Officer Tasers boyfriend at party

Two WA police officers have been stood down following claims one used her Taser stun gun to shock her boyfriend at a party.

Opposition police spokeswoman Margaret Quirk said the two alleged incidents were a sign that there was a growing culture of officers misusing Tasers within the WA police force.

news.ninemsn.com.au...

This is why some police shouldn't be allowed to carry tasers, let alone guns..

Many are too young and imature to understand their position and responsibilities.

News like this is all to common. Here in Australia tasers are not yet allowed in all states but they are being trialed..

If this is what we can expect then I suggest the trial is a failure..

We have very strict gun laws here and therefore I see no need for the police to be heavily armed as in the US..

Mod Edit: External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 29/8/2010 by Mirthful Me]

As bad as it sounds it aint nothing,

If a guy caught his wife at a party in the 3rd world he would behead her in front of everyone then go grab a beer,

At least she didnt shoot him, bout 10 storys a day about a guy that killed his wife n kids then himself this day and age.

reply to post by MagickWithoutTears


True, its all a matter of perspective..

But still, if this is how they treat weapons that are trusted to them, then they don't deserve to have them..

What a bunch of morons, it's not a toy!

Why would anyone WANT to be tasered? It doesn't feel good!

If you want a shock lick a battery for heavens sake.

Explanation: Flagged!

From Source linked in OP...

It is alleged that while on duty on July 23, the officer visited her boyfriend at a party, where he asked her to stun him and his friend with the police-issued Taser.

Note: All bolds are my editeds for emphasis OK!

Personal Disclosure: I can only say that the boyfriend and his friend got what they asked for in spades. But OL does agree that tazers shouldn't be used willy nilly and this is a clear example of when to use better judgement!

Edited a shocking spelling fail. soz

[edit on 28-8-2010 by OmegaLogos]

Wow. These two folks certainly had a strange definition of "foreplay".

I don't see the big deal. Two consenting adults who want to include massive electrical shocks as part of their interpersonal affections.

Besides, it's nice to read about cops tasing each other for a change.

reply to post by Hefficide

Besides, it's nice to read about cops tasing each other for a change.

Couldn't agree more but firstly I dont think the BF was a cop and,
it just shows the maturity level of some cops that they think these "weapons" issued to them are there for their enjoyment..

reply to post by CynicalM


Hrm. You may be right. I guess I assumed he was also a cop because of the fact that two officers were reprimanded. The article doesn't actually state who the other officer is.

reply to post by CynicalM


well..look at it this way.. you are at a party drinking and having fun when your GF cop shows up..

you ask her to Taser you and a friend for fun..

then WAM..she tasers you and your friend..

you die of a heart attack..or your friend does..

doesn't sound like fun to me or responsible on the part of the cop either..right?


[edit on 29-8-2010 by baddmove]

reply to post by baddmove


Couldn't agree more and infact I would have to ask why she carried the taser into a private party..

Surely it wasn't police business..

BTW, I'm sure all will get a healthy slap on the wrist and share a joke about it back at the station..

reply to post by baddmove


Baddmove.....

This is nothing new.

Have a look on LiveLeak.

You'll find about 700 videos of soldiers tasering themselves in Iraq!

My 2 favourites are.....

One guy tasered himself on the "you know what"....& he didn't like it very much!

Another guy told his mates to keep tasering him in the head to see if they could turn him into a "retard" (his words, not mine).

Yes.....fun with tasers.....

Cheers
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


All that tells me is there's more d#heads with guns than I previously thought..

If civilians were caught messing with tasers, what do you think the outcome would be??

Back in the early '80's I had a buddy cop friend that would chase his friends including me around desks or whatever there was to try and get away from his stun gun...

Everyone used to laugh , but no one secretly thought it was very funny.. .. he never actually used it on anyone though....

This is the first time I have heard of a woman cop using it on a boyfriend at a party though... It seems to always be the domestic situations that get normally responsible and trustworthy people in trouble like this.. where they can lose their credibility forever..

I agree, this is a matter of perspective.

Now there are likely hundreds of hypothetical situations where such a scenario can play out, but being a resident of 'Australia's Texas' and having a decent idea of the people's mindset, this may not have been as immature as it may seem. Not a well judged coarse of action I might add, but not as immature as 'Hey that's my boyfriend... watch this...' or 'Hey baby give me some of that'.

Let me explain -

As with everywhere that is seeing their Police and Military review or adopt the use of Tasers, they have garnered their fair share of controversy, and therefore debate, about how, where and when it is acceptable that they are deployed - some saying they are too ineffective, some saying they are too heavy handed, while others saying that they are quite practical tools in the role they are intended.

While I think that there is a more likely cause of the event in the article, I can somehow still entertain the possibility that the female officer was in some way challenged by her boyfriend (in a state of drunken bravado) in front of a few friends as to the effectiveness of the Taser -

'Look that thing wouldn't stop ****, if somebody is coming for you and you waste time pissing around with that silly thing you are as good as ****ed. Here - I'll prove it. Shoot me with it. See what happens...'

