The recent use of Tasers by the Eugene Police on Ian Van Ornum during the course of a peaceful political demonstration has rightly raised community concern. The ACLU of Oregon shares that concern and we wish to dispel any misperception that ACLU endorsed the current EPD Taser policy. To the contrary, we offered strong criticism of those parts of the policy that permit the use of Tasers to gain compliance in the course of taking a person into custody.
Because the use of Tasers has been implicated in more than 250 unintended deaths nationwide, we believe their use should be strictly limited. Our recommendations to the chief and the Police Commission were that Tasers be used only in those situations that are most likely to otherwise lead to the use of deadly force. While we look forward to the results of the Police Auditor/Civilian Review Board investigation of this incident, it is already clear from the police department’s public statements that the situation in Kesey Plaza on May 30th did not meet that standard.
While the Police Commission and Chief Lehner adopted some of the ACLU’s recommendations last fall, the current policy allows the use of Tasers in situations where there is no threat to public safety and little threat to police officers – and we will continue to advocate putting tighter restrictions on the use of Tasers in Eugene.
David Fidanque
Claire Syrett
ACLU of Oregon