Study Finds Police Use of Tasers Causes Few Injuries

[Guest]

Police use of Tasers causes few injuries: study

By Will Dunham

Mon Oct 8, 12:21 AM ET

The use of Taser stun weapons by U.S. police forces inflicts very few serious injuries, researchers said on Monday, but a leading human rights group was unswayed, pressing its call for a moratorium on them.

The weapons, which are sometimes called stun guns and deliver an electric shock that incapacitates a person, are widely used by U.S. law enforcement. Those in this study were made Taser International Inc of Scottsdale, Arizona.

Advocates argue these weapons allow police to subdue criminal suspects without resorting to more dangerous types of force, reducing injuries to officers and suspects. Critics say they are used too routinely and often against unarmed people who pose no threat, causing needless injuries and deaths.

Researchers tracked police Taser use on 962 people in six jurisdictions around the country from July 2005 to June of this year. The study was funded by the U.S. Justice Department.

Three of these people sustained moderate or severe nonfatal injuries requiring hospital admission, the study found.

Two of them had head injuries suffered when they fell to the ground after being stunned. One had a type of muscle breakdown condition also seen in people whose body temperature gets too high, the researchers said.

Of the rest, 216 people sustained mild injuries like abrasions, contusions and minor cuts requiring outpatient medical treatment, and 743 suffered no injury, the study found.

Two who were shocked with the weapon died, but the researchers said investigations and autopsies determined the deaths to have been unrelated to the Taser.

"The data that we've got supports the safety of these devices, in that 99.7 percent of the people on the receiving end in the real world had either no injury or mild injury," Dr. William Bozeman, an emergency medicine specialist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

277 DEATHS

Jared Feuer, who heads the U.S. southern regional office of Amnesty International, said the group has documented that 277 people in the United States have died after being shocked by a Taser since June 2001.

"We do believe that there is a risk to the public safety, and we still call for there to be a moratorium on the use of Tasers" by police, Feuer said in an telephone interview.

"Our concern is that Tasers interfere with a basic equation, which is that force must always be proportional to the threat," Feuer said, noting that about 80 percent of the people on whom a Taser is used by U.S. police are unarmed.

"They are being used in a situation where a firearm or even a baton would never be justified," Feuer added.

Bozeman said this was the first study to document the frequency and severity of injuries caused by the devices in real-life conditions, with doctors in the law enforcement agencies assessing each case.

TASER International spokesman Steve Tuttle said of the study, "It confirms what we've been telling the public since day one -- that the Taser technology is a safer alterative for use of force for law enforcement."

"There is nothing risk-free during a law enforcement encounter with use of force," Tuttle added, saying the study showed the devices are a "safer alternative" to injuries that might result from a nightstick or police dog bite.

The findings were being presented at the American College of Emergency Physicians' Research Forum in Seattle.

[JCESU 20]

EM2FD,

That was a good article. When somebody convenes a study (Amnesty International) that out come is more than likely going to be whatever the payee desires. At this time we DO NOT have tasers. Our Unit had to a great deal of work just to get Pepper Ball guns approved for ESU to carry on our trucks. And off the top of my head I can think of about a half dozen instances where lethal force would have been justified in dealing with EDP's but the outcome was different because of the Pepper Ball gun.

Tasers are currently being researched to be presented to the Chain of Command, Prosecutor's Office and the Atty General. Part of the problem with people seeing someone getting tasered on sites such as youtube etc. is that it looks pretty violent. And with the public not understanding the Use of Force policies it is perceived as somewhat sadistic. Most use in our realm of calls focuses on EDP's. And it is important to understand that most EDP's are not criminals but people who are mentally ill and have to be dealt with differently then your run of the mill mope who is violently resisting arrest. Obviously Officer Safety and that of the public are paramount but again they have (EDP's) to and rightfully so need to be treated differently. Hugh McGowan, who is the brainchild of NYPD's Hostage Negotian Unit circa 1971, had an excellent quote..."If all you have in your tool box is a hammer then all your problems become a nail". The taser is just another tool in the "Less than Lethal" arsenal. When you have an individual that is under the influence, i.e. PCP, their threshold for pain is incredible. The taser immobilizes their neuro/muscular system ability long enough to get them restrained. Which I think is much more humane and brings less liability for the Officer's involved rather than beating them like a baby seal in order to get them to comply. But like anything else when you have people trying to make decisions on what we shouldn't be doing without offering a means to an end it brings everyone involved into a possible undesireable situaiton.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Exactly what many of us familiar with the device have posted on here in a few other forums. Thanks for taking the time to post that brother.

[helicopper 1,050]

Exactly JCESU! If officers didn't have a taser, how many suspects would have been shot instead of just shocked?? This is just another way of avoiding the firearm as the resolution to the crisis. Combined with bean bag rounds, pepper ball rounds, shields, batons, etc. the numbers of police involved shootings have DECLINED largely due to the option of something else. If Amnesty International wins its argument, more people will be getting shot!

Why not go back to a whistle and baton?

[Oswegowind 17]

I agree with JC, the fact of these studies is just to show opposition to Government. People see this happen to someone and they don't want it to ever happen to them so they want it taken away. It is sad that the general population has no idea of what really goes on outside of their little "box" of a life! For each shooting that doesn't happen as a result of this new technology, that is 1 less officer that has to live with the fact that they shot and killed another human being! Most cops are not murderers, and have feelings, little be it known. So not only is it good, it is good (meant to do that)!