In a careful and slow process, the city of Eugene is preparing to place Tasers in the hands of police officers. After an eight-month policy review stage, the addition of Tasers will be a test of their effectiveness, as well as civilian reaction to the weapons.
Several public forums have been held and the Use of Force/Taser Policy Committee, an arm of the Police Commission, has completed a draft of the policy. At the Sept. 13 Police Commission meeting, discussion of contentious issues took up much of the time allotted for the policy. Despite the disagreement, the commission unanimously chose to accept the policy as is and pass it along to Eugene Police Chief Robert Lehner along with the dissenting opinions.
Jeannine Parisi, the police commission coordinator, said before the meeting that was the outcome she was hoping for.
“It’s in the department’s pocket to finalize the draft and figure out what the next step is,” Parisi said.
A representative from the American Civil Liberties Union has been present at all committee meetings to provide input. The ACLU Oregon also provided its own policy recommendations to the Police Commission.
“If it were up to me, I’d go with everything the ACLU recommended,” commented committee member Carla Newbre.
One area of disagreement was whether police will be allowed to use Tasers on a fleeing person, which the current policy allows. Discussion also revolved around restrictions on Taser use. The policy restricts use during a protest, against persons engaged in only passive or verbal resistance or who are restrained by handcuffs.
Although the ACLU recommended a limit of three applications of Tasers, the committee settled on a lengthy paragraph cautioning against multiple applications, but allowing them. Discharges are limited to a five second charge, and the policy contains no limiting number.
“I want to see a cap of three. I truly, truly do,” Newbre said.
Committee member Charlie Zennaché did not support a numerical cap. Committee chairman John Brown supported Zennaché.
“I don’t want that arbitrary number in there,” Brown said.
Although the policy has been written, the work is not over for this committee. It will need to shape the evaluation process and decide how police will determine the success or failure of the pilot project.
Brown stressed the policy was designed just for the pilot project.
“The Police Commission will take the data and community reaction and input and then decide whether Tasers are going to be a permanent part of the police arsenal,” he said.
The department plans to purchase between 20 and 25 Tasers and the pilot project will run for four to six months.
The decision to add to police use-of-force options was prompted by the lethal shooting of a mentally ill teenager in November 2006. The parents of Ryan Salisbury have supported the pilot project, and expressed their desire to have Tasers available. At the same time, the Police Commission has another committee that is studying mental health crisis intervention and what options are available for training officers.
“(Salisbury’s parents) have come to our committee several times and said ‘if police had this tool, my kid would be alive,’” Brown said. “This is intended to save lives.”
All use of the Tasers will be documented. Four of the Tasers will be equipped with cameras that record when the Taser is discharged.
At a public event in June, Eugene police brought a Taser that had been discharged. Thin copper wires connect to sharp barbs that hook into the skin. Electric current flows between the barbs for five seconds, causing a “neuromuscular interruption,” Sgt. Kevin McCormick said.
Eugene Lt. Scott Fellman said he has heard support from community members.
“The biggest thing I’ve heard from folks is ‘why don’t we have them already when they are less likely to cause injury or death when nothing else works?’”
Although EPD has been discussing obtaining Tasers for several years, Fellman explained part of the reason the force doesn’t already have them is it has been watching their use in other parts of the nation.
Tasers are currently in use in Lane County jails and in the Springfield Police Department.
Brown said, “The vast majority of cities in the United States have Tasers. We gleaned a whole divergent set of policies. We took what we thought were the best.”
Parisi said she feels good about the way the policy has been shaped. The public input process has helped make the policy better.
“What I like about it, and what I like people to keep in mind, other communities have Tasers and they don’t look for public input,” she said. “I think we should be proud of our community in Eugene because we do take the time.”
Brown said he feels the committee did as much public outreach as it could.
“We’ve taken (the public’s) input on key critical points,” he said. “I think it is as well drafted of a policy as we’ve come up with in the last eight years.”
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Committee approves plan to implement Tasers on police force
Daily Emerald
September 18, 2007
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