Lubbock Professional Police Association:News

Saturday, January 06, 2007

By Cindy V. Culp
Tribune-Herald staff writer

A proposed law that would limit police Taser use to deadly-force situations would pretty much zap stun guns as an option for officers, local law enforcement agencies say.

The bill, filed late last month by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, is in response to what he sees as a worrisome trend in the use of Tasers by police, said his legislative director, Doug Lewin. Not only have some people died from the shock, he said, but the weapon is being overused, especially against minorities.

“If it’s causing death, we think deadly force is an appropriate definition of when it’s appropriate to use it,” Lewin said. “We don’t want to take a tool away from police officers, but a number of officers are seemingly using it without any restraint.”

Local law enforcement officials dispute that claim and say restricting Tasers to situations when an officer thinks someone’s life is in danger would make them irrelevant. Stun guns are meant to de-escalate situations before they get to that point, they said.

If officers find themselves in a situation where deadly force is necessary, they would almost always choose their gun, officials said. It’s simply too risky not to, they said, since Tasers have a limited range and sometimes don’t have an effect on the target.

“Why would you take a less-than-lethal weapon into a lethal situation?” said Steve Anderson, spokesman for the Waco Police Department. “It’s not safe for the officer, and it’s not safe for the public.”

Bellmead Police Chief Robert Harold agreed. “That’s got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Harold said of the bill. “If you want to outlaw the things, go ahead and outlaw them and be done with it. But to limit it just to deadly force, that’s crazy.”

Lewin said the intent of the bill is not to harm law enforcement officers; it’s to alleviate some of the troubling aspects of Tasers.

There have been numerous allegations of improper Taser use by police around the state, Lewin said. One of the most recent cases happened in Houston, when professional football player Fred Weary was shot with a stun gun during a traffic stop. Charges against him were subsequently dropped.

16 deaths in Texas

That’s especially worrisome because 16 Texans have died after being shot with Tasers, Lewin said. Although the shock was not listed as the only cause of death in those cases, it was a contributing factor, a term not thrown around lightly by coroners, he said.

Also worrisome are statistics from the Houston Police Department that show that only 39 of the 892 incidents in which people have been Tasered over the past two years justified deadly force, Lewin said. Not only that, but 63 percent of those shot with a Taser were black.

Lewin acknowledged, however, that Burnam’s office does not have statistics on the percentage of people who are Tasered versus the percentage of people from different racial groups who are arrested. Because certain crimes are committed at higher rates by minorities, that could affect the percentage.

In the Waco area, two people have died after being Tasered by police. The first case happened in June 2005, when Robert Earl Williams Sr. was shocked multiple times by five Waco police officers during a domestic disturbance call.

Then, last April, a Bellmead police officer used a Taser on 24-year-old Jeremy Davis after he was found nude outside a restaurant. He died two days later at a local hospital.

In both cases, however, the officers’ conduct was cleared and other factors likely contributed to the men’s deaths, officials said.

Guidelines on the use of Tasers vary from department to department locally. But in general, they all require that a person must be aggressive or repeatedly noncompliant before a Taser gun can be used. They also prohibit Tasering someone who is handcuffed.

Randy Plemons, chief deputy for the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, said maintaining officer discretion is key. Peace officers receive extensive training so they can do their jobs in a way that will keep themselves and the public safe. Taking away their ability to make such decisions is counterproductive, he said.

Possible deterrent

The number of dangerous situations faced by officers would increase if Taser use was limited, Plemons said. Stun guns cause many fights to be over before they begin because criminals don’t want to get shocked, he said.

Plemons added that the number of officer injuries and workers’ compensation claims have decreased significantly since his office began using Tasers. Waco police have noticed a similar phenomenon.

Tasers also are safer for suspects, said Charley Wilkison, political and legislative director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. If their use was limited, more people would be shot by police, he said.
Wilkison also said he thinks many people wrongly assume police are dying to use their Tasers. But it’s like any other weapon: They would rather never have to unholster them, he said.

“(An officer) hopes he can remain calm and professional and go home after his shift and have a life like everyone else,” Wilkison said. “Some bills are future laws and some bills are press releases. This one is an ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) press release, and it ain’t going to pass.”

Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson, R-Waco, also said he doesn’t think the bill has much of a chance. If anything, he said, Tasers should be used more to protect the public and police.

“We need to trust our law enforcement officers and give them as many tools as we can, and this is a good one,” he said.

Published: 1/7/2007 6:36:44 AM

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