Also the taser guns arrive in Naples, those that work for electrical impulses, and are in the endowment of the police since yesterday (March 14, 2022) to defense purpose and to fight crime.
On the same day also in 17 other Italian cities the police forces started using these guns and currently in all of Italy there are 4482 which were distributed to carabinieri, police and finance.
The purpose of the Ministry of the Interior, which distributed the taser guns, is to reduce the risks to the personal safety of law enforcement and citizens even more.
An experiment that began years ago
In reality, part of the police forces of Naples, as well as those of other cities, already had taser guns with them from around 3 years because we were in an experimentation phase to evaluate its effectiveness.
Currently this phase can be said to be concluded, in fact, as mentioned, thousands of guns have already been delivered throughout Italy and a few hundreds also in Naples.
How to use the taser gun
The taser, which is nothing more than an electric pulse gun, it cannot be used in total discretion of the policeman or other law enforcement agencies, but should only be used a defense purpose e after warning appropriately and clearly the person to be blocked. In fact, we reiterate that it is a weapon of defense and not of offense.
In fact, the polizzioto must follow the following steps:
- explicitly warns the subject of the fact that the taser is about to be activated, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements;
- only later does he take aim;
- then he pulls the trigger and two mini arrows shoot from the pointer causing the immobilizing electric discharge.
The controversy over the use of the taser
This initiative did not make everyone agree because if on the one hand the Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese is satisfied, by the Silp-Cgil union (the police workers union) there is no satisfaction with the data of the previous trial that would not be revealed, decreeing this delivery of electric weapons as too hasty a decision. In fact, there would be no guarantees for operators and citizens.
Furthermore, the director of the Cardiostimulation center of the Federico II University Polyclinic and president of the Giec (Cardiological Emergency Intervention Group) Maurizio Santomauro says he is worried because the generated electrical discharge could cause cardiac arrhythmia and contraction of peripheral muscles and be lethal to the subject.
What are the dangers of the taser
Deepening the discussion started by Maurizio Santomauro, we can say that the taser could have theopposite effect of a defibrillator which is intended to regulate the natural heart rhythm of the person, when the beating suddenly stops.
Instead, the taser gun:
- has two darts connected to the gun with electric wires;
- generates a high voltage electric discharge of about 50 thousand volts;
- it has a low amperage, between 6 and 10 milliamps;
- the discharge is released in very short and close pulses of 4 or 5 microseconds with a rhythm of 15 pulses per second and peaks of 6 amperes;
- darts must both hit the subject to have the paralyzing effect.
And I'm precisely these impulses of which we said they could be lethal for the person. These fears are also confirmed by one 2012 study by the authoritative journal Circulation ( "Sudden cardiac arrest and death associated with application of shocks from a Taser electronic control device“) In which we talk about subjects who have suffered cardiac arrests caused by ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation after having suffered the effect of the taser.
How law enforcement can limit the damage of the taser
Also according to Maurizio Santomauro, to avoid a death caused by the use of the taser gun, the police should always have a defibrillator with you because it is the only thing that can save a life in case of cardiac arrest.
If they were expecting the timing of a 118 call, it might be too late. Instead, in this way the police could intervene promptly.
