[Peace-discuss] FW: [police oversight] Officials seek safeguards for stun guns

[LAURIE]

I thought that some of you might find this of interest - if only to file
away in a database somewhere when issues of Tasers and stun guns come up for
discussion again.  I think that the community needs to insist that in the
event that any agencies do adopt these weapons (i.e., the County Sheriffs'
Department) or are planning to do so; they should have in place publically
reviewed and approved sets of clear cut explicit safeguard guidelines and
policies pertaining to the use and non-use of the weapons by whom under what
circumstances and the number of times a subject should be subjected to  them
in the course of an incident as well as an explicit statement of the
penalties for violation of those guidelines and the process by which such
investigations will be conducted and decisions made public

> -----Original Message-----
> From: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:policeoversight at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Charles D.
> Reynolds
> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 12:29 PM
> To: policeoversight at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [police oversight] Officials seek safeguards for stun guns
> 
> 
>       Officials seek safeguards for stun guns
> 
> By Jordan Schrader, USA TODAY
> The increasing use of stun guns by law enforcement agencies across the
> USA is giving rise to studies and policies aimed at managing their use.
> Stun guns are used by more than 12,700 U.S. law enforcement and
> military agencies, up from 500 in 2000, according to Steve Tuttle,
> spokesman for leading manufacturer Taser International.
> 
> As stun guns become commonplace, state and local officials seek
> safeguards, sometimes in response to public outcry over the use of the
> devices.
> 
> In April, Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell issued a report
> calling on the state's police agencies to set policies addressing such
> issues as when it is appropriate to use stun guns multiple times on one
> person.
> 
> The report, which followed Brattleboro police's stunning of two people
> at a sit-in protest, said police should not stun passive resisters.
> 
> Elsewhere:
> 
> . The North Carolina Taser Safety Project, which includes the state
> American Civil Liberties Union chapter, reports at least 13 sheriffs
> have adopted restrictions since last summer, said Jennifer Rudinger,
> executive director of the state's ACLU. Among them are restrictions
> against using stun guns against passive resisters, those in handcuffs
> and those near flammable materials.
> 
> . The Orange County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office limits stun gun use to
> those actively resisting arrest, a policy that has become state law,
> Cmdr. Spike Hopkins said.
> 
> . Honolulu police are banned from using stun guns for passive
> resistance or protest and discouraged from firing them at children,
> seniors or suspects who are handcuffed or fleeing from custody, said
> Maj. Susan Ballard, a training officer.
> 
> The National Institute of Justice completed a two-year study in April
> on police stun guns. Findings and recommendations are likely to be
> released to law enforcement in the next few weeks, said William
> Bozeman, a member of the study group.
> 
> In Rutherford County, N.C., on April 1, a deputy sheriff stunned Evan
> Webb, 21, who had lashed his hands to earthmoving equipment to protest
> a Duke Energy coal-fired power plant under construction.
> 
> "It was excruciating," the Elon University senior said. "I just started
> begging them . to stop."
> 
> Webb, who pleaded no contest to misdemeanor trespassing and resisting
> arrest, criticized deputies for using the stun guns to compel him and
> another protester to move. Rutherford County Sheriff Jack Connor said
> it was the best means of persuasion after the protesters refused to
> move from private property.
> 
> In September, University of Florida police stunned student Andrew Meyer
> when he wouldn't leave or stop asking questions at an appearance by
> Sen. John Kerry. A video of Meyer screaming "Don't tase me, bro!"
> became a multimillion-view hit on YouTube.
> 
> State Sen. Stephen Wise, a sponsor of the legislation that led to
> Florida's 2006 law that requires training for police and limits their
> use of stun guns to people actively resisting, said he didn't know
> whether Meyer met that standard but said the force seemed excessive.
> 
> From June 2001 to September 2007 - the most recent period for which
> statistics are available - at least 276 people had died nationwide
> after police stunned them, according to an Amnesty International
> report. The report did not consider whether the weapons were directly
> responsible for the deaths.
> 
> Tuttle said Tasers are safer than common police techniques such as
> wielding a nightstick, releasing a dog or wrestling a suspect to the
> ground. "No one has better field results in reducing injuries to both
> officers and suspects than Taser International," he said.
> 
> A Wake Forest University study last year of police use of stun guns
> found they are "remarkably safe" compared with bludgeoning weapons or
> hand-to-hand combat, said Bozeman, the lead investigator.
> 
> Schrader reports for the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------
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