USE OF TASERS BY LAW
ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES:
GUIDELINES AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
PREPARED FOR THE
CITY OF MOUNTAIN VIEW
HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
BY
THE STANFORD CRIMINAL JUSTICE CENTER
http://www.law.stanford.edu/academic/programs/criminaljustice

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION - 2
THE EFFECTS OF TASER USE ON THE HUMAN BODY – 4
LEGAL ISSUES – 8
RECOMMENDATIONS - 12
CONCLUSION – 15

1

INTRODUCTION
The use of tasers by law enforcement agencies in general, and by police officers
in particular, has become one of the most controversial issues in the area of criminal
justice policy. This is in part because the issues are at the same time extremely
straightforward (in that the only real question is the extent to which the use of tasers is
and should be authorized) and uncomfortably complex (in that this question is by no
means an easy one to answer).
There are a number of premises upon which all interested parties should be able to
agree. First, it is preferable to incapacitate a violent individual than to kill that individual.
Second, the use of tasers should be permitted to the extent that such use is necessary to
protect officer safety while minimizing the risk of physical injury to suspects. Third,
police officers should have some understanding of the effects that using a weapon is
likely to have upon a suspect before deploying the weapon in question. Unfortunately,
however, agreeing on the validity of these premises does not lead anyone to any obvious
conclusions regarding the legitimate use of tasers by police officers.
At the outset, we note that this report is directed solely to the question of when,
and under what circumstances, police officers should be authorized (and perhaps
required) to use a taser on a suspect. This report will not address the question of when,
and under what circumstances, a jail guard or correctional officer should be permitted or
required to use a taser on an inmate. It will also not address questions regarding the
extent to which a state or municipality might want to restrict the ability of individual
citizens to own, possess, carry, or transfer tasers. All of these questions are critical to law
enforcement professionals, and local and state governments need to address them.
However, the issues that arise in connection with these questions differ in both scope and
substance from this report’s main concern; therefore, in the interest of brevity and clarity,
this report is limited to offering guidance on the question of the legitimate use of tasers
by police officers.
The first section of this report provides a brief summary of the effects of taser use
on the human body. The report assumes that readers will have some familiarity with this
issue, and that a thorough analysis would be redundant. Therefore, the explanation of
this issue is somewhat brief, and references to more detailed information will be provided
where appropriate.
The second section provides a summary and analysis of the legal issues that have
arisen in connection with the use of tasers in the United States, and of the existing case
law that addresses these legal issues. As the members of the Commission may know,
there is fairly little case law governing the use of tasers, which is one of the reasons why
it has been difficult for municipalities to enact guidelines to aid the law enforcement
community in understanding when it is appropriate to use them. Nonetheless, this report
will endeavor to offer an explanation of the case law that does exist, and to interpret the

2

case law in a way that will be helpful to municipalities attempting to enact such
guidelines.
The final section of the report will offer some guidance regarding the possible
appropriate uses of tasers and some recommendations for the Commission to consider in
advising the City Council on guidelines for taser use, follow-up treatment, and reporting.
As the members of the Commission may already be aware, the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has published a report urging law enforcement
agencies to reevaluate their taser policies and offering guidance on how to do so.1 The
city of Mountain View deserves praise for undertaking this process of enacting
regulations on taser use, and for working to ensure that any policies on the use of tasers
protect law enforcement officers, criminal suspects, and the wider community. We hope
that this report will be instructive and useful in this regard.2

1

International Association of Chiefs of Police, “Electro-Muscular Disruption Technology: A Nine Step
Strategy for Effective Deployment,” April 4, 2005 (“IACP Report”),
http://www.iacp.org/research/CuttingEdge/EMDT9Steps.pdf.
2
The Stanford Criminal Justice Center (http://www.law.stanford.edu/programs/academic/criminaljustice/)
serves as Stanford's vehicle for promoting and coordinating the study of criminal law and the criminal
justice system, including legal and interdisciplinary research, curriculum development, and preparation of
law students for careers in criminal law. The center is headed by faculty director Robert Weisberg and
executive director Kara Dansky. Faculty, staff, and students associated with the SCJC prepare reports
similar to this one for government and nonprofit agencies; our goal in this endeavor is to offer the best
possible legal analysis of the subjects we're asked to comment on, and to remain neutral regarding any
related political issues.

