A quick one.....another COD one. sorry.

[Meursault]

OC is oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in pepper spray. GOOGLE is a search engine, a surprisingly good resource for acronyms one doesn't know.

I haven't been tased, OC'd, etc. yet, and I don't mind the idea of cops being armed with them. If you're worried about unnecessary use of force, tasers are far less dangerous and more consistently applied. On the other hand, you could argue that having an easy and apparently non-harmful way to subdue people predisposes cops to using it when it isn't necessary. I haven't seen any studies either way.

 

[mycrofft]

Oh, yeah, we monitor people in jail!!

but we can't monitor each and every arrestee every second when you are processing over 120 each 24hrs, each assessment takes fifteen minutes, the arresstes are acting out and drunk...and you have one or two nurses at a time to do it all.

 

[Arkymedic]

I tend to agree with BLS Boy and think that excited delirium could be a good choice on this one...

Man is apparently under the influence in public, becoming surly and aggressive. Cops arriove, he tries to take them on, they OC him and he just laughs. He is then Tased with a dart unit in the chest, arrested and taken to the jail for booking where he is put into a holding area for intoxicated arrestees during booking paperwork. Twenty minutes later he is found dead. The police did not beat him or choke him, no other arrestees were in the "tank", he was just slumped to the floor in a corner.
Theories?

 

[akflightmedic]

..............

 

[akflightmedic]

One of the many reasons I don't like tazers and think they should be outlawed.

On the other side of that coin, how many lives have been saved or less lethal force used due to the existence of tasers?


(responded before reading page 2, my bad, didnt see it)

 

[mycrofft]

Anyone able to medically describe "excited delirium"?

New one to me.

 

[BLSBoy]

Those signs/symptoms typically associated with excited delirium are:

* Paranoia
* Hallucination
* Incoherent speech or shouting
* Incredible strength or endurance (typically noticed during attempts to restrain victim)
* Hyperthermia (overheating)/profuse sweating (even in cold weather)

Excited delirium is a controversial term used to explain deaths of individuals in police custody, in which the person being arrested or restrained shows some combination of agitation, violent or bizarre behavior, demonstrating behavior, may be insensitivity to pain, elevated body temperature, or demonstrate increased strength. It has been listed as a cause of death by some medical examiners.

 

[BossyCow]

I think the tasers are a double edged sword. Nice to have a non-lethal weapon but the believed safety of the tool may be linked to its overuse. The RCMP was called on the carpet regarding taser use with one MP actually inferring that relaxed standards for LEO physical requirements that had been adjusted to allow for more women and minority candidates were responsible for the increase in taser use. His opinion was that smaller, less physically strong officers would be more likely to turn to a taser to subdue a suspect than to attempt to subdue them physically. Gotta wonder what that MP's position was on workplace injuries and employee safety!


http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2008/09/rcmp-report-on-taser-usage.html