[CIMC-work] Chicago police to carry stun guns

[Elizabeth Fraser]

I think usage of these new "less-than-lethal" weapons may bear watching.
I wonder what kind of training goes along with issuance.  If anyone
knows of good data sources (especially statistical) online re: use of
stun guns in the U.S., I'd like to start checking the stats before the
first "incidents" start rolling in, before the story.

My guess is it won't be a long wait.

Thanks,

Elizabeth
ehf at bookbeast.com

 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0309120258sep12,1,525
1984.story?coll=chi-news-hed 


Chicago police to carry stun guns
'Less than lethal' Tasers on way to 200 sergeants
 
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter

September 12, 2003

Chicago's police sergeants are adding a "less than lethal" weapon to
their arsenal.

In all, about 200 yellow plastic stun guns will be issued to sergeants
around the city by early October.

The guns enable officers to subdue violent suspects from a distance
without resorting to deadly force or firearms.

"One of the most delicate and difficult things an officer has to do
every day is decide whether applying force will keep him and other
officers and other citizens safe," police spokesman David Bayless said.
"It's our job to make sure those officers have every reasonable tool and
all the necessary training available to them so they can make the right
decisions almost all the time."

The gun, often referred to by its brand name, Taser, comes equipped with
disposable air cartridges containing probes, connected to the gun by
high-voltage wires.

Officers are trained to aim for the torso. The gun, with a range of up
to 21 feet, fires two probes, which can penetrate up to two inches of
clothing to puncture the skin.

Chicago's current model, the Advanced Taser M26, transmits 50,000 volts
of electricity.

The shock causes muscles to contract and paralyzes a person for a matter
of seconds, said Rick Smith, CEO of Taser International, the
Arizona-based product manufacturer.

General Counsel Karen Rowan said sergeants are encouraged during the
8-hour training course to experience the shock.

More than 3,000 law enforcement agencies in North America have deployed
the remote stun guns, Smith said.

Chicago's rollout is more conservative than other agencies.

"We're going to take a cautious conservative approach to deploying
these," Bayless said. "We want to see how effective they are before
going ahead."

Six are now in the field, none of which has been used, he said.

Dennis Palmieri, a spokesman for Amnesty International's Western
division, advises caution. He said that although Amnesty is not calling
for a ban, it is calling for a nationwide study on its side effects.

"We have some concerns that they are more lethal than people would like
to think," he said.

Robert Castelli, a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice in New York, said safety outweighs the side effects.

"There's nothing politically correct about any of these things,"
Castelli said. "To have [suspects] falling to the ground like a
quivering piece of Jell-O. Does it look pretty? No. But the fact of the
matter is it's a momentary disruption to the central nervous system, and
the officers can move in without hurting someone."


Copyright C 2003, Chicago Tribune