[Peace-discuss] FW: [police oversight] Charlotte NC - Police use of Tasers on rise, while pepper spray etc declines

[LAURIE]

Thought this might also be of interest.  It is a current trend that we
should be aware of and may eventually see happen here where the Taser will
be justified as the "all-in-one less than lethal alternative" law
enforcement tool that will be used to replace the other current alterantive
tools and thereby be a cost decreasing requirement.

> 
> Police use of Tasers on rise
> Charlotte mirrors a national trend away from pepper spray and other
> alternatives when officers use force.
> By Clay Barbour
> cbarbour at charlotteobserver.com
> Posted: Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008
> 
> Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers last year reached for Tasers
> about seven times as often as they did pepper spray.
> 
> Officers used the stun guns about 140 times in 2007, according to a
> police department study. They used pepper spray about 20 times.
> 
> The findings mark the third year in a row that Taser use increased at
> about the same pace as pepper spray use decreased.
> 
> The devices have drawn scrutiny because officers used them in three
> recent Charlotte-area cases that left suspects injured or dead.
> 
> Police have relied on pepper spray since the 1970s to end potentially
> dangerous conflicts quickly. But area officers are turning to Tasers,
> departments say, mainly due to the spray's limitations.
> 
> A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department committee, headed by Deputy
> Chief Ken Miller, met this week to begin investigating the Taser
> increase. He said the committee would analyze written accounts of each
> incident to determine why officers chose Tasers instead of other
> methods, including pepper spray.
> 
> "Until we look at each individual case and dig into the narratives to
> see why Tasers were used, we are not going to be able to tell," he
> said.
> 
> The stun guns use compressed nitrogen to shoot two electrically
> charged probes into a subject, releasing about 50,000 volts for up to
> five seconds. The person is usually immobilized immediately.
> 
> Law enforcement officials say that, when used properly, Tasers are
> safe and effective for ending a dangerous confrontation.
> 
> Nationally, more than 100 people have died after being stunned with
> Tasers.
> 
> Locally, Tasers have been involved in three controversial cases:
> 
> 
> Last week, Michael Douglas Connor, 25, spent four days in the hospital
> after being shocked during his arrest by Hickory police.
> 
> 
> Anthony Dewayne Davidson, 29, of Statesville, died last month after
> Statesville police shocked him multiple times with Taser guns while he
> was handcuffed.
> 
> 
> In March, 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner died after
> Charlotte-Mecklenburg police used a Taser on him at a Food Lion store
> in Charlotte.
> 
> The officer involved in Turner's case was cleared of criminal charges
> but was suspended for five days for violating the department's policy.
> He shocked Turner for 37 seconds, which an autopsy cited as a factor
> in his death. Police here are trained to deliver shocks in five-second
> bursts.
> 
> Miller said Charlotte's most common use of force is hands-on, physical
> confrontation. The department's study released earlier this month
> reported more than 400 such cases.
> 
> Confrontations grow more dangerous the longer they last. Officers
> often need a weapon that can end conflict quickly.
> 
> Pepper spray is typically delivered through a handheld canister. For
> maximum effectiveness, officers spray suspects in the eyes from about
> three feet away.
> 
> The spray usually induces an almost immediate burning sensation and an
> uncontrollable swelling of the eyes. When inhaled, it causes breathing
> passages to swell.
> 
> Officers say the spray is sometimes difficult to use and can actually
> get on the officer. It also takes a long time for the symptoms to wear
> off.
> 
> "It would be great if they would comply and stand still and look at
> you as you sprayed them, but that's not the way it usually goes down,"
> said Gaston County police Capt. Jay Human.
> 
> Pepper spray sometimes kills
> 
> There are times when pepper spray is more effective than Tasers. For
> example, in the winter, suspects often wear heavy coats, which can
> lesson the weapon's shock.
> 
> Pepper spray is not entirely safe. People have died from its use,
> though most experts say such deaths occur when the effects of pepper
> spray are exacerbated by other factors.
> 
> Experts say that exposure to the spray, when combined with
> pre-existing respiratory difficulties and asthma, can lead to death.
> One ACLU California study conducted in the mid-'90s found that one
> person died for every 600 times police used the spray. But researchers
> determined that pepper spray alone was responsible for only a small
> portion of those deaths.
> 
> Human said pepper spray use by Gaston County police has dropped
> drastically since the department made Tasers available to all patrol
> officers. In the past five years, use of pepper spray went down from
> 11 times in 2004 to none so far this year. Meanwhile, Taser use jumped
> from 13 times in 2004 to 27 times so far this year.
> 
> "Pepper still has its uses, but, in a lot of ways, Tasers are just
> better," he said.
> 
> Matthews Police Department has experienced a similar trend. Since
> Tasers were introduced to the department in 2005, officers have used
> them nine times and pepper spray not at all.
> 
> Matthews Sgt. David Harrington said it only makes sense that officers
> are turning more to Tasers.
> 
> "Every time I used pepper spray, I still had to fight the person,"
> Harrington said. "That is not the case with Tasers."
> 
> Taser International spokesman Steve Tuttle said the local trend
> follows one occurring across the country. Tuttle provided studies
> showing pepper spray use down by 38 percent in Columbus, Ohio, and 100
> percent down in Concord, Calif.
> 
> "What we have found is that when Tasers are in use in large numbers,
> we see a reduction in all of the other forms of traditional force," he
> said. "That includes K-9 bites, bean bags, physical confrontations and
> pepper spray."
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
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