3

THE EFFECTS OF TASER USE ON THE HUMAN
BODY
The vast majority of tasers purchased and used by law enforcement agencies are
manufactured by Taser International (www.taser.com), which makes essentially two
models of tasers, the M26 and the X26. Both models can be used in one of two modes,
which produce different effects on the body.
When used in firing mode, both the M26 and the X26 fire two probes up to a
distance of 21 feet. They are programmed to deploy five-second bursts of electricity,
although the charge can be prolonged indefinitely if the operator’s finger remains on the
trigger. The probes are attached to copper wires, which remain connected to the weapon.
The shock can be repeated countless times, so long as both probes remain attached to the
subject. Both models contain a cartridge of compressed nitrogen that fire the probes, and
which must be reloaded every time the officer wants to fire. Both models have laser
sights for accurate targeting and a built-in memory to record the time and date of each
firing. Both models operate on 26 watts of electric output. Both deliver a 50,000-volt
shock, which is designed to override the subject’s central nervous system, causing
uncontrollable contraction of the muscle tissue and instant collapse. The primary
difference between the two models appears to be in design (the X26 is 60% smaller than
the M26), although Taser International reports that the X26 has an incapacitating effect
that is 5% greater than the M26.
When used in “drive-stun” mode (at point blank range), the taser attacks the
sensory nervous system. Rather than causing a complete override of the central nervous
system, the weapon is essentially used as a pain-compliance technique. In this mode, the
taser is used without the air cartridge. It applies shocks directly to the subject’s body,
skin, or clothing. The duration is the same as when the taser is used in firing mode (five
seconds unless the officer keeps his hand on the trigger for longer).
The clear consensus of the research is that a one-time five-second shock does not
seriously or permanently injure a healthy and sober young adult who is not pregnant.
However, the few studies that have been conducted, as well as the anecdotal evidence,
suggest that there are some serious health risks involved when individuals not falling
within that category are tasered.
Taser International includes the following product warnings on its website3:
•

The TASER device can cause strong muscle contractions that may cause
physical exertion or athletic-type injuries to some people. These muscle
contractions can result in strain-type injuries such as hernias, ruptures, or

3

Presumably, the company also includes these warnings when it delivers the weapons themselves to a law
enforcement agency; however, this has not been confirmed.

4

other injuries to soft tissue, organs, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves,
joints, and stress/compression fractures to bones, including vertebrae.
People with pre-existing injuries or conditions such as osteoporosis,
osteopenia, spinal injuries, diverticulitis, or previous muscle, disc,
ligament, or tendon damage may be more susceptible to these types of
injuries.
•

These strong muscle contractions usually render a subject temporarily
unable to control his or her movements and may result in secondary
injuries. Under certain circumstances, this loss of control can elevate the
risk(s) of serious injury or death. These circumstances may include, but
are not limited to, use of the TASER device on a person who is physically
infirm or pregnant, or a person on an elevated or unstable platform,
operating a vehicle or machinery, running or in water where the inability
to move may result in drowning.

•

When practicable, avoid prolonged or continuous exposure(s) to the
TASER device electrical discharge. The stress and exertion of extensive
repeated, prolonged, or continuous application(s) of the TASER device
may contribute to cumulative exhaustion, stress, and associated medical
risk(s). Severe exhaustion and/or over-exertion from physical struggle,
drug intoxication, use of restraint devices, etc. may result in serious injury
or death. The TASER device causes strong muscle contractions, usually
rendering a subject temporarily unable to control his or her movements.
Under certain circumstances, these contractions may impair a subject’s
ability to breathe. If a person’s system is already compromised by overexertion, drug intoxication, stress, pre-existing medical or psychological
condition(s), etc., any physical exertion, including the use of a TASER
device, may have an additive effect in contributing to cumulative
exhaustion, stress, cardiovascular conditions, and associated medical
risk(s).

•

TASER probes can cause significant injury if deployed into sensitive areas
of the body such as the eyes, throat, or genitals. If a TASER probe
becomes embedded in an eye, it could result in permanent loss of vision.
Repetitive electrical stimuli can induce seizures in some individuals.

