Saint Paul Police Ask City Council for More Tasers
February 17th, 2008 | by Crash the Conventions |The Associated Press is reporting that the St. Paul police are requesting more tasers from the City Council, but says it is not related to protests planned against the Republican National Convention.
From the AP:
St. Paul police ask for more tasers, but say not for RNC protests
The Associated Press - Sunday, February 17, 2008
ST. PAULThe St. Paul Police Department is asking the City Council for permision to buy 234 more stun guns for its officers.
Spokesman Tom Walsh says the purchase will allow ever patrol officer on the force to have a taser. It would cost $210,000 to buy them all. The money will come from drug seizures.
Thousands of protesters are expected in downtown St. Paul later this summer for the Republican National Convention. But Walsh insists the request for more tasers is, quote, “in no way related” to the expected protests.
He says the stun guns are simply a more effective way to make arrests without the use of deadly force.
The City Council is expected to discuss the issue this Wednesday.
Stories of police tasering people at routine traffic stops, in university libraries, and during political forums keep popping up in the news. Tasers have come into wide use only in the past few years. How will the fact that the Saint Paul police might all have tasers affect the protests against the RNC?