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Law Enforcement:
Stunning New Technology

Saturday, November 3, 2001

Volusia deputies testing $500 less-lethal 'stun' guns

By PAUL NUTCHER | News-Journal Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH — Deputy Tara Savercool has wrestled down a fleeing suspect and been punched in the face by a violent juvenile during her seven years with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

Bumps and bruises are part of the job she dreamed of in high school. She believes, however, such confrontations could have been avoided if she was carrying a Taser gun, which packs a 50,000-volt charge of electricity.

Savercool is one of 25 deputies assigned to carry the weapon during a 45-day field-test by the Sheriff's Office that ends Nov. 10. The Sheriff's Office is one of a growing number of agencies considering nonlethal ways to control unruly citizens.

The petite 29-year-old deputy from Daytona Beach Shores knows firsthand what it feels like to be shot with a Taser gun: She took a shot in the back.

"I think it's a great tool," Savercool said. "I've seen what it can do — man, woman, big or small."

The guns, which cost $500, fire two wire-trailing darts with hooks up to 30 feet, stick to a suspect's skin and deliver a shock less potent than a defibrillator, which is used on heart-attack patients. The Taser gun immobilizes suspects for up to 10 seconds, giving deputies enough time to handcuff them.

The jolt blocks impulses between the brain and muscles and makes it impossible for a suspect to run.

"It's a more humane way to deal with violent suspects," said Chuck Habermehl, training director for the Sheriff's Office. "We can minimize the injury to a violent suspect and minimize the injury to the deputy."

One Taser gun is being tested by a deputy assigned to court duties, the rest are with deputies assigned to patrol cars, Habermehl said.

But some groups caution that stun technology in the hands of law enforcement officers could be misused.

Amnesty International has warned for years that Taser guns can be lethal. The human-rights group documented more than 16 deaths between 1991 and 1997 in Los Angeles as a result of their use.

"We are fundamentally opposed to the use of these Tasers because there has never been any study to adequately show what happens to the human body when these are used," said Gerald LeMelle, deputy executive director for advocacy at Amnesty International in Atlanta.

LeMelle said the majority of the deaths in Los Angeles involved use of the stun guns on suspects already handcuffed or in custody. Some died because of heart failure, complications due to an existing asthma condition or trauma from repeated shocks.

Jeffrey Ian Ross, an assistant professor at the University of Baltimore in Maryland, has written extensively about excessive force by police and says stun technology has been slow to become a standard law enforcement tool because of liability issues.

"The potential for abuse is high with stun guns and Tasers," Ross said.

Pepper spray and training in conflict resolution is a cheaper and easier option for agencies interested in deploying nonlethal uses of force, Ross said.

Law enforcement officials contend that unlike pepper spray, a Taser gun does not affect the person using it. Sprays can blow back into an officer's eyes during arrests. And a Taser shock is not supposed to interfere with heart pacemakers.

About 1,000 agencies in the country have purchased the weapons, and about half of Florida's county sheriff's offices. With 10 days to go in the field test, no Volusia County deputies have fired their Taser gun.

In Orange County, the Sheriff's Office armed 200 deputies three months ago with Taser guns. Since then, they have fired the Taser guns 100 times, according to Sgt. Paul Hopkins with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Most suspects who were stunned were running from deputies trying to make arrests on drug-related charges, Hopkins said.

There have been other uses, Hopkins said. Deputies subdued a man using a Taser gun who was threatening to kill himself with a sharp medical implement in an emergency room. The Taser gun allowed deputies to defuse the standoff without taking the more expensive step of calling the SWAT team and ordering an evacuation of the hospital, Hopkins said.

However, "the Taser is not a replacement for a handgun, we're not going to get rid of our handguns," Hopkins said. "We can still use deadly force."

Stun gun policy

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office policy on Taser guns calls for their use:

— To avoid violent confrontations.

— To control a dangerous or violent individual when deadly physical force appears not to be justified or necessary.

— When conventional attempts to subdue a dangerous or violent individual have been or likely will be ineffective.

— If there is a reasonable expectation it will be unsafe to approach within contact range an individual the deputy is attempting to subdue.

— If a suspect poses a threat from a distance, and attempts to close the gap would place the deputy at risk or injury.

— If a suspect is punching or kicking a deputy or in some other way is actively resisting arrest.

— If a suspect is threatening to punch or kick a deputy.

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