Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Marietta Turn To Tasers

Advocates call them a lifesaver, but NAACP remains opposed

By MARY MacDONALD / www.ajc.com Monday, September 29, 2008

When a Sandy Springs police officer responded in February to a reported stabbing, he arrived at an apartment complex to find a man bleeding from the head and two women arguing. One of the women held a knife.

The officer drew his gun and ordered the woman several times to drop the weapon. She ignored him, the police report said, waving the knife around and telling him he’d have to shoot her.

A year ago, before Tasers became standard gear for Sandy Springs officers, the incident might have ended that way. But on Feb. 14, the officer holstered his gun and drew a Taser. He fired the electronic weapon, discharging a pair of darts carrying a jolt that put the 19-year-old on the ground, where she was handcuffed.

The incident — one of 30 in which Sandy Springs officers have used Tasers in the first eight months since they received them — is “a shining example” of how they can reduce injury and even save lives, acting Police Chief David Bertrand said. “This is exactly the reason you have Tasers,” he said.

Although the 130-officer department has had a few instances in which Tasers were used inappropriately, and for which officers were disciplined, department leaders are not second-guessing the decision to introduce the electronic weapon.

It is among the smaller forces, including Alpharetta and Marietta, that started using them in the past year.

The device continues to draw controversy locally five years after the first of three deaths of inmates in Gwinnett County, following jolts from Tasers, highlighted concerns about safety. The use of the weapon to subdue children, notably a handcuffed trick-or-treater last year, also has drawn criticism.

The state and national NAACP remain opposed to its use. Edward DuBose, the state chapter president, said it seems to be a weapon of first resort for many police officers.

“In our communities, we have not experienced the benefits of Tasers,” he said. “We just don’t want to open a door for another opportunity for harm to be done to people in our communities.” Despite continuing controversy, several area police departments that once stood on the sidelines have reconsidered the weapon this year.

Fulton County is evaluating whether to expand its distribution of Tasers from specialized officers to rank-and-file officers, said a spokesman, Lt. Darryl Halbert.

Cobb County also is considering introducing the device, and it has community and political support, said Sgt. Dana Pierce, a spokesman for the 600-officer department. Several other large departments remain ambivalent. The Atlanta Police Department allows only its SWAT officers to use them.

Forsyth County has not distributed Tasers to its 300 deputies.
Forsyth Sheriff Ted Paxton remains wary of the lack of independent training and safety standards for the device. Taser International, the manufacturer, trains and certifies officers to instruct others in how to use the device. Paxton wants some form of state certification.
“It’s like we’re relying on them,” he said of Taser International. “What do you expect them to tell us? They’re the ones making it. They’re the ones selling it.”

Marietta gave Tasers to its 136 sworn officers in February. Since then, the electronic weapon has been used to subdue people in 18 incidents, said Officer Mark Bishop, an instructor and department spokesman.

The new weapon has its limits. Although it has reduced officer claims for on-the-job injuries, Bishop said, it’s not a substitute for a firearm if the suspect has one. “To pull your Taser, you’re asking to get killed,” he said.

And the stun gun can be wrestled away from an officer, just like any other weapon. To protect officers, Marietta is testing a shock-proof liner that can be worn under a shirt, Bishop said.
In Sandy Springs, where Tasers were introduced in November, a police sergeant pursuing a theft suspect was punched in the face and had the Taser taken from her after she tried to stun him, according to police records. The device was later recovered.

All city officers are required to undergo eight hours of training. Over the past eight months, with one exception, the department’s internal reviews found police used the weapon appropriately. City policy allows police to use the device to subdue people who are actively resisting, such as by fleeing or fighting, or who pose a credible threat to an officer, themselves or others.

On Feb. 7, two officers attempting to remove a drunken and belligerent man from a local restaurant used the Taser inappropriately and with excessive force, according to an internal investigation.

Officer Perry Baxter, the department’s training coordinator, reviewed data and determined one officer used the Taser 10 times on the man, including nine times in the “drive stun” mode.
The drive stun feature allows an officer to place the weapon directly on someone they’re trying to take into custody. While this causes pain, the stun does not produce enough of an electrical shock to temporarily incapacitate someone, Baxter said.

Under city policy, officers can use the drive stun on someone just two times, unless they are being physically assaulted.

The officer quit after department leaders recommended she be fired, according to police records. The second officer, who applied the drive stun four times, got a three-day suspension.
The incident hasn’t changed department leaders’ view of the technology.

“Anytime a police officer has to put hands on someone, and that person is going to resist them,” the potential exists for injury, Baxter said. “The Taser can stop that, as long as the officer follows their training.”