Police taser guns are referred to as "less than lethal". With high profile police brutality cases in the news, they are intended to be an alternative to a policeman shooting someone in the chest with their service pistol. This Police conference/sales pitch in Toronto described their mission as "exploration for alternatives to police use of lethal force" and heralded taser guns as the product of addressing "the issue of deaths arising from police use of force".

But with increasing frequency the tools provide to the police are being abused. They are being used simply to punish suspects or make them toe the line when their uncooperative. Often times the officer is in no danger at all, which is the litmus test for an officer firing his sidearm.

A Seattle family is contemplating a lawsuit after their 16 year old son was tased four times, while handcuffed.

Within minutes, a routine pat down turned violent and Kenneth lay on the ground, handcuffed and bleeding. A Seattle police officer had pressed a Taser four times against the back of Kenneth's neck.

Each of the 50,000-volt jolts lasted five seconds and left a dime-sized char mark. Scars still remain almost a year later.

After an internal investigation, the department concluded it was an unfortunate misunderstanding and ruled three of the four officers involved did not violate department policies. The fourth was ordered to undergo additional Taser training.

The way they brush it off as inadequate taser training, they make it sound as if he's using the wrong size batteries. Instead of teaching officers how to use the device, they should be teaching them when to use it.

And this is far from an isolated incident. In Kansas City, a senior citizen and grandmother was tased twice in her own home. Her crime was illegally honking her horn.

Last week, Louise Jones, 68, was shot with a police Taser gun in her home. She said the officer twice used the weapon on her after coming to her home to give her a ticket for honking her horn. Police say Jones was shocked because she assaulted the officer by pushing him away.

A cop, undoubtedly younger than 68 years old and probably trained in self defense had to tase an old woman, twice. Keep in mind that the development and adoption of these devices was intended to be an alternative to lethal force. Instead, they seem to be being used at cattle prods.

Remember that police are almost never justified in shooting people who are simply trying to run away. But in Kansas City, where the rules were just made more restrictive, the bar for taser use had to be raised up to that level. Previously they could tase people for not jumping fast enough for them.Police are conducting an internal investigation into what happened, but there has been no resolution yet. But police commissioners did take action, raising the level of force required before officers can justify using the Taser guns.

Previously, it was the department's policy that a "passively resistant" person could be shocked with a Taser gun. Now, a person must be pushing, pulling or trying to flee from an officer before the weapons can be used.(emphasis mine.) The lawyer for the Seattle family, Fred Diamondstone, highlights the free-tasing attitude of police.

"Clearly, as an alternative to using deadly force, (the Taser) is a wonderful tool," Diamondstone said. "What concerns me is the use of the Taser in a very low-end situation, a situation where there's no immediate threat to the officer. ...

"Just because somebody is uncooperative doesn't mean you jump to using less-than-lethal force."

In Kansas City they seem to think so.