•

In most areas of the body, wounds caused by TASER probes will be
minor. TASER probes have small barbs.

•

Use of a TASER device in drive (or touch) stun mode can cause marks,
friction abrasions, and/or scarring that may be permanent depending on
individual susceptibilities or circumstances surrounding TASER device
use and exposure.4

4

See Taser International website, Product Warnings for Law Enforcement. www.taser.com/safety/.
Warnings 6-12. Note, the warnings given to civilian taser owners differ slightly from the warnings given to
law enforcement officers. Details regarding those differences are beyond the scope of this paper.

5

There are several things worth noting about these warnings. First, in most
instances, an officer will find it nearly impossible to anticipate whether a subject suffers
from any of the conditions listed. For example, except where pregnancy is fairly
advanced, an officer is not likely to know a woman is pregnant. No officer would likely
be able to discern that an individual suffers from a pre-existing injury or condition such
as osteoporosis, osteopenia,, spinal injuries, diverticulitis, or previous muscle, disc,
ligament, or tendon damage. An officer is unlikely to know whether a subject suffers
from a respiratory impairment such as asthma,5 or from a pre-existing cardiovascular
condition.
Moreover, with respect to pregnancy, Taser International warns against use of a
taser on a pregnant woman because of the risk that she would suffer from involuntary
muscle contractions, thereby increasing the risk that she will fall and damage the fetus.
The warnings listed above do not include any mention of risk to the fetus of the electrical
shock itself. Nevertheless, there have been cases in which women have miscarried after
being tasered. In the City of Chula Vista, Cindy Grippi was six-months pregnant when
she was tasered and she miscarried twelve hours after being shot. The autopsy report did
not conclude that the electro-shock was the cause of death; nonetheless, some studies
have suggested a link between electro-chock and miscarriage and the city was sufficiently
concerned about these studies that it paid her $675,000 to settle her lawsuit.
There are three overarching scenarios that cause concern regarding the possibility
of a taser delivering a fatal shock. One is the possibility that a shock could occur during
the “vulnerable period” of a heart beat cycle. Essentially, this means that there is a
section of a heart beat cycle (specifically, three percent of the cycle) during which an
electro-shock is highly likely to cause ventricular fibrillation, “a state in which the heart
muscles spasm uncontrollably, disrupting the heart’s pumping function and causing
death.”6 Second, certain individuals, such as children, the elderly, people with preexisting cardiovascular problems, drug users, and individuals who take certain psychiatric
medications, are naturally more susceptible to ventricular fibrillation than healthy young
adults. Third, multiple and/or prolonged applications of a taser can increase the risk of
cardiac arrest either by simply increasing the chances that a charge will shock the heart
during the vulnerable period or by increasing the level of acid in the blood, which, in
turn, decreases respiration and increases the risk of ventricular fibrillation.
Finally, there have been several reported fatalities in the state of California that
have involved the use of tasers, most often in cases in which the subject was under the
influence of drugs. Andrew Washington died in Vallejo in September 2004 after being
tasered seventeen times. The cause of death was reported as “cardiac arrest associated
5

Notably, while it appears to be widely acknowledged that repeated or prolonged use of tasers can cause
respiratory problems in healthy people, there appears to be almost no literature addressing the effects of
tasers on individuals with pre-existing respiratory impairments such as asthma.
6
ACLU of Northern California, “Stun Gun Fallacy: How the Lack of Taser Regulation Endangers Lives,”
September 2005 (“ACLU Report”), p. 4, citing Russel Sabin, “Heart Expert Warns About Using Tasers,”
San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2005.

6

with excitement during the police chase and cocaine and alcohol intoxication, occurring
shortly after Tasering.”7 Gregory Saulsbury died in Pacifica in January 2005, after being
tasered eleven times. He had been using cocaine. Carlos Casillas Fernandez died in
Santa Rosa in July 2005 after being tasered six times. He had been using
methamphetamine.
In sum, tasers pose some grave risks that warrant significant research and study.
Not enough is known about the risks of taser use to children, the elderly, pregnant
women, or those under the influence of drugs. From what little scientific research exists,
it appears that prolonged and/or multiple use of a taser dramatically increases the risk of
ventricular fibrillation and consequent cardiac arrest, even in healthy adults. In addition,
there appears to be a risk of vision impairment if a subjected is tasered in the eye, and of
seizure if a subject is tasered in the head. It is unclear whether there are medical risks
associated with the barbs that are left in a subject’s body once the probes are removed.
There also appear to be permanent, if not fatal, dermatological impairments associated
with the use of a taser in stun mode.