Being amongst friends and in a generally bashful and benign environment I'd say she took the challenge.

If that were the case I'd say her friends or whoever spoke up about this should have just kept their mouths shut. If they are supposedly Harm-minimizing enough that the government deems them safe enough to unleash on any rowdy late night party-goers (or even an old lady on an oxygen tank with cancer - I read about that one earlier on Listverse), then she has done her little bit for inner-circle P.R. but is guilty of going about it in a stupid way and maybe wasting a couple of AA batteries in the process. Wasn't there a South Australian Politician who called a press conference to do pretty much this same thing anyway?

That's just one of the possibilities however. It may be fanciful or it may be closer to the truth than originally assumed, i just think it's important to keep the possibilities in mind though.

reply to post by TheMoose


Well if your theory is correct then the BF should have been charged with assaulting a police officer..

Frankly I don't see it happening that way..

She, or any police officer, should know better than to "play" with their weapons and yes, it is a weapon..

Originally posted by CynicalM
reply to post by Maybe...maybe not

 

All that tells me is there's more d#heads with guns than I previously thought..
If civilians were caught messing with tasers, what do you think the outcome would be??

CynicalM.....

Probably something like this!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

[edit on 29-8-2010 by Maybe...maybe not]

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


You really believe that?????

No, you or me would be arrested and charged with assault at the very least..Then they might decide on assault with a deadly weapon..

Not sure what rock youv'e been living under but in the real world cops rarely get punished enough..

Originally posted by CynicalM

Well if your theory is correct then the BF should have been charged with assaulting a police officer..

Eh?

If you refer to the term 'challenged', then I'm not alluding to a physical altercation. A challenge need not invoke hostility, it has other contexts.

And yes, a Taser is a weapon. I can't recall disputing that. I do agree that since we know it's a weapon then the person trusted with handling it must certainly know this aswell, and therefore should treat it with the respect and maturity that something of the nature commands; ie - Don't go shooting your partner on a whim. What needs to be taken into account is that is deployed as a Non-Lethal weapon, more physically invasive than capsicum spray, but less destructive to tissue than a beanbag gun or baton. The risk of harm is still present (and will always be with such things) but in terms of current technology it is comparatively minimized.

You are not likely to die, but i wouldn't want it to happen to me.
Hence it makes a good deterrent also.

What I'm asking of you however, is that you entertain other possibilities leading up to Capt. Jackass requesting to get Tased (as baffling as it is), and the environment in which said events took place. While neither of these can completely justify the Officer's actions because a) She was likely trained in the do's and don'ts of tasering, and b) Tasering someone without a decent reason clearly falls in with 'Don'ts'; I'm open to the possibility that this could be an actual case that, when the Officer is publicly apologizing for it at some press conference and they use the words 'temporary lapse of judgement', it isn't actually a grotesque assault on our intelligence, it is just what she said. They just might not be as stupid as they come across without being able to explain themselves.
Not far off, however...

In the hypothesized chain of events they have both succumbed to a typical bout of one-upmanship between two people, where unfortunately a Taser and two idiots were involved. Being in a group of friends, you would think that the people around them would know what effect the media's super-dramatization and the ensuing public scrutiny would have on this Officer's employment prospects, should word get out. That might seem a little odd to some people, but this flows with our apparent relaxed mindset here in WA - By all means look out for your mates, just don't go sticking your nose in anyone's disputes, lest they become your disputes aswell. Let them sort it out between them.
Anyone who was friends with these people (Which in a place like Carnarvon could conceivably be everyone at the party) would generally take the 'What happens on tour...' mindset, or if they had a strong objection to their actions or thought of it as unconscionably risky would just tell them outright, lest things get too far out of hand... Not go crying to the Media or Police Brass about it

If the party was full of strangers then the onus is on the couple to not do stupid things that will end in disciplinary action. Deserve = Get.
Now i think it's worth re-stating that neither of these scenario's make their actions either right or wrong. They are in the wrong unquestionably, but i do think of it as less wrong if it played out amongst your friends, as opposed to in-amongst strangers at some random person's house.

So if this possibility was infact the reality (and like I said, there are possible more likely scenario's), then they have done the wrong thing and deserve disciplinary action. I would however be disappointed if it eventuates to her losing her job. That would unfair in my view, and really just overkill, especially given the current shortage of Police in our state.

reply to post by TheMoose

So if this possibility was infact the reality (and like I said, there are possible more likely scenario's), then they have done the wrong thing and deserve disciplinary action. I would however be disappointed if it eventuates to her losing her job. That would unfair in my view, and really just overkill, especially given the current shortage of Police in our state.

I would agree loosing her job would be goint too far but we certainly need a little bit more punishment for police in general than we see being handed out currently..

I will also again state my opinion that too many police are too young and imature to handle the equipment and responsibilaties handed to them..

Their egos are often far greater than their experience should allow for..IMO

[edit on 29-8-2010 by CynicalM]

reply to post by CynicalM


YES! Wish I had a taser for some of my boyfriends!