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USING a Taser to subdue a suspect is safer than police batons and fists. That is the unexpected conclusion of a study of incidents in which US police used force to tackle a person who was resisting arrest.
Several people have died in the US after being tasered, and human rights groups have spoken out against the weapons. But John MacDonald of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and colleagues have found they seem to result in fewer injuries than more conventional methods such as batons.
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The team examined over 24,000 cases where police had used force, including almost 5500 involving a Taser. After controlling for factors such as the amount of resistance shown by the suspect, they found that Taser use reduced the overall risk of injury by 65 per cent (American Journal of Public Health, vol 99, p 2268).
However, MacDonald is careful to note that the study does not shed light on why some deaths have been linked to Tasers.