I am so sick of these stories of taser abuses by police. I am even more sick of Attorney General Sorrell’s complete indifference to them. With clear standards and an enforcement regime, he could shut this nonsense down virtually singlehandedly, but he continues to give Vermont police a virtual blank check for the casual deployment of a device which should only be used as an alternative to deadly force. In fact, if it were only used as an alternative to deadly force, you’d be hard pressed to find any Vermonter who would oppose their deployment.

But in Vermont, with the AG’s blessing, they continue to be used as high-tech cattle prods. There’s a word for the use of pain to coerce behavior, but this is the era of looking the other way, isn’t it?

Put another way: