I had a shocking experience last evening courtesy of the Germantown Police Department. I have been, along with several other citizens, participating in the current Citizen's Police Academy offered by the department as a means of informing more people about the department, its duties, its tools and so on.
One of the tools available to our officers is that 'gadget' called a Taser. I'm not certain what the verb form of that word ought to be, but it will be "tazed" with a long "a" for my purposes this morning.
My classmates and I were "offered the opportunity" to experience being tazed. We knew this was part of the Academy curriculum and we knew that it was optional.
That having been said, I couldn't very well admit that I'd prefer to avoid this experience, so I stepped up along with my peers. We were exposed simultaneously having gotten onto mats side-by-side. I was on one end and had the pleasure of a probe being attached to my lower leg. (Officer Borden had previously told us we'd remember where the probe was attached after the experience.) The person at the other end of this 'daisy chain' had the same honor. Then, we all joined hands in what might have seemed like the start of a group sing-along.
Having grown up in a farming community in western Wisconsin, I can still remember my first experience of being 'suckered' into touching an electric fence. I now have a memory that will replace that by several fold. This time, it was Corporal Delmore and not an electric fence that I was about to remember along with the Taser.
If you've ever had the electric fence experience, I'd suggest that being tazed felt to me like about 25 times the experience. I knew what was happening around me, but I was helpless to do anything other than let my leg jump a bit while being zapped. Our jolt was about a second or two long...and it seemed much, much longer quite frankly. The sound of the Taser adds to the experience as it crackles away while you're writhing...or trying to writhe. I heard some of my classmates verbalizing their experiences while others seemed to have a more physical response. We all survived as do virtually all the people who have been or will be 'given this opportunity' as the result of their actions.
It is amazing to me that the amperage involved is only .004 Amps. But, the nervous system is apparently disrupted to the point that nearly everyone who is tazed is rendered unable to control their physical movement; their muscles are simply beyond control.
We were told of a few people who have been tazed for real and who were able to withstand the experience for upwards of thirty seconds or more. I cannot imagine that, but I suspect that, if one were drugged up or drunk enough, he or she might be able to ignore the pain involved. I hope never to encounter one of those folks who can withstand that jolt.
My advice to you if you should ever find yourself in the position of deciding to obey or disobey a police officer doing his or her duty is this: Don't be a fool...you're going to lose in the end...and the trip won't be particularly pleasant if you make it that way.