7

ACLU Report at 3.

7

LEGAL ISSUES
Taser International has published a Memorandum of Law8 citing and purporting
to explain the legal relevance of several state and federal court opinions. Presumably, in
writing this memo Taser International intended to provide municipalities with arguments
that they can raise in their defense of actions brought on behalf of individuals injured or
killed by a taser. 9 However, Taser International’s legal analysis is substantially flawed,
and we conclude that no municipality can safely rely on its conclusions to avoid liability
in such an action.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit made one of the earliest legal
rulings addressing the use of tasers in 1992. In that case, Russo v. City of Cincinnati,10
members of the Thomas Bubenhofer estate sued the city of Cincinnati after Mr.
Bubenhofer was shot to death by Cincinnati police officers. Mr. Bubenhofer had shut
himself up in his apartment after being released by his mental health facility on a day
pass and the family contacted the police. When the police arrived, Mr. Bubenhofer, a
diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, was in the apartment armed with two knives. Several
times he approached officers, threatening them with the knives. Mr. Bubenhofer was
eventually shot with both a taser and a firearm and subsequently died. The Sixth Circuit
eventually held that the officers were entitled to “qualified immunity” and ruled that all
the claims must be dismissed.
Taser International hails this as a major victory for proponents of Taser use. But
there is little legal basis for such a view, for several reasons.
First, in 1992, the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms classified tasers
as firearms. Therefore, the court was looking at the plaintiff’s claims as a matter of the
justifiable use of firearms in general. The ATF no longer classifies tasers as firearms, so
it is not clear how, if at all, the case would apply to the use of tasers.11 Second, the court
did not hold that the use of the taser was justified, required, harmless, or permissible.
Rather, in granting qualified immunity, the court simply held that the officer who fired
the taser could not be held liable because the use of the taser did not violate clearly
established law because there simply was no clearly established law regarding taser use at

8

See http://www.taser.com/law/download/memo.htm. (Taser Memo).
“The legal concerns usually raised regarding the TASER conducted energy weapon generally fall into two
categories: 1. What are the legal restrictions on the use of a TASER conducted energy weapon; and 2. What
is the impact of a TASER conducted energy weapon on legal liability in a use of force incident. The
purpose of this Memorandum of Law is to address these issues in the context of U.S. Federal and State
regulations and case law.” Taser Memo at 1.
10
953 F.2d 1036 (6th Cir. 1992).
11
General Accounting Office, “Taser Weapons: Use of Tasers by Selected Law Enforcement Agencies.”
Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International
Relations, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives (GAO Report), p. 18, May 2005.
9

