Council Hears Report on Tasers But Takes No Action

The Berkeley City Council Tuesday night heard a long-awaited report on the pluses and minuses of equipping police officers with Tasers but remained a long way from taking action on the controversial issue. Akiva Freidlin, one of the authors of the report that was prepared by members of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, told the council at a workshop meeting, “We hoped we would find a clear answer (about the potential benefits of having officers use Tasers) but we can only conclude that there is not clear answers.”

Freidlin said many answers conflict with each other and ultimately the issue will be only solved through public debate and a decision by the community, not by outside experts. The Berkeley Police Association, which represents the city’s officers, has been pushing for several years for the city to allow officers to use Tasers, also known as electronic control weapons, arguing that they lead to a decrease in the use of guns by officers and fewer injuries to officers. The police union also has pointed out that of the 113 law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area, Berkeley is one of only a handful that don’t equip its officers with Tasers.

Police Chief Michael Meehan said he knows that the having officers use Tasers is a controversial issue but he thinks they would be “in the best interest of employees and the community.” Meehan said his department tries to de-escalate problems but he said, “Unfortunately, in some circumstances there is no alternative but to use some level of force” and Tasers would give officers another non-lethal tool. Meehan said many of the city’s officers have been injured in situations where they could have “effectively resolved a dangerous situation” if they’d had the option of using Tasers. However, all but two of the 31 speakers who addressed the council said they strongly oppose letting Berkeley officers use Tasers. And the two speakers who supported Tasers were officers from the BART and Richmond police departments who said their agencies have benefited from having the option of using Tasers.

Andrea Pritchett of Copwatch said the report concludes that although it’s safe to use Tasers against most people it is dangerous to use them against people with mental health problems and other health issues, such as being pregnant or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Pritchett said, “In Berkeley, 35 percent of police activity is directed at mentally ill people.” Other speakers said Tasers have been deadly in many instances and recited incidents across the country in which they said the use of Tasers by police officers caused people to die.

City Councilman Kriss Worthington said if Berkeley obtained Tasers, “We would be asking our police officers to be doctors, psychiatrists and psychics” in order to determine if it would be safe to use Tasers against certain people. Worthington said “half the city of Berkeley” could be in the population of people who could be endangered if Tasers are used against them.

The Berkeley City Council asked its city manager back on May 6, 2014, to research and report back to it about the history, potential benefits, impacts and possible unintended consequences of allowing officers to carry and sue Tasers. The city then hired the Sanford Criminal Justice Center, which prepared its report on a pro bono basis.

Councilwoman Linda Maio pointed out that the workshop meeting was only informational in nature and no action is planned at this time. She and other council members had many questions for the report’s authors but the council appeared that it’s not ready to make any decisions for a long time.

Maio said, “Clearly, we don’t have a lot of information and we need more studies.”

By Bay City News

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