When the prospect of buying Tasers first became a possibility
for university police in early 2004, officials listed several
reasons why they did not plan to purchase the items.
The devices are limited, UCPD officials said at the time,
because they cannot be used on all subjects, such as people wearing
baggy clothing.
Further, they pose the potential problem that officers will
mistake their guns for Tasers, using guns in close-range and
causing serious injury, officials said.
But by October of that year, UCPD had decided to purchase 16
Tasers, which operate by firing two electronic darts that lodge
into a person’s skin or clothing and can temporarily
override the nervous system, taking over muscular control,
according to Taser International, which markets Tasers.
An October 2004 Daily Bruin article quotes UCPD officers
expressing a quick turnaround from the sentiments they expressed
only a few months earlier.
Instead of focusing on the cost ““ $22,000 total for 16
Tasers and the equipment to go with them ““ and the
limitations of the devices, they emphasized the potential benefits
of using Tasers.
At this point, UCPD focused on Tasers’ potential ability
to reduce violence and injury between officers and suspects,
provide a nonlethal method of gaining compliance, and minimize the
chance of a lawsuit ““ advantages which UCPD continues to
emphasize in its discussion of Tasers.
Tasers are meant to be used in close range ““ 21 feet or
less ““ according to Taser International, and act as an
alternative to other close-range weapons, such as pepper spray,
batons or firearms.
And both UCPD officials and representatives of Taser
International say Tasers present a much safer alternative to these
other forms of close-range weapons.
“The Taser is actually considered a very low-level force
… certainly much less than a baton or something like that,”
UCPD Assistant Chief of Police Jeff Young said in an interview
shortly following the Nov. 15 incident in which a student was
stunned with a Taser five times when he did not cooperatively leave
Powell Library when asked to do so.
And unlike these other close-range weapons, Detective Shaun
Devlin at UC Irvine, a campus which utilizes Tasers, said they can
be beneficial to people who want to inflict pain on themselves as
well as those who try to inflict pain on others.
“(The Taser) is outstanding to use to keep the person from
hurting themselves,” he said.
With reports from Joanne Hou, Bruin contributor.