Should school resource officers be allowed to use Tasers in Wichita public schools to disable unruly students? The answer should almost always be "no."
Parents have a right to be concerned that Wichita SROs will now be armed with Tasers, especially considering reports of Taser misuse in other schools: The Florida case of a 6-year-old student who was Tasered is particularly outrageous.
Still, as our editorial on today’s opinion page argues, SROs might be justified in using Tasers in rare circumstances, to protect themselves or others from serious injury or death — say, from a knife-wielding assailant, whether a student or outsider.
But school district and local police should make sure they have a clear, defensible policy in place. Or they’re asking for trouble. What do you think?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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29 Comments
If we would just let the police beat the stupid kids over the head with a stick we wouldn’t need tasers…
We should not look at taser by itself. We need to think what is a better alternative. Is pepper spray, baton, or a gun safer than a taser? The answer is obviously no. If my kid fights in school and resists arrest, I prefer the police using taser instead of baton or bullet. If he needs to learn a lesson, taser will be the best choice.
When paddling was taken out of school we started a downward climb. Today if a child misbehaves at school the worst they can expect is a 3 day suspension. Considering both parents probably work to meet the bills, it turns into just a vacation for the child.
where is the accountability?
Children used to respect their teachers.
Sum1There are also 10 day and 180 day suspensions.. but, as you said, it just becomes a vacation from school for the kid. I prefer in-school suspensions where they go to a room and complete their homework and then study the rest of the day. Even better.. have a “suspension room” and require one of the parents to “supervise” the room at least 8 hours. Or, whatever happened to cleaning the toilets with a toothbrush??
Abort the little ingrates. Use them for cosmetic testing.
“Little johnny”? Uh…are we talking about the same little darlings that have made it a necessity to have police in the schools in the first place?
There are gang bangers, drug dealers, pimps, people carrying guns/knives, etc. masquerading as ’students’. How many thousand times a year are teachers assaulted in schools in this country?
Just because some of these hoodlums are under 21 does not lessen their ability to hurt/kill others. But, let us wring our hands about ‘little johnny’ being tazed…to stop him from killing someone?
At least a tazer is less permanent than a bullet.
It doesn’t make sense to ban corporal punishemnt but permit tasers. Tasers can kill in the right circumstances. There are all sorts of creative ways to get kids to behave, schools need to be given more power to apply discipline when it’s necessary. By the time a kid would be tasered, things have gone way to far.Time out rooms and behavior modification programs would be a good start to regaining control of the schools.
Time out room? For a gang banger that is threatening to kill a non-paying drug customer?
We are not dealing with innocent little children here. A time out works for 6 year olds, sometimes.
I submit that things have already gone way too far when it is necessary to have armed police officers in schools.
Raptor, I’m with you.I think we’re waaay overdue for tasers in schools. If kids want to act like animals, treat them like animals. Nothing like a few hundred thousand volts to reinforce training. I’ve been looking at tasers myself. They’ve got models out now that deliver 900,000-1,000,000 volts. I saw a demonstration. Tasers are effective. And it sure beats a bullet. For the parents who are going to scream to high heaven about little Johnny being shocked…teach your little animal to behave.
I think that very liberal applications of tasers could cut down significantly on the need for Ritalin usage.
Perhaps tazering some parents might help straighten some problems out as well.
Another example of why tazers are appropriate is in the updates of this paper. A 13 year old was arrested for armed robbery..using a knife.
Although that didn’t happen at a school, it is illustrative of the mindset of some of these hooligans. Let face it…a 13 year old committing armed robbery is not going to be fazed by a time out.
I sorta like the idea of tazing the parents…!
Force.
It’s the only solution government knows.
Perhaps if we stopped forcing people who don’t want an education from having to attend school we wouldn’t have these problems.
Forget Tazers, according to the bible, any child that disrespects his parents must be stoned to death. The school’s In Loco Parentis mandate should allow the teachers to act in place of the parents, and order the child executed!
