Tasers are still an effective weapon, official says

About 270 people have been killed by Tasers in the past five years.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

LAS VEGAS — It was supposed to be a fun-filled weekend for Sgt. Mark England, his last before heading off on his second deployment to Iraq.

But England, 38, who got into a dispute with airport security personnel, ended up on the floor of McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas last March, jolted with a police Taser at least three times and battered with a club, leaving fractured ribs and a head injury that have kept him from returning to war.

“It was like touching an electric fence they use to keep cattle in, but instead of just where the initial shock goes in, the electricity goes through your entire body. It feels like every nerve cell is on fire,” said England, a 14-year military veteran now serving as a medic in the California National Guard.

England, who filed a lawsuit this month against the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, is one of a growing number of people across the country who claim police used Taser guns on them repeatedly without adequate provocation.

The incident last week involving a University of Florida student who was shot with a Taser at a campus forum for Sen. John Kerry has brought renewed attention to the use of the stun guns.

In other recent cases, authorities defended the Tasering of an autistic California teenager who had been seen running in traffic, while in Warren this month, a woman was Tasered while struggling in a police car after she was handcuffed.

More widespread

Although human-rights groups such as Amnesty International have called for a moratorium on the weapons, which release 50,000 volts in a single shot, police departments across the country are adding Tasers to their arsenals.

In the past five years, the number of law-enforcement agencies deploying Tasers has increased from about 2,000 in 2002 to more than 11,500, according to Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International. That represents about 70 percent of law-enforcement agencies in the United States.

“The Taser is not a magic bullet, but it seems to have been the missing tool in the toolbox for law enforcement,” said Tuttle. “There is nothing as effective in the police arsenal today as the 94 percent incapacitation rate of a Taser.”

In 2005, the Chicago Police Department began using Tasers equipped with cameras. The department currently has about 400 Tasers, according to officials at Taser International.

Though critics point out that in the past five years about 270 people have died after being shot with a Taser, law-enforcement officials have argued that Tasers are still the safest tool they have for bringing suspects under control and for preventing injuries to police officers.

“It’s a lot more humane than the old nightstick used to be,” said Dennis Wise, president of the American Federation of Police and Concerned Citizens. “Police officers aren’t paid to be punching bags. When you hit someone with a Taser, it automatically shuts everything down and they have no desire to fight. It sends an electrical shock to the brain that it’s not used to.”

Public opinion

Still, several high-profile cases involving Tasers have threatened to turn public opinion against the device.

Many police departments are trying to find ways to make their use of Tasers more transparent. One of the most popular methods is the Taser cam, a tiny attached camera that activates when the weapon turns on.

Authorities say the cameras allow them to document each case for possible evidence to be used in a court case and provide officers with a valuable training tool.

“It is good for us in the public eye,” said Sean Walker, a spokesman for the suburban North Las Vegas Police Department, which began issuing Tasers with attached cameras this year. “When you hear a news story about a suspect being Tased 14 times, the public has no idea what the officer encountered during that scenario. With the camera, it records the whole thing, and you can determine whether it was reasonable.”