Police want to keep Tasers, buy 60 more
EUGENE, Ore. - Eugene police officers started using Tasers in early 2008. So far, police like the results, according to a 15-month-study on the pilot program that is going to the Eugene Police Commission this week.
Planning for the program started after the November 2006 police shooting death of Ryan Salisbury. Salisbury's family argued that use of a stun gun could have saved their mentally ill son.
Forty officers have taken part in the pilot program.
"We think tasers are a good idea," Capt. Steve Swenson told reporters at a Monday news conference. "They've been studied; they've been reviewed. They've been found to be an effective tool, and we do plan to move forward with them."
Highlights of the report show that between January 2008 and the end of March 2009, officers fired their tasers in 30 incidents.
In another 104 incidents when tasers potentially could have been used, officers gave warnings or displayed the weapon.
Swenson says out of 134 potential Taser incidents, the device was fired 19 percent of the time. At the same time, 35 suspects were injured by Taser use.
KVAL News wanted to find out from a police officer in the field the pros and cons of Taser use. Eugene police would not give KVAL News permission to do that, so we went across the freeway to talk to Springfield police.
"It cycles for 5 seconds," explained veteran officer Dan Grice, who has used his Taser for just over two years.
Grice said that in many situations, the Taser has proved invaluable.
"When I tell somebody that there's the possibility they're going to be Tased, a lot of times they become way more compliant with us," Grice said.
Not mentioned in the 25-page Eugene report is the internal Eugene police investigation into the use of Tasers at last May's downtown protest and the arrest of Ian Van Ornum.
Those results are still pending.
Capt. Swenson told reporters that no major policy changes on Tasers are planned, although the results of the investigation are still pending.
Police officials want to buy another 60 Tasers, but that will cost around $60,000. Swenson says there's no money in the budget, so they'll be in the market for grants to cover the tab.
