TASERS IN SCHOOL

A Taser is an electronic control device that uses electric current to disrupt muscle control to stop an attacker. TASER devices can be used both close and far range.it shoots two metal probe darts which have a range of 15 feet. When these probes come in contact with the target’s body or clothing, they deliver an electrical signal into his neural network. This causes involuntary muscle contractions and impairment of motor skills.

School Resource Officers (certified, sworn police officers) being armed with Tasers in schools is an increasingly debated school safety issue. 

Children are the future of a nation and their safety is the top most priority.

Tasers are useful tools for police officers and that they add a new step in the "use of force continuum" used by police to counter threats against them and others. It is effective and less lethal than a firearm.  A number of police departments have also credited Tasers as a contributing factor to major decreases in suspect and officer injuries, and decreases in police officer firearm shootings.

They have been used to subdue violent assailants in school.

Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services, a Cleveland-based national consulting firm specializing in school security, said it makes sense for trained police officers to carry Taser devices in school. "When the Taser is used, it is generally used with an escalation of physical assaulted behavior and physical resistance of an arrest," he said. "If you take away the tools those officers otherwise have out on the street, you potentially create a less safe situation, not only for the officer but for the people he or she is there to protect."

The presence of police officers carrying Tasers helps to maintain order, build rapport and educate students about safety and other matters.

Some incidents on the news:

December 4, 2007: Colorado Springs, CO
Students reported a suspicious man in the high school parking lot.  A school resource officer (SRO) attempted to question him but he refused to answer, drove off fast, and hit a tree.  The officer told him to turn off the car and he moved to the glove compartment, at which time the officer used a Taser on him.  A knife was found in the car.

November 20, 2006:  Henderson, NV

The father of a high school student became combative and was escorted off campus by school police and security personnel after coming to the school nurse's office for his daughter.  The male threatened to return with a gun.  He came back with a knife and was arrested after breaking loose, hitting two officers, and being hit by a Taser from city police who also responded.

May 6, 2005:  Middleburg, FL

A school resource officer was treated and released from the hospital for a concussion and bite wound to his hand that resulted from assaulted by an 18-year-old high school student who was trespassing, refused to leave school grounds, and resisted arrest. The suspect reportedly punched the officer in the face and knocked his radio from his hand as he tried to call for help after the officer fell.  The suspect reportedly punched and kicked him while he was on the ground.  The student left the area to go to another office and was subsequently arrested by the officer after the officer used a Taser on him.

August 11, 2005: Orlando, FL
A sheriff's deputy twice stunned a 14-year-old female student with a Taser after the female reportedly went after her boyfriend with an 8-inch chopping knife and then turned on another deputy who directed her to stop.  The student was said to have had a note written on her school notebook reminding her to bring the knife and had reportedly told another student that she was going to kill her boyfriend with the knife.  She went after the boyfriend as soon as exited the school bus and before officials at the school for emotionally challenged students could conduct their weapons search. 

school security