Tasers for UMass?
By Dan O'Brien
Collegian Staff
March 21, 2005
The use of Taser weapons by police departments has sparked heated debate nationwide over whether the weapons are humane or even necessary.
Here at the University of Massachusetts, the police department announced in September 2004 that it is looking into purchasing the weapons, which have been deemed "non-lethal" by officials in the past.
UMass is currently awaiting a review from the Executive Office of Public Safety before purchasing the Tasers. The EOPS review may take a few months to complete.
"UMass is not currently purchasing Tasers," said UMass Chancellor John Lombardi. "The state is evaluating the safety of the devices and we await further information before considering these devices."
The University may not currently have plans to purchase Tasers, but UMass Police are definitely considering the weapons as an option. Four officers are in the process of being trained as Taser instructors, including Det. Lt. Robert Thrasher.
"The Tasers give us a tool to add to [our arsenal] that's much more humane," Thrasher said. "It's a very humane tool."
Currently, the four UMPD officers must receive an additional four hours of training to be qualified as training instructors by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In terms of a plan to implement the use of Tasers on campus, UMass Police Chief Barbara O'Connor explained, "We're not even there yet."
"We continue to do more research on [the Tasers]," she said.
Recently members of the Student Government Association, who have expressed strong disagreement with the Taser idea, spoke with O'Connor and other police officials on the Taser issue.
"We had a good exchange of ideas," O'Connor said. "I think the SGA is going to be working with police on this matter."
SGA President Eduardo Bustamante said he was pleased with the meeting.
"It's an example of the administration listening to students," Bustamante said.
Taser International, a manufacturer of the weapon, says Tasers can fire at a target between 16 and 21 feet away. The weapon fires two needles, which penetrate the skin and deliver an electric shock for about five seconds. The wires deliver a 50,000-volt charge at 1.36 joules of electricity. By comparison, a heart defibrillator has 300 joules.
Thrasher experienced the effects of the Taser firsthand while participating in Taser instructor training. He described the pain as being immediate, but intense.
"Someone pulls the trigger and your body immediately tenses," he said. "You're in pain for about five seconds and it's over... That's all the time we need to put handcuffs on someone."
The issue of Tasers being used on the UMass campus has sparked discussion after it was first publicized in a January Boston Herald article. Many student leaders are against the idea. The SGA even went so far as to post giant letters that spell the words "NO TASERS" across their Student Union office windows.
Coincidentally, the human rights group Amnesty International released a report about Tasers around the same time UMass announced its plans to look into purchasing them. Amnesty International says Tasers can be linked to at least 80 deaths in the United States and Canada since 2000. Another study by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference released in February stated that 86 deaths in the United States could be linked to Tasers since 1999.
O'Connor says she thinks Tasers are a good option for officers who come into contact with dangerous situations.
"Do I think that there could be times when we could use this weapon? Sure," she said.
O'Connor gave several examples of officers who have been assaulted in the past, including one incident of a male officer who was beaten by several individuals. One of the individuals kicked him in the head and another stole his police radio in Southwest.
"Just speaking for myself, I was assaulted three separate times on my first year on the job," she said.
Thrasher says although officer assaults aren't frequent on campus, they happen often enough to warrant additional precautions.
"With the number of violent altercations my officers deal with in a year, it's not uncommon to address seriously violent subjects," Thrasher said. "The other option is to seriously beat them with a baton."
O'Connor stressed that the use of Tasers would "not be a crowd control option."
Tasers are already the norm for police departments in other states, but its usage has not come without controversy.
A Jacksonville, Fla. TV station, WJXX-TV reported March 8 that a 13-year-old girl was tasered at least twice by officers trying to subdue her.
The incident was discussed at a community meeting in the city's Lincoln Villa section. Residents discussing the recent use of Tasers by police in that community's high school got a unanimous response by local parents.
"Please do not taser our children," pleaded one woman, who admitted her children were grown, but worried about the next generation possibly being harmed, WJXX reported.
Two highly publicized cases involving Tasers in Chicago happened the week of Feb. 10 when a 54-year-old man died and a 14-year-old boy was critically injured when police tasered them within four days of each other.
The 54-year-old, identified as Ronald Hasse of Cedar Lake, Ind., allegedly made statements to officers such as: "If you come near me, I'll give you HIV," and "I'm going to kill you with my blood."
Paramedics transported Hasse to the hospital where he died 90 minutes later. An autopsy to determine his cause of death was "inconclusive."
Hasse's death came four days after Chicago Police made headlines when officers used a Taser to subdue a 14-year-old boy. The boy, who weighed 220 pounds and was 6-feet 2-inches tall, allegedly injured three female workers at his group home and "advanced on the sergeant with his fist drawn," when police arrived, according to Chicago Police Superintendent Robert Cline.
The boy's legal guardian appointed to him by Cook County disputes Cline's claims saying, "it is definitely my understanding that he was just sitting on the couch when he was tasered."
Since Tasers were legalized in Massachusetts six months ago, no police department has yet implemented their use. Some towns including Brookline, Monson, Holyoke, Springfield, Leverett and Belchertown have been talking about implementing their use in the future. Greenfield has already purchased Tasers, but is not using them yet. The department that has shown the most promise in implementing the weapons soon is Raynham, a quiet town in the southeastern part of the state.
O'Connor says UMass will be carefully studying the effects of the Tasers before implementing any policies regarding their use. Above all, she wants to maintain the best level of safety for her officers.
"I believe in giving my officers as many possible options," she said.
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