Tom Smith, co-founder and chairman of the board at TASER International, says 4000 law-enforcement agencies now equip all patrol officers with a TASER electronic control device, which he likens to a Star Trek phaser. "It fires out two probes, like jumper cables," he says. "They attach to an individual by wires up to 35 feet away. It sends an electrical signal into the body." The result is "an immediate loss of the person's neuromuscular control."

Statistics tossed about by TASER supporters proclaim it to be the most effective close-range neutralizer since Davy Crockett brought down a bear using only his grin: "Officer injuries down 80 percent; suspect injuries down 67 percent; use of lethal force down by 78 percent," they say. Just one little problem. Law enforcement hasn't agreed on where TASER use is appropriate, where it should be placed on the use-of-force continuum.

This is cop talk for how much force to use in a given situation. Every department has a standard, but there's no standard standard across the country. One approach divides officer response into six levels, with deadly force being Level Six. On this scale, pepper spray, baton blows, and the TASER are Level Four, appropriate when the suspect is "violent or threatening." Some California agencies put the TASER at Level Five. Sheriff's officers in Orange County, Florida, use it against "passive resistance" (Level Three).

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