That could be a true sentence for any situation. Humans often screw up under pressure. Especially when they’re not properly trained for high pressure situations. Which cops are supposed to be trained for. So it’s not a very good excuse in my view.
Right out of the gate, this might be a good time to standardize the chest-mounted taser holster. There’s no mistaking that location for your gun holster. And maybe make sure that tasers have at least a few brightly colored parts to help differentiate them? Oh wait, they already have that!
I still maintain this though… no matter how similar you try to make them seem, they are not alike. I’ve used both tasers and handguns. I’ve worn both. I could never imagine myself aiming down the barrel of a GUN long enough to shout “Taser!” three times, and still somehow mistake that GUN for the wide, plastic, multi-pronged tip of a Taser. Just frickin’ never… and if officers are actually getting so wound up they fuck up like that then a) they simply don’t have the temperament, and need to find a different job and/or b) their training is ridiculously inadequate.
I suppose if you operate from a state of high-anxiety and irrational fear on a daily basis, and the shit actually hits the fan, it’s possible to fuck up all over the place. If that’s how it is, then we really need to revisit the whole mess and find some reforms that make a difference… probably major reforms in how we view and practice policing altogether.
btw, here’s what a taser should look like. If LEOs are carrying models that are easily confused with a gun, then that’s the #1 problem, and it’s easily solved…