During the Eugene Police Commission meeting Thursday night, Police Chief Pete Kerns briefly discussed an interim Taser policy that may go into effect this week.
The interim policy, which has not yet been released to the public, will act as a provisional procedure until the new policy is finalized in the upcoming months.
EPD acting Lt. Doug Mozan said the department hoped to begin using the interim policy this week.
“The policy is complete, and we have a policy that’s ready to go,” Mozan said. “We’re hoping to roll it out next week.”
Kerns said the policy includes changing when the use of a Taser is justified from when the threat to an officer is to protect from “physical injury,” rather than “physical safety.”
Mozan said he could not release a full copy of the interim policy to the public until the rest of the department has seen it.
During the meeting, Joe Alsup, commission member and chair of the Use of Force Committee, said the committee had discussed the Taser policy and what constituted a “serious” crime. The Use of Force Committee will meet again Wednesday evening, where it is expected to reveal the interim policy.
The commission also discussed its policy development process, which outlines the way the commission develops new policies and reviews existing policies.
Police Commission Analyst Randi Zimmer passed out a document titled the “Policy Development Process Modifications.” The document outlined the policy development process and listed nine steps in order to develop a new policy or review an existing policy.
Only one commission member, Marilyn Nelson, moved to accept the document. Some members voiced strong opinions in opposition, saying it was too soon to motion to vote on the document.
“I think this should be thrown in the trash,” said Tim Miller, member of the commission. Miller said the document’s wording was too confusing and the commission needed more time to look over it.
The commission members decided to wait until the next meeting to accept the document, so each member could review it further.
Kerns also updated the commission on where the “hot spots” for theft are around town. Kerns said that many thefts are happening downtown near the Hult Center when events are taking place.
“Many of those are a result of people leaving their car unlocked,” he said.
Kerns also said many of the thefts that occurred in last month’s West University area happened over winter break when many students left town.
Brooke Dodge, chair of the Public Outreach committee, discussed things the committee is doing in order to build better communication between the commission and the public.
“We’re going to create a Twitter and Facebook account for the Eugene police commission to better communicate with the community,” Dodge said.
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