As in the war to terrorize the people of New York.
A new report on the NYPD’s firearms training done in the wake of the Sean Bell shooting was drawing fire Monday night.
The report recommends arming the entire department with a controversial weapon.
Police firearms training came under heavy criticism in the aftermath of the Bell shooting when 50 shots were fired at Bell and his friends.
On Monday, a new report had a surprising recommendation to prevent such multi-shot incidents.
The outcomes might have been different if the officers had less than lethal devices other than pepper spray,” said Dr. Bernard Rostker of the Rand Corporation.
The Rand Corp. is a non-profit organization that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. Rand offers its insight to companies and civil services in business, education, health, law and science, according to its official Web site.
Rand experts recommend that the NYPD issue Taser guns to more of its patrol officers so they can stun victims instead of shooting them.
“Tasers reduce injuries to citizens, reduce injuries to police officers and reduce the use of firearms,” Rostker said.
Given that in the Bell murder the men were inside a car the tasers would have been completely useless. Also considering the amount of lead that flew that night it seems obvious to me that the cops were past the point mentally where tasers would have been an option. I think it’s been shown time and time again that the belief that tasers are harmless mixed with police arrogance and aggression leads to misuse and abuse of the tool. Instead of wasting $12m+ on tasers plus the cost of training why not train the officers not to be so rash. How about teach them to shoot to incapacitate instead of kill?