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Rules vary, but tasers winning over police
BLOOMINGTON — A man in rural Downs asked, “What would you do if I punched you?” and swung his fist at a police officer before he was shocked with a Taser and arrested early last year. A man in Normal was “tased” after wrestling with officers and then curling his arms beneath him in May 2007. Officers had stopped him for underage alcohol consumption. Bloomington officers used a Taser after chasing and struggling with a man who ran from them after a December 2007 traffic stop. He had a revoked license. Police in McLean County used Tasers in more than 70 arrests in 2007 and drew the weapons without using them in more than 100 instances. The vast majority of those arrests, 63, occurred in Bloomington. “If someone was fleeing from me and I’m trying to arrest them, I would use pepper spray or a Taser rather than have to wrestle with them and injure them or injure myself,” Bloomington Police Lt. Joe Butcher said. There is no universal policy on when Tasers can be or should be used, and there is some variation in how they are used within the largest police departments in the county. But the devices are largely considered to be an effective alternative to fighting or using pepper spray on people who resist officers. Taser is the brand name of the most widely carried electric stun devices. The weapons use compressed gas to fire two probes attached to insulated wires. High-voltage current causes pain and locks up muscles, subduing the suspect long enough for an arrest to be made. Typically, the devices are used in five-second bursts of electricity, though the current can be turned off early. And officers can detach the fired cartridge and use the weapon for a “drive,” or contact, stun. The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board policy guidelines for so-called “electro-muscular disruption devices” don’t lay out any restrictions on using the devices, other than prohibiting their use near explosives or as punishment. Other guidelines include language that stops short of prohibition, saying officers should avoid using the devices on people who are handcuffed and they should be aware of risks to the elderly, children and people of small stature. “The decision to deploy should be based upon the ‘totality of the circumstances’ facing the officer in order to arrive at the best and most reasonable course of action,” the guide says. Alternately, the Wisconsin Department of Justice recommends officers only use Tasers or other devices when someone actively resists an officer and “creates risk of bodily harm to the officer, subject and/or other person.” “The approved definition of active resistance generally prohibits, for examples, use of control devices against verbal aggression; people who are running away; children or older persons; and/or persons engaged in peaceful civil disobedience, unless there is justification of reasonableness from approach considerations,” according to Wisconsin agency. Taser use consistent Butcher said Tasers are considered to be on par with using pepper spray in his department’s use of force to subdue a suspect. City officers are required to carry one of the two weapons, and most now carry Tasers, he said. “Initially, there was a little reluctance on some people’s part to use it because they were uncertain of how efficacious it was,” Butcher said. “But once they saw it being used, and used well and used correctly, they came around.” Bloomington’s officers used Tasers on people 63 times in 2007 and drew them without using them 41 times, according to department information. Normal officers used theirs four times and displayed them twice without using them, while McLean County deputies used them three times and displayed them twice. Bloomington officers drew their guns on people 73 times in 2007, but no shots were fired, department spokesman Dave White said. Use of Tasers in Bloomington has been consistent since 2005, the first full year they were used. In 2006, BPD officers used the devices 65 times and drew them without using them 37 times. In 2005, they were used 53 times and drawn without being using 50 times. It is clear Tasers have had an impact on the number of on-the-job injuries suffered by Bloomington police officers. City figures show Bloomington officers filed an average of 77 insurance claims annually between January 2000 and the Tasers’ introduction to the department in July 2004. That average dropped to about 30 a year over the next three years. Likewise, the annual cost of those claims dropped by 46 percent, from an average of about $177,000 to about $95,000, according to city figures. Concerns disspelled Mike Williams, president of the local NAACP chapter, said organization members were concerned when Bloomington considered buying the weapons in 2004. “In the NAACP, we had a concern with the use of Tasers because there was some data out there that indicated that Tasers could cause and were causing deaths,” Williams said. But Williams said local police reports he has seen indicate the devices are being used properly, and police worked with his agency after the NAACP received a few complaints about the devices. He declined to give details on the incidents, citing privacy concerns, but he said police worked on modifying policies as a result. “If the Taser is drawn and the citizens start cooperating with law enforcement, we want to encourage that,” Williams said. “Again, we prefer the use of Tasers to use of deadly force.” McLean County Lt. Brent Wick, who instructs county deputies on Taser use, said deputies are trained to use the devices on people who are actively resisting officers, rather than fighting them hand-to-hand. And deputies tell people ahead of time that they will be “tased” if they don’t comply. “If the situation allows for it, we definitely let them know they’re going to be tased,” said Wick, who thinks the type of calls and the number of calls handled by Bloomington officers explain the wide difference in total times both department’s officers use Tasers. He said the two departments have similar policies for the weapons and their use. Butcher said Bloomington officers are told in training to let the weapon work for the full five seconds, giving either the officer with the Taser or another officer a chance to restrain the person being shocked. But displaying a Taser is often enough to get someone to comply with an officer’s commands, he said. “Most of the time, now that it’s been in use and has been publicized so frequently, we get a lot of compliance,” Butcher said. “As soon as we tell the person that we’re going to have to tase them if they don’t comply, then we get a lot more compliance than we would initially.” The devices are not used as an alternative to lethal force, but they can be used if another officer is present with a gun drawn, Butcher said. While Butcher said there have been some complaints about the devices, the department has found none of the uses to be unjustified or improper. “We have a really good administrative control on how they’re being used and if they’re being used and if they’re being used when they shouldn’t be used,” Butcher said. “And we’d certainly take disciplinary action against an officer that uses it improperly. But we have really tight scrutiny on every Taser use.” Ed Yohnka, spokesman for ACLU Illinois, said there should be guidance and oversight for officers using Tasers, but his organization doesn’t have a written policy on their use. But he said the ACLU’s view is that the devices can cause death and they ought to be treated as capable of lethal force. Taser International officials maintain the devices have not been the direct cause of any deaths and said earlier this month the company has never lost a product liability lawsuit. White said nobody has suffered serious injuries because of Taser use by Bloomington officers. Butcher said he has been tased three times in training. Though he wouldn’t want to be shocked with one of the devices again, he’d prefer it to being hit with a baton or pepper spray, he said. “The idea is people should just comply with the officers’ directions and they won’t get tased,” Butcher said. TasersChart lists the number of times tasers were used, and drawn but not used, in 2007 by Bloomington, Normal and McLean County police departments. Agency...Taser used...Taser drawn but not used Bloomington ...63...41 Normal...4...2 McLean County...3...2 Bloomington by year: 2007...63...41 2006...65...37 2005...53...50 SOURCE: Police departments E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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