8

the time the officer fired one.12 In sum, Russo does not in any way protect police officers
from liability for injuries caused by use of a taser.
Taser International also cites Ewolski v. City of Brunswick13 as legal support for
the liberal use of tasers by police officers. In its memo, Taser International states that the
court “held that the defendant police officer’s use of Taser non-lethal force to subdue a
potentially homicidal individual did not transgress clearly established law” and that the
court “further held that the use of Taser non-lethal force against an armed and volatile
suspect does not constitute excessive force and concluded that the defendant police
officers are entitled to qualified immunity on the Plaintiff’s excessive use of force
claim.”14 These statements are at best misleading and at worst entirely false. The
officers involved in the Ewolski case did not even use tasers. In that case, the court held
that the officers in question were entitled to qualified immunity for their use of a
battering ram and tear gas in a hostage situation involving a man who had been
threatening to shoot any officer who entered his home and who had, in fact, already shot
one officer.15 The court does quote language from the Russo case addressing the standard
to be applied in evaluating a defense of qualified immunity. However, to state that the
court upheld Russo and concluded that a use of a taser was justified is a
mischaracterization of both the facts of the case and the relevance of its legal
conclusions. No municipality should rely on Taser International’s analysis of this case in
defending an excessive force claim regarding the use of tasers.
The other cases addressed by Taser International are Lifton v. City of Vacaville,
2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 16286 (9th Cir. 2003), Michenfelder v. Sumner, 860 F.2d 328 (9th
Cir. 1988), Jolivet v. Cook, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 3950 (10th Cir. 1995), Walker v.
Sumner, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 26517 (9th Cir. 1993), Caldwell v. Moore, 968 F.2d 595
(6th Cir. 1992), Hernandez v. Terhume, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18080 (N.D. Cal. 2000),
Hinton v. City of Elwood, Drummer v. Luttrell, 75 F.Supp.2d 796 (W.D. Tenn. 1999),
Bennett v. Cambra, 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1584 (N.D. Cal. 1997), Alford v. Osei-Kwasi,
203 Ga. App. 716 (1992), Nicholson v. Kent County Sheriff’s Dep’t, 839 F.Supp. 508
(W.D. Mich. 1993), and Parker v. Asher, 701 F.Supp. 192 (Nev. 1988). No municipality
can safely rely on Taser International’s analysis of these cases in defending an excessive
force claim regarding the use of tasers.
Lifton is unpublished and, therefore, not binding. In its opinion, the court does
not set out any of the underlying facts; therefore, the case provides no guidance on when
and under what circumstances the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals would consider use of a
taser acceptable. Michenfelder was a 1998 case raising an Eighth Amendment challenge
to prison guards’ use of a taser to compel inmate strip searches and is therefore
inapplicable to the questions presented within the context of this report.16 Jolivet is an
12

See Russo, 953 F.2d at 1045.
287 F.3d 492 (6th Cir. 2002).
14
Taser Memo at 3.
15
See Ewolski, 287 F.3d at 507-08.
16
In fact, in upholding the use of tasers in the prison context, the Court cited favorably two earlier cases
that had both warned against the unrestricted use of tasers. See Michenfelder, 860 F.2d at 335 n.4 (“Cf.
People v. Sullivan, 116 A.D.2d 101, 500 N.Y.S.2d 644, 647 (1986) (In discussing police officers'
13

9

unpublished (and, therefore, not binding) case holding that the use of a taser in a prison
did not violate the Eighth Amendment. Caldwell v. Moore is a 1992 case holding that the
use of a taser in a prison did not violate the Eighth Amendment because the use was not
“maliciously and sadistically to cause harm.”17 Hernandez and Bennett are both
unpublished federal district court cases that address Eighth Amendment challenges to the
use of tasers in the prison context. The company’s citation to Hinton is errorenous, since
the case cannot be located in the Westlaw database. Drummer did not even involve a
taser; the federal district court merely cited Caldwell v. Moore for the proposition that the
use of a taser in a prison may, under certain circumstances, not violate the Eighth
Amendment. The remaining cases are similarly unhelpful in guiding a municipality in
developing guidelines for the appropriate use of tasers by law enforcement officers.
The City of Mountain View should also be aware that several municipalities have
paid substantial amounts to settle excessive force actions brought by individuals who
were injured by police use of tasers. The city of Chula Vista, California, paid $675,000
to settle a claim brought by a woman who lost her baby after being shot by a taser. 18 The
officer involved had tasered the woman in the back, as she was attempting to enter her
house.19 She had not been engaged in criminal activity and was not armed.20 The city of
Portland, Oregon, paid $145,000 to settle an action brought by a 71-year-old woman who
had been tasered.21 The woman had refused to obey orders that she not enter a trailer, so
the officers involved hit her in the head with a taser, knocking her to the ground, and then
shot her three times with the taser.22

alternatives for subduing/controlling dangerous persons, court noted “although the [taser] was introduced in
1971, there has been great concern about the impact on people with heart problems and its use has been
outlawed in this State.”); McCranie v. State, 172 Ga.App. 188, 322 S.E.2d 360, 361 n. 1 (1984)
(“Apparently, at the time of the incident at issue, taser guns were not considered by prison officials to
constitute deadly force. They have, however, since been classified as such at the [Georgia State] prison.”).
17
968 F.2d at 601.
18
Amnesty International, “Excessive and Lethal Force? Amnesty International’s Concerns About Deaths
and Ill-treatment Involving Police Use of Tasers,” § 1(7). See
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/usa/document.do?id=1A01E91E134A327080256F190042408D.
19
Id.
20
Id.
21
Id.
22
Id.

