, about what it means in fact…

By: LLORNKCOR

LLORNKCOR — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:21:04 +0000

That guy in the picture is taking it quite well. I especially like that they gave him a weapon should the demonstration get out of hand.

By: SR

SR — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:12:56 +0000

To Doran: Dentists do not use any form of cocaine. Lidocaine, novocaine, etc does not test positive for cocaine.

I deal with offenders daily. I think the question of whether they were on cocaine or not would be one of the last considerations in whether to use pepper spray.

All enforcement agencies have a use of force policy and it usually includes some intermediate weapon like pepper spray. If it is used, it is used to prevent an officer from going to the next level of force.

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:56:09 +0000

This information is valuable and useful, properly deployed. You don’t have to get all (The Police Are the Greatest Organization On Earth!!), nor is is appropriate to go to (The Police=The Man, Bringing Us Down).

My concern is that these non-lethal weapons (mainly Tasers and pepper spray) have taken on a role far beyond those of guns. They are viewed as an easy, risk-free move by the officer. The non-lethal systems are sold as alternatives to guns but they get used any time a citizen is being difficult, where guns were never going to be used.

So how does this work in reality? If a police officer is talking to a citizen and the person is acting disconnected, hyper, or otherwise cannot focus on the conversation taking place, maybe they shouldn’t be sprayed. They’re probably as high as a kite. Not saying this is an absolute rule, just to use a little restraint.

I want my police department to be smart, well-trained, and flexible. Even when they fail to meet that standard, it’s important to put that out there as the standard we wish for them. And in a well-functioning relationship with society that’s what the police departments want too.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:05:54 +0000

Does that mean I can’t use my pepper spray to defend myself from a drugged up rapist?

Seriously, it’s a stupid tax. They’re stupid and they die. Problem solved.

By: lisa lebowski

lisa lebowski — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:37:32 +0000

What people have been trained, propagandized, to call “police” are quite simply not a police at all. Rather these forces are military occupation forces in all but name. One has only to take an honest look to see this. This development, which has taken place over roughly the past 100 years, ought to be compared with the police of pre-emperial ah-mer-i-ka. People who support constitutional law – which is primarily a set of limitations on government power, might do well to support an honest police – one that swept the streets and picked up the garbage and gave the drunks coffee and chow instead of a beating. While I don’t mind a fella, even a cop, putting a pistol in his pocket, the gun is properly an instrument of the militia, not of the police. Mace? Well, permit it but also allow people to sue the individual who uses it, cop or not. That’s the way it was – a flawed warrant? Sue the cops, as individuals – and win. That’s another problem with the crypto-military “police” – no meaningful civil remedies. All quite illegal under the USC, of course…

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:04:14 +0000

Move to mace… problem solved!

By: deaddrift

deaddrift — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 07:33:03 +0000

I agree with JMW as well. I also don’t want to came across as some kind of Republican.

By: GM

GM — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:59:21 +0000

Since when did police have to make the choice between using toxic gases and instruments of torture and beat the crap out of someone to subdue them. Properly trained law enforcement officers are suitably equipped to take down a suspect without brutality. Particularly in light of the fact that most of these incidents occur with two or more officers present.
The death at Vancouver airport of Robert Dziekanski in the company of four officers was avoidable because he was unarmed and not acting overtly aggressively. Evidence shows that emails uncovered the fact that the officers wanted to taser him before they even arrived. They tasered him four times and then stood there and watched him die, a man who committed no crime.
See for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPe_hf7aBXM
Four police officers can take down a full-grown man without weapons, I don’t care if he is an all-star wrestler on roids. If not, they are gutless and ill-equipped for law enforcement and have no business wearing a badge.

By: Robert E

Robert E — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:51:14 +0000

I’ll have to agree with JMW and Doug: the risk of dying from pepper spray / taser is a lot less than being shot, and an option the police should continue to have.

By: Phil Doran

Phil Doran — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:34:59 +0000

Suppose a person is using Zostrix, a rub-on capsaicin cream.

Then he goes to a dentist who uses a local anaesthetic containing some form of cocaine.

How safe would that be?

Should the dentist be warned?

By: YouRang

YouRang — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:33:46 +0000

I don’t know. It seems like a really good incentive to get off the drugs or to stay in other ways on the legal side of the law. We need to broadcast the info that even if you do a really good job of staying in the non-lethal area of drugs, you still can end up dead if you decide to commit an armed felony including resisting arrest.. (Plus I.e. it’s not just police who use pepper spray.)