Cops offer their side in Taser debate Cops offer their side in Taser debate (January 13, 2006)

By Jon Wiener

Last week's human relations commission meeting was so well attended, the commissioners decided to hold another just like it.

After hearing hours of testimony and reading hundreds of pages worth of reports, the commissioners said they need more time before they can make a judgment on Mountain View police officers' use of Tasers.

"We're all laypeople on this issue," said HRC chair Bill Bien, "and we want the right policy coming out of this."

The commission reviewed the department's use of the handheld electric stun guns at an unusually crowded meeting on Jan. 5. Police chief Scott Vermeer, who is requesting 100 more Tasers at a cost of $1,000 each, led off with a 40-minute presentation in which he emphasized the amount of time the department spent determining how best to use Tasers.

"This has been a deliberate, long-term process," said Vermeer. Acknowledging concerns about the weapons' potential for abuse, he later added that Tasers "are a legitimate tool for law enforcement under the right circumstances."

The department currently has 10 Tasers, which officers hand off to each other when they switch shifts. In his presentation, Vermeer said that 99 percent of arrests made last year did not involve any kind of force beyond a simple control hold. But of the 30 times officers did resort to using force, they fired Tasers eight times.

Officer Jan-Leah Post testified to the commission about one of those incidents, in which she and a partner encountered Jeremy Davis outside a laundromat. Davis was about 6-foot-3 and weighed approximately 245 pounds, according to the police report. Post and her partner weigh a combined 270 pounds.

"I want you guys to imagine two Davids and one Goliath," Post told commissioners. "This incident very possibly would have ended differently if I didn't have a Taser. Tasers, when used with strict regulations, allow me to go home at night to see my family and allowed him to go see his family, once he got out of jail."

Vermeer's request for 100 more Tasers would arm every officer with them, and likely make their use more common. But a raft of critics said they were concerned officers would become too comfortable using Tasers, and were ignoring the risks -- including death -- that their use entails.

As described in the Dec. 24 issue of the Voice , the department's policy ranks the Taser as "moderate" force, the same as a baton, pepper spray, and "personal weapons" such as clenched fists. In keeping with that policy, officers have fired Tasers only at unarmed suspects, most of whom were refusing to comply with orders and were under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Vermeer said last week that the policy discourages Taser use on vulnerable populations such as the elderly, children and pregnant women.

Rosiland Bivings, a Mountain View resident, said an officer in another city (she declined to name which) threatened to use his Taser on her when she pulled over to watch her friend take a field sobriety test. Local resident and retired teacher Gail Nyhan came to the meeting to ask the commission to exercise caution as it discussed the issue.

Ash Kalra, an assistant public defender, told the commission, "We are inviting a potential risk of death."

Even those who were calling for an outright ban on the weapons or limiting them to an alternative for lethal force praised the city and department for taking the time to review the policy.

Commissioners said they wanted an opportunity to digest everything they had heard, and wanted to give the public another opportunity to comment. Their next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall. The commission may recommend changes to the police department's policy, but will likely leave Vermeer's request for 100 new Tasers to the city council to discuss during budget hearings this spring.

Council member Tom Means and then-Vice Mayor Nick Galioto (selected as mayor Tuesday night) both attended last week's meeting.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

E-mail a friend a link to this story.