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A note on international standards:
This report focuses on American (federal and state) legal rules that might apply to
tasers. But we also we note that tasers have also received attention from the perspective
of broader human rights commentary, as guided by international law or convention.
Amnesty International has stated that that there are three over-arching human rights
issues associated with police use of tasers. One is that because tasers are portable and
easy to use, they are particularly open to abuse by unscrupulous officers. The second is
that police officers appear to be using tasers as a routine force option, rather than as an
alternative to lethal force (there are numerous incidents in which tasers have been used to
subdue people who aren’t posing a serious danger to officers, against unruly
schoolchildren, on unarmed mentally ill and intoxicated people, and on suspects fleeing
minor crime scenes or failing to comply immediately with commands). The third is that
there appears to be a growing number of fatalities associated with police use of tasers.
Amnesty International states that the inappropriate use of tasers may violate the United
Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers, the Basic Principles on the Use
of Force by Law Enforcement Officials, and the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child. The city of Mountain View should also note that in the United
Kingdom, only a small number of specially trained officers are permitted to carry tasers,
and are permitted to use them only under circumstances in which use of a firearm would
also be permitted.
Additional information regarding the applicability of international human rights
law to the use of tasers can be found at
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/usa/document.do?id=1A01E91E134A327080256F190042408D.

11

RECOMMENDATIONS
1.

The Use of Tasers by Police Officers should be limited to circumstances under
which the use of lethal force would also be permitted.

First, here is a snapshot of the established law on the authorized use of force by
police: Police can always use reasonable, non-deadly force to thwart any crime or to
seize anyone the police officer reasonably believes to be fleeing from the commission of
a crime or attempting to evade a lawful arrest. As for deadly or “lethal” force – usually
defined to mean force intended to or likely to cause either death or grievous bodily harm
– police can use this to prevent completion or commission of a felony only if the felony
is one that normally poses serious physical danger to victims or bystanders (robbery,
rape) but not for other, non-violent felonies. In addition, under the Supreme Court rules
established in Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985), police may only use deadly force
to apprehend or to ensure the arrest of someone fleeing from the commission of a felony
if the office reasonably believes that the fleeing person at the time of flight poses a threat
of death or serious bodily injury to others.
We recommend that the city of Mountain View adopt a specific policy limiting
police use of tasers to situations in which they would also be permitted to use deadly or
lethal force. Because the health effects of tasers have not been adequately studied, we
contend that the use of a taser in any other situation would constitute excessive force.
Courts that have been confronted with this question have tended to hold that police
officers who injure or kill suspects with a taser are entitled to qualified immunity. As
more becomes known regarding the health effects of tasers, however, this may change.
Moreover, the availability of qualified immunity holdings does not protect a city from
being in the unfortunate position of having to settle a lawsuit brought by a citizen who
has been severely injured by the police use of a taser. For these reasons, tasers should be
considered as a lethal force option on the use of force continuum.23
We also recommend, consistent with the above, that police officers be encouraged
to use tasers as an alternative to lethal force. Tasers should be the preferred method of
use of force in life-threatening situations, and should not be used otherwise.
This recommendation represents a cautious assessment of the costs and benefits
of taser use. Assuming that tasers are efficacious in constraining people from committing
or fleeing crimes, tasers are no less beneficial to police than are firearms. They are less
costly to society in that they will prevent the death or grievous injury that would occur
were firearms used in deadly force situations where something else than death or
grievous injury would be sufficient to achieve the police purpose. Tasers may also be
more beneficial to law enforcement in two senses: First, since some feeling felons try to
seize the guns of police officers and use the guns against the officers or other innocent
23

See http://www.cpoa.org/forcechart.html for a visual representation of the use of force continuum
generally followed by law enforcement agencies. See GAO Report for more information on this issue
generally.

