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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:46 am
Time: 11:46 am
Results for non-lethal force
2 results foundAuthor: Police Executive Research Forum Title: 2011 Electronic Control Weapon Guidelines Summary: One of the defining characteristics of police organizations is that they have been given legal authority to use physical force, and one of the most critical challenges for police departments is the constant struggle to ensure that their use of force is legitimate. Over the last few decades, there has been a growing awareness that police must strive not only to prevent unnecessary or excessive uses of force but also to ensure that communities perceive their police to be acting properly when they use force. As a result of this greater attention to use-of-force issues, there have been substantial improvements in policies, practices, and results. These include significant reductions in officer-involved shootings, creation of early intervention systems to detect possible excesses in individual officers’ use of force, greater mechanisms for accountability and transparency regarding use-of-force issues, and training of officers to de-escalate situations when possible using verbal techniques and other nonlethal methods of controlling an incident. Another advancement has been the development of new less-lethal weapons, which give police a wider range of options to choose from in dealing with persons who resist police authority in various situations—in some cases because they have a mental illness or are under the influence of drugs. Each new less-lethal weapon brings its own set of advantages and limitations that must be managed if officers are to choose the best options in a given situation. In 2005, the COPS Office and PERF came together to produce a set of policy guidelines regarding the use of what were then called Conducted Energy Devices and now are called Electronic Control Weapons (ECWs). Police practitioners and other experts met in Houston and were able to hammer out a strong set of guidelines on ECW use. The guidelines offered practical guidance on the situations in which ECWs are useful and those in which they are not the best option, as well as advice about best practices for training, supervision of officers’ ECW activations, and other issues. The COPS/PERF guidelines of 2005 were adopted by many departments, and they helped those agencies to ensure that ECWs were used properly. Since 2005, researchers have continued to conduct studies of ECWs, and thousands of police departments have gained real-world experience with them. As a result, the COPS Office asked PERF to update the 2005 guidelines, reflecting these developments. PERF conducted background research, including a survey of nearly 200 law enforcement agencies regarding ECW deployments, as well as interviews of police chiefs and other experts. PERF and the COPS Office then convened a conference in Philadelphia in August 2010 where 150 police executives, researchers, doctors, attorneys, and others discussed the use of ECWs in light of five years’ worth of experience in the field. This publication is the result of those efforts, providing an updated and improved version of the initial guidelines to reflect the state of the field regarding ECWs. The 2011 guidelines also reflect a general consensus in policing that ECWs play an invaluable role in providing officers with another type of less-lethal weapon that can be effective in many situations, but they should not be seen as an all-purpose weapon that takes the place of de-escalation techniques and other options. In addition, ECWs have limitations, so officers must be prepared to switch to other strategies if an ECW is not producing the desired result. Details: Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 19, 2011 at: http://www.policeforum.org/library/use-of-force/ECWguidelines2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.policeforum.org/library/use-of-force/ECWguidelines2011.pdf Shelf Number: 123412 Keywords: Non-Lethal ForcePolice Use of ForceStun Guns (U.S.)Tasers |
Author: Whitfield, Emily Title: A Force to be Reckoned With: Taser Use and Policies in 20 Arizona Law Enforcement Agencies Summary: This special report represents the most comprehensive survey of Taser use by law enforcement agencies in Arizona to date. To our knowledge, it is also the first independent examination of the relationship between Taser use and the frequency of deployment of lethal force by police in Arizona. Police use of Tasers has been controversial since the release of TASER International’s first highpowered Electronic Control Weapons (ECWs) to agencies in the early 2000s. While billed as an alternative to lethal force including firearms, according to Amnesty International at least 330 people have lost their lives after being exposed to police Tasers between 2001 and 2008. In addition, a 2011 report by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) – a branch within the U.S. Department of Justice – found that Tasers have indirect or secondary effects, such as injury from falling, that can result in death. The NIJ cautioned that the effects of Tasers on certain vulnerable populations, such as small children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with heart conditions, are not well understood. As more incidents involving Tasers have come to light in the age of YouTube and the 24-hour news cycle – from the 2007 University of Florida episode that coined the phrase “Don’t Tase Me, Bro,” to ongoing reports of tragic deaths and serious injuries inflicted by Tasers – criticism of police use of the weapon has mounted around the country. Arizona has not escaped this controversy. Many U.S. law enforcement and correctional agencies in the United States are using Tasers today. In Arizona, where TASER International has its corporate headquarters, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona asked large police departments and sheriff’s offices about the number and percentage of officers armed with a Taser; virtually every sworn officer is provided with one. The ACLU of Arizona supports the responsible use of less-lethal weapons such as Tasers. We recognize that there are times when police officers must use such force to protect their lives and the lives of others. However, all too often, Tasers are used “preemptively” against citizens that do not present an imminent safety threat, and even offensively as a pain compliance tool. What’s more, both TASER International training materials and agency policies anticipate that officers will use the weapon as a pain compliance tool. The purpose of this report is to illuminate specific facts about Taser use by Arizona law enforcement officers and to use those facts as a starting point for a conversation about the need for meaningful reform. Details: Phoenix: American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, 2011. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 19, 2011 at: http://www.acluaz.org/taserreport Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.acluaz.org/taserreport Shelf Number: 123410 Keywords: Non-Lethal ForcePolice Use of ForceStun Guns (Arizona)Tasers |