The Application and Use of TASERs by a Midwestern Police Agency

Abstract

Of the some 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, TASERs have been adopted by approximately 7,000 departments. Following on the call of White and Ready (2007) for more research on TASER use by police, this paper investigates the use of TASERs by a medium sized, Midwestern police agency. All TASER deployments by police officers in this Midwestern city are examined for a three-and-a-half-year time period (January 2004-August 2007. Findings indicate that the TASER was used primarily against physically resistant white male suspects with a history of police contact. The majority of the incidents took place at a private residence or apartment as opposed to a public place of business. The TASER was overwhelmingly effective and, as for officer safety, on the few occasions that an officer was injured, the injury was not related to the TASER.

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“…The device was developed by John "Jack" Cover, then a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researcher, in the late 1960s (DeLone & Thompson, 2009). At the time of Cover's invention, he named his creation the Tom A.…”

“…Sussman (2012) claims that between 2002 and 2005 the number of police agencies providing CEWs to each of their officers increased from 159 to 1,735. Further, Adams and Jennison (2007), and DeLone and Thompson (2009) indicate that in 2007, 40 percent of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. (over 7,000 agencies out of 18,000) were using an estimated 140,000 CEW units.…”

“…Kleinig (2007) states that CEWs are designed to incapacitate a person by means of short, repetitive, electric pulses that are dispensed through electrodes fashioned by barbs and attached to insulated wires. CEWs, in particular TASER's brands, can fire an electrical charge of 50,000 volts through two metal barbs at a rate of 19 pulses per second (Adams & Jennison, 2007; DeLone & Thompson, 2009). Adams and Jennison (2007) and DeLone and Thompson (2009) note that TASER's electrical shock can be delivered either close up by pressing the barbs against a person's body (known as drive stun mode) or at a distance of up to 35 feet by launching the barbs as wired projectiles (known as probe mode).…”

“…CEWs, in particular TASER's brands, can fire an electrical charge of 50,000 volts through two metal barbs at a rate of 19 pulses per second (Adams & Jennison, 2007; DeLone & Thompson, 2009). Adams and Jennison (2007) and DeLone and Thompson (2009) note that TASER's electrical shock can be delivered either close up by pressing the barbs against a person's body (known as drive stun mode) or at a distance of up to 35 feet by launching the barbs as wired projectiles (known as probe mode). Sussman (2012) claims that when the device is deployed in probe mode that it has enough force to penetrate two inches of clothing.…”

“…Once the device is used on a subject, the trigger activates a five-second electrical current cycle which can be stopped by placing the safety lever in the safe position (Braidwood, 2009;DeLone & Thompson, 2009). However, the cycle can be repeated by re-pressing the trigger after the completion of the initial cycle, or an officer can continuously extend a cycle by constantly holding the trigger down (Braidwood, 2009;DeLone & Thompson, 2009;Sussman, 2012).…”