Civil Rights Issues: Berkeley Police Pt 1 Tasers

Civil Rights Issues with Berkeley Police Department

Part 1: Tasers
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On May 6th, Berkeley city council voted to request a study on tasers, to be researched by the Berkeley police review commission and the community health commission.  The Berkeley Police Association (the union that represents the members of the Berkeley police department) has been demanding that BPD officers have tasers.

The police cited an incident in which an officer was attacked near Aquatic Park last month.  The officer was responding to attempted arson, without the aid of any other officer for support.  Officer Shannon has made the claim that if armed with a taser, he could have prevent the attack.  An argument was made that Officer Shannon did not want to shoot the suspect in self defense, but the officer's gun was not the only weapon available.  The officer had pepper-spray and a baton.  As well, the entire attack may have easily been prevented had there been another officer at the scene.

The Berkeley police spoke about an incident from 2005 in which an officer was shot at by a fleeing thief.  Kacalek did not know there was a gun until it was too late.  Officer Kacalek believes that using a taser could have prevented the thief from firing a gun.  While a taser may have prevented gun violence in this instance, an officer has no way of knowing if a fleeing suspect has a gun or not. Tasers cannot be expected to totally remove the risk of gun violence towards police officers, nor can they be expected to offer total safety to the Berkeley community.

In the past, Berkeley mayor Tom Bates used the in-custody death of resident Kayla Moore as a reason for why the Berkeley police should have tasers.  Moore died in a struggle with police after officers wrongfully believed there was a warrant for her arrest.  Mayor Bates has said that he believes that the death of Moore could have been prevented, if she was tasered into a state of submission, and detained.  However, Moore was under the influence of methamphetamine and codeine, was medically overweight and was in a state of of undergoing a mental health crisis; the effects of the taser could have been lethal.

Tasers should not be seen as non-leathal weapons, as there has been 547 reported deaths in the US from tasers since 2001, the year when Taser International went public on Nasdaq.  Tasers are marketed as being medically safe devices for subduing both criminals and people with mental health issues without causing long-term harm.  In 2011, UCSF cardiologists found that many safety studies on tasers had been influenced by Taser International.  Studies with research ties to Taser International were 75% more likely to show that tasers were medically safe than studies without ties to Taser International.  In 2012, electrophysiologist Dr. Douglas Zipes of Indiana University released a study showing that tasers can "can cause cardiac electric capture and provoke cardiac arrest resulting from ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation".  The peer-review findings were published in 'Circulation', the journal of the American Medical Association.

Tasers can cause non-fatal injuries for even healthy adults, including scarring, and abrasions.  People can suffer long lasting injury from strong involuntary muscle contractions, even spinal injury.  People can suffer injury from falling when tased.  One of the directors for Taser International is Richard Carmona, who served as US Surgeon General under George W Bush from 2002 to 2006.  Another director for the corporation is Dr. Mark W. Kroll, Ph.D, formerly from St Jude Medical Inc.  Paulson Investment Company, Inc became an early major investor in Taser International.  The investment company has holdings in pharmaceuticals and biotech for medical applications.  The medical and biotech backgrounds behind Taser International's directors and investors can give an impression that the taser products are medically safe.  Unbiased studies show tasers can cause harm.  In 2008, Taser International lost 2 product liability lawsuits.

Taser use is not limited to criminal suspects or people having extreme psychiatric breakdowns.  In 2006, a student was tased at UCLA's Powell Library for failing to produce a student ID card.  In 2007, a Florida college student was tased for asking presidential nominee John Kerry about his membership in Skull and Bones.  An Occupy protester was tased in 2012 by US Park Police in Washington DC.  In 2013, an Occupy protester was tased by police when camping in front of the Department of Justice in DC.

Taser International was part of ALEC's Public Safety and Elections Task Force.  ALEC disbanded the task force in 2012 after critical reporting exposing the conservation legislation the group promoted.  As a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council's task force, Taser International helped pass Stand Your Ground and Castle Doctrine laws.  The task force helped pass voter ID laws.  In 2011, Taser International helped draft proposed legislation requiring states to sell guns confiscated by police departments, rather than destroy them.  Major financial contributions for ALEC comes from the right-wing, billionaire Koch Brothers.  Along with supporting right-leaning legislation, ALEC helps win elections for Republic politicians (and the few Democrats that support ALEC).  ALEC has worked collaborated with Heritage Foundation and the Republican Study Committee.  Taser International did not end ties with ALEC until 2013, a year after dozens of corporations severed ties.

Taser International bought out its primary competitor, Tasertron, in 2003.  Taser International has little competition, and is the industry leader in providing taser technology to police.  In 2001, Taser International had 400 police departments as customers, and was selling devices to over 11,000 police agencies by 2007.

Over the years, there has been increased scrutiny into taser use by police.  In 2010, the city of San Francisco rejected a proposal to arm police with tasers.  In 2013, Toronto chose not to expand taser deployment; as such, only supervisors and tactical units may have tasers in that city.  Berkeley government should not see tasers as miracle devices to solve public safety issues.  The city should be aware of research and case-studies showing the dangers of taser devices.  Berkeley should remember Kelly Thomas, a California citizen who was killed by Fullerton police officers in 2011.  Thomas was tasered 5 times by police, which did not prevent the officers from beating him to death while he plead for his life.