Fredonia Police Department gains permission to equip officers with tasers

PETER VIGLIETTA
News Editor

SOURCE: solucionesnoletales.com

Fredonia Police Chief Bradley Meyers was aware of the irony that the Fredonia Police Department's (FPD) village board proposal to begin using stun guns came only three days before the Internet was flooded with a controversial video of a University of Florida student being Tasered by campus police.

"If they already have guns and Mace, what do they need tasers for?" said Andrew Condon, senior T.V. and digital film major. "I don't think they should be able to use something that could potentially kill someone and call it a safe form of tranquilization."

Despite the controversy, the Fredonia village board recently granted FPD permission to add stun guns to the array of weapons on their officers' belts, which already include batons, pepper spray and .9mm pistols. Meyers argued that since there are no weight and height requirements for officers, officers with smaller physiques could benefit from using stun guns to subdue "300 pound muscular drunk guys" who might become aggressive or dangerous.

"You always hear about it in the media when something goes wrong," Meyers said, "but on a national level, there are hundreds of thousands of cases a year when officers successfully use their Tasers to resolve a potentially deadly situation."

Like many police departments, FPD train their officers using a ‘use of force continuum,' a chart that indicates what level of force should be used in relation to the level of resistance that the suspect is exhibiting.

Meyers said that on this scale, the FPD will regard stun guns the same way they regard pepper spray.

"Taser" is the trademark name of a stun gun, coined by the Arizonabased company TASER International. In February of 2005, CNN Money reported that TASER International's annual sales had grown from $3.4 million in 2000 to $96.6 million in 2005, as more and more police departments nationwide began touting stun guns as more effective, "less-than-lethal" technology.

However, according to a June 2006 article from USA Today, the U.S. Department of Justice reported that electrical shocks from stun guns had resulted in 184 deaths since 2000. The Justice Department launched a two-year review examining the use and potential deadliness of stun guns in 2006 in response to the report. According to the article, TASER International had been named defendant in 49 lawsuits regarding death or personal injury at the time the article was published.

University Police Chief Ann Burns said that UP, whose jurisdiction is limited to the Fredonia campus, do not have or plan to add stun guns to their belts. Like FPD, their belts currently include batons, pepper spray and firearms.

Meyers said that upon implementing the tasers, each FPD officer will be trained by an expert (most likely an instructor from the Chautauqua County Sherrif's Department) on how and when to use the weapon. FPD's policy will also require officers to file a report every time they deploy their stun guns. The report will be forwarded to Meyers and other FPD officials and will be available to the public. FPD cruisers also have interior video cameras installed and footage of any stun gun incident will be logged as evidence, Meyers said.

"I think they should be able to have them if they want them," said Amanda Armocida, junior English education major. "They're out there risking their lives to protect us."

President Dennis Hefner said in an interview that when he heard that FPD had asked to get stun guns, he went to the mayor and requested that the village board not give permission. "If any Fredonia students get Tasered it had better be for a good reason," Hefner said.

While FPD has received clearance to order the stun guns, they have not been implemented yet.

The latest versions of TASER stun guns can penetrate level-3 Teflon bullet proof vests. They deliver up to 50,000 watts in the span of five seconds, according to a May 2006 study by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Some have built-in cameras that begin recording when the stun gun is deployed.

"If you don't see the Fredonia Police Department running around pepper spraying people or striking them with batons, you're assuredly not at risk of being tasered," Meyers said. "They're as good as the person using them."