My first reaction to the news that the ISU Department of Public

Safety was considering the use of tasers was my usual automatic

reaction. I thought it was something that was non-lethal, so it

would be OK. I always support law enforcement, and all things that

aid in that pursuit.

Well, almost all things. But actually, I haven’t completely become

opposed to the idea. I’ve just realized a couple of things that would

make me think twice if it were my decision. And of course if I had

the choice for decisions like that, we probably wouldn’t be facing

an 18.5 percent tuition increase next year.

But, I digress here – the issue is the possibility of DPS officers

carrying tasers. My nervousness with said possibility exists on

several levels. The first is the fact that I don’t see too much in

campus news that makes me believe that there is need for DPS

officers to carry more weapons. All that we really ever see in the

DPS log is the underage drinkers, car accidents and thefts.

While it is true that some other events do occur, usually a taser

isn’t exactly the weapon of choice for a meth lab bust. So I guess

I’m wondering how much more effective tasers will be as opposed

to the current weapons.

It would certainly be a different situation if events have occurred

that have created the impression that tasers are necessary, but I

am yet to hear of any such case occurring on our campus. I

personally have not heard mention of any situation where a DPS

officer would have been better off having such a weapon at their

disposal.

Without such information, it’s really tough for the average student

to know if this is a good idea or not. And contrary to popular

opinion, a lot of regular students would appreciate some of that

kind of knowledge as much as the GSB senators.

The next thing to grapple with is the issue of judgment – when to

use and when not to use these weapons. It’s one thing to have

pepper spray that requires your assailant to be within arm’s reach

to use, but a taser is an entirely different animal. I do believe all the

assurances we have that the DPS officers are adequately trained.

But if they intend to handle the judgment of when to use their

“sidearm” the way they handle the decision of when to put up the

“Crime Alert” bulletins?

I mean, if bulletins go up within 24 hours for a phony rape, who

knows which (or how many) phony suspects might get a couple

extra volts of electricity in the same time frame.

All jokes aside, there is obviously a pretty big issue here which will

affect all ISU students. Like I mentioned earlier, I have not given up

being in support of the ideas. To me, the bottom line is if it makes

the officers feel more secure, then so be it. But that support now

comes with a few reservations where there once were none.

And that’s really important – to give this issue a more critical look,

and just try to figure out whether this is the right thing for our

campus right now.

We should all pick a side with this issue, because I certainly

believe it is an important discussion. When it comes time for

Veishea, everyone speaks his or her mind about the “dry or not

dry” pledge. This is an even more important issue, so we should

all put our $0.02 in.

Talk to your GSB senator and let them know what you think. They

may have already voted on the issue, but we can still let them

know what we think. Make your opinions known, pro or con. Let’s

not let this be another one of those decisions that gets made

without our input as regular students.

Not that I’m telling you guys what to do or anything .

Emeka Anyanwu is a senior in electrical engineering from

Ames.