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Tasers touted as effective, but Vt. A.G. is also critical of their misuse

April 8, 2008

By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau

MONTPELIER – The state's top law enforcement officer condemned the use of Tasers in two high-profile Brattleboro cases last year but otherwise touted the technology as an effective means of subduing unruly subjects.

Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell launched an investigation into Taser use after public outcry over two controversial incidents in southern Vermont in July of 2007. In one case, Brattleboro police used the debilitating electric devices multiple times on two protesters who had chained themselves to a barrel.

In a second incident, Brattleboro police jolted a troubled teenage boy who had blockaded himself in a room at the Brattleboro Retreat.

"I'm sorry to report that the Brattleboro police blew it in both cases," Sorrell said during a press conference in Montpelier Monday.

Sorrell said the protesters, Jonathan Crowell and Samantha Kilmurray, posed no threat to either the officers or the public and that police failed to exhaust alternate options for de-escalating the situation.

"They should not have Tased the two protesters even one time, let alone multiple times," Sorrel said.

Though the Brattleboro Retreat incident warranted the use of a Taser, according to Sorrell, the duration for which the teenage boy was shocked was unduly harsh. Police in that case used a 10-second Tasing cycle, as opposed to the standard five-second cycle."Although it was appropriate to use the Taser, the duration of the Tasing cycle was uncalled for, unnecessary and excessive," Sorrell said.

The Brattleboro cases aside, Sorrell called the Taser an effective law-enforcement tool that, used appropriately, can benefit both policemen and the suspects they aim to detain.

Comprehensive use-of-force policies informed by public input, Sorrell said, will enable Vermont's municipal police departments to take advantage of a weapon heralded by many officers as a preferable alternative to pepper spray, night sticks or service revolvers.

Taser guns, already in use at 28 police departments across the state, shoot barbed hooks carrying 50,000 volts of electricity into dangerous or noncompliant subjects. Vermont police fired their Taser guns hundreds of times last year, according to Sorrell, only once resulting in a minor injury. Sorrell said the track record in places like Burlington, where workers' compensation claims have dropped to almost zero since the force began using Tasers, attest to the efficacy of the weapon.

"Thousands of people have been Tased, but we have a relative handful of incidents that have had really unfair results from media attention," Sorrell said. "The average person would think that the Taser is really bad technology and an implement of torture or abuse … In fact, typical Taser use is the most rapid and least injurious method of force that police have."

Thomas Tremblay, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, called verbal communication an officer's most effective tool for diffusing threats. But when talks fail, Tremblay said, the Taser offers an option uniquely suited to many law-enforcement scenarios.

"The reality is that there are those who are combative … and with whom there is no ability to reason," Tremblay said Monday. "… This device in those situations has been very effective for us."

Deputy Police Chief Walter Decker with the Burlington Police Department said Tasers' reputations alone are often effective. Many subjects, faced with the threat of the Taser, Decker said, choose to comply instead.

"We have documented cases where an individual was wanted, known to be combative, and once he saw that we had Tasers, turned around and put his hands behind his back," Decker said.

Prominent human rights organizations continue to decry the use of Tasers, despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews from police. Amnesty International has called for a moratorium on Taser use pending independent testing of the health impacts of the devices. The organization says it has documented more than 250 Taser-related deaths in recent years.

Sorrell said Monday that in Vermont, at least, no one has died or suffered lasting injuries after being Tased. He said he would leave it to the medical community to resolve the issue of Taser safety.

"I'm not going to go there on the medical issues," Sorrell said. "But the reality is that there have been hundreds of individuals Tased without serious injury (in Vermont) … and we've had much fewer injuries to subjects, bystanders and police as a result of this technology."

The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, Alan Gilbert, applauded Sorrell's call for use-of-force policies governing the use of Tasers but said the attorney general should have been more forceful in his recommendations. "The report says law-enforcement agencies are advised to have written protocols governing Taser use. We feel really strongly that the protocols should be required," Gilbert said.

Gilbert also advocated for a statewide Taser-use policy to be used by all police departments. That very idea was in fact put forward by Sorrell at the outset of his investigation. However Sorrell said that upon review, Taser policies are best left to the communities in which they are used.

"I don't want to say this is a one-size-fits-all policy and you have to do it this way if you're going to do it," Sorrell said. "Just as in other aspects of community policing, the decision to deploy Tasers and if so when, should be a community decision." Brattleboro's acting police chief, Eugene Wrinn, wouldn't comment on Sorrell's investigation, other than to say the town had changed its use-of-force policy since the July of 2007 incidents. The new policy explicitly prohibits the use of Tasers on peaceful protesters. The policy changes were enacted after an independent investigator, hired by the town, found that Brattleboro police were wrong to have used Tasers on the protesters.

And the town now faces civil litigation in the case. Earlier this year, the victims filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the five officers involved in the incident.

"There seems to be consensus at this point that Tasing (the protesters) was an excessive use of force and violated their constitutional rights," David Sleigh, a St. Johnsbury lawyer in the case, said Monday.

Sorrell said Monday that he expects the number of Vermont departments outfitted with Tasers to rise dramatically in coming years. The debate over their use will play out in places like Montpelier, which tabled a proposal to purchase Tasers after the plan drew heated criticism from residents.

"One of the things we were waiting for was this report to come out," Police Chief Tony Facos said.

Facos said educating citizens, and guaranteeing full transparency of any Taser use, will be key in convincing residents to adopt a technology that he believes will ultimately benefit the community.

"I do believe it's life-saving technology," Facos said.