12

people, that risk is reduced if the officer does not take out a gun against the felon.
Second, assuming that within the gray legal zone of permissible use of deadly force some
police officers will be understandably conservative in deciding whether to shoot, they
will be more effective in thwarting or capturing felons if they are more comfortable in
using tasers than guns.
Two alternative positions are conceivable. First, once could take a less cautious
view of the current research and conclude that taser use does not pose much risk, if any,
of death or grievous bodily harm, and therefore should not be treated as “deadly force”
under the law. We think it very unwise to read the current research that way.
Second, one could argue that because tasers, even if sometimes lethal, surely
cause death or grievous bodily injury less often than do guns, the police ought to be
authorized to use them even in situations where deadly force is not authorized. We
believe that given the current uncertainty about the measurable risk of death or grievous
injury posed by tasers, and given the difficulty, if not impossibility, of police officers on
the street discerning whether the target is an especially vulnerable victim, this is an
unwise and unworkable legal position.
2.

Training

Taser International provides training materials to law enforcement agencies and at
least fifty-two law enforcement agencies in the state of California use them as their sole
source of training. At least four agencies in the state of California create and use their
own training materials.24 This is inappropriate. The city of Mountain View should solicit
assistance and information from law enforcement agencies that have developed their own
materials and not rely on those provided by Taser International. Taser International’s
training materials downplay the risks associated with taser use, encourage multiple firings
in inappropriate circumstances, and misrepresent the studies that have been done
regarding the health effects of tasers.
The city of Mountain View should also require its law enforcement agencies to
follow the recommendations and training protocols set forth by the International
Association of Chiefs of Police.25 This is a nine-step policy and training protocol that the
IACP developed in response to concerns raised by the law enforcement community about
the use of tasers. The recommendations are generally sound and are in accord with
established legal and civil rights principles.

24
25

See ACLU Report at 8.
IACP Report. http://www.iacp.org/research/CuttingEdge/EMDT9Steps.pdf.

13

3.

Tasers should NEVER be used under certain circumstances

There has not been sufficient independent testing on the safety of tasers on
vulnerable populations such as children, pregnant women, the elderly, the mentally ill,
and those under the influence of drugs. Therefore, the city of Mountain View should
strongly consider adopting a policy prohibiting the knowing use of tasers on such
individuals. Clearly, a police officer may not know whether a woman is pregnant or
whether any particular individual is taking psychiatric medications. Therefore, such a
policy need not punish officers who inadvertently injure a suspect whom he or she did
not know was a member of such a vulnerable population. Nonetheless, a sound policy
would advise police officers that the use of tasers on such individuals may be extremely
dangerous and that knowingly using a taser on such an individual is never appropriate.
The purpose of tasers and other weapons is to subdue violent and dangerous
individuals. Therefore, the city should adopt a policy prohibiting the use of tasers for the
purpose of inflicting punishment or pain.
Tasers should be used only on dangerous individuals and never on individuals
who are passively resisting arrest.26

4.

Other recommendations

The San Jose Police Department requires officers to transport subjects hit with
taser barbs to a hospital so that medical personnel can remove the barbs. Many agencies
call EMTs to the scene of a taser use so that they can monitor the subject and remove the
barbs if doing so is appropriate. Mountain View should establish a specific policy on this
issue requiring the intervention of some type of medical personnel. Permitting officers to
remove the barbs is inappropriate.
Police officers should be required to document every use of a taser, including
situations in which a taser is shown or threatened, even if not used. The documentation
should include identifying information regarding the subject such as age, race, physical
health, degree of intoxication if any, and medications taken if any. The documentation
should also include information regarding the circumstances of the taser use itself,
including the actions of the subject, the basis for the use of the taser, whether the
individual was arrested, the number of times the taser was used, and whether it was used
in stun gun mode or shot from a distance. Collecting such information can only assist
municipalities in developing and revising guidelines regarding taser use.

26

The Police Executives Research Forum, a non-profit organization that advises and educates law
enforcement agencies on appropriate use-of-force protocols, agrees with this recommendation. PERF has
published a report intended to guide law enforcement agencies on appropriate taser use. The report can be
found at http://policeforum.mn-8.net/default.asp?link=.

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CONCLUSION
The use of tasers by law enforcement officers is almost entirely unregulated.
Therefore, any municipality or state that endeavors to implement a policy guiding law
enforcement agencies in the appropriate use of tasers should be commended.
We hope that the information provided in this report has been useful, and that the
city of Mountain View will adopt some of the recommendations provided here.

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