Jed,
Do you have that particular scripture from the Bible to back up your claim?
When/If you find it, then I will show you how you are taking it out of context.
And fitted for a chastity belt Jed!
“When/If you find it, then I will show you how you are taking it out of context.”
ROFLMAO. Dont y’all just love that all the questions nathan asks are rhetorical? He knows the answer before you even speak, and he knows it is wrong.
Nathan, why not just cut the middle part and go right to why Jed is wrong? Dont waste time listening to an answer. Please continue logic boy!
Becuase I would like to know exactly which part of the Bible he is using.
And if he can even find it.
But you already know, no matter what he says, he is already wrong. Isnt that called prejudgement?
I can’t recall any bible verses that call for stoning children.
It is called knowing what the Bible says in context and when others don’t.
Everybody must get stoned.
Raptor, I’m talking about a timeout room with padded walls and locked doors. We used to use one on the adolescent unit where I worked for 7 yrs. We had the some of the meanest, toughest, biggest kids you can imagine. A few hours in there locked away from any audience can do wonders. They weren’t allowed out until they completed assignments that focused on changing their behavior. We had a really strict behavior modification program that was actually very effective at getting kids to see the “errors of their ways”. We couldn’t save every kid that came to us, but we made a positive difference with a lot of them.I know that approach wouldn’t fly in the public school system, but there are a lot of things that can be done to make the discipline better. The principle at North High has made some significant changes in her school with regards to discipline and getting kids to learn. Kids WANT limits, and they often will respect adults who refuse to put up with their maladaptive and acting out behaviors. Tasers aren’t the answer, there are better ways to get kids under control. Maybe we should encourage schools to be more like bootcamps or military schools.
Taser my kid and I will sue!
Oh blessed CONFORMITY! Teach dose damn kids they gotta toe the line! We don’t want anyone standing up to AUTHORITY! After all AUTHORITY is always RIGHT. We owe these kids the lesson that if you do not do as you are told you will SUFFER! Shut up and be a good little drone!
Paddling? yes. with parental approval and I am all for it. But to condone treating kids who act out on the same level as adult criminals is wrong.
Damoon,Did you ever read “A Clockwork Orange?” Because the whole ruffian-in-the-padded-room with the strict behaviour modification program thing, kinda reminds me of that book. Scary. Really scary.
Thanks for the explanation, Damoon. Had no idea there were advanced time out rooms. I could see the value in it.
By the same token, when a 15 year old is going after a teacher with a knife, talking to that hooligan is not going to work.
Who is going to volunteer to try to wrestle the hoodlum to the ground? What is the alternative, shoot the attacker? Beat him with a baton? The Tazer is one alternative that can save lives.
14,000 violent attacks on teachers in this country last year. Schools, especially in inner cities, are war zones, and equipping police with the latest in self protection and non-lethal alternatives only makes sense.
X, I haven’t read Clockwork Orange, but it worked without any harm to the kid. The whole idea was to give the kid a chance to get himself undercontrol and then the opportunity to think and write about the actions that got him in the room. Once under control, he’d be one on one in the room with a trained staff to talk about why he was in there and what he could do differently. It wasn’t any fun to act out when there was no audience to perform for, but he was under observation by the staff at all times (we often got mooned via the camera!). Behavior modification programs are usually very effective, because it makes the kid responsible for his own behaviors, not everyone else.
Raptor, we had security staff to help get a kid physically under control along with trained nurses and other staff. 5 nurses properly trained could take down a big kid without too much trouble. Like I said before, this would never go in the school system, but it worked well in the treatment program. Once a kid is under control, it’s amazing what they can learn and the changes they can make.This seems a lot less scary than using tasers on out of control kids.
“Taser my kid and I will sue!”
I’d imagine if you teach the little savage not to attack a police officer, he won’t have much reason to fear a tasering.
Levicutius 20:9 is the death to children passage