MUSCATINE, Iowa — In July 2004, the Muscatine Police Department deployed a new electro-shock weapon that officials hoped would significantly reduce the need to use deadly force during crisis situations.

The Taser X26, produced by Taser International Inc., cranks out 50,000 volts of electricity through thin wires and two metal-barbed probes after they’re fired from a nitrogen-filled air cartridge.

Anyone hit by the probes is incapacitated with an electric shock within five seconds, causing their arms and legs to lock up.

In recent weeks, Amnesty International (AI), a worldwide human-rights organization, has raised objections about Tasers.

 In two major reports, AI has noted more than 150 U.S. deaths connected to Taser use since June 2001 – 61 deaths in 2005 alone.

AI has requested U.S. and Canadian law enforcement agencies to suspend use of Tasers, pending a “rigorous, independent inquiry” about their use and effects.

However,  Muscatine Police Lt. Phil Sargent says the devices have proved humane and useful. In fact, Sargent credited Tasers with likely saving the life of at least one local resident.

“If Chief [Gary] Coderoni, Capt. [Mike] Scott or I felt that these devices were inherently unsafe, they wouldn’t be out there,” he said.

The department originally purchased 10 X26s, at $800 apiece, from Taser International in November 2003.

Sargent said it took several months to train officers and finalize a departmental policy on when and how to properly use the devices before they were deployed.

Sargent and other Muscatine police officials have studied AI’s reports as well as Taser International’s responses to the human-rights group’s concerns.

They’ve also kept track of incidents where the controversial uses of Tasers were connected to arrestees’ deaths.

Although Sargent agrees that more medical and scientific research needs to be conducted,  he also believes stun guns are effective.

“There’s nothing out there that’s absolutely guaranteed not to cause death,” he said. “As a result, Taser has had to change its language about its devices from ‘non-lethal’ to ‘less-lethal.’”

The local numbers

Sargent, responsible for compiling the department’s use-of-force reports, said Muscatine patrol officers pulled a Taser out of their holsters and aimed it 34 times in 2005.

The department made 1,975 arrests during the same period.

By the Muscatine Police Department’s definition of “use of force,” just pulling an X26 out of its holster and pointing it at a target is an official incident with a formal department report filed.

However, Sargent said  reports do not include instances where an officer may pull a stun gun or service weapon out of his or her holster and place it behind his back to protect himself during a time of crisis.

Out of those 34 times an X26 was pulled out, Sargent said there were 22 times when the device’s built-in laser sight was pointed at a subject with the command that he or she must comply with the officer’s orders.

Eight times, the officer fired the stun gun’s cartridge at a subject, although Sargent said that number doesn’t indicate the total number of hits the cartridge made.

“And approximately three to four times, the Taser was used in ‘stun-drive’ mode [direct contact use of the Taser without its air cartridge] on a person already on the ground,” he said.

Tasers are listed at the same level as pepper spray among Muscatine police officer’s use-of -force options —– below using deadly force.

However, reasonable use of a Taser depends on whether the subject is passively or actively resisting at the time of arrest. A Taser can be used legally in both situations, Sargent explained.

 “Officers have to use their common sense in all use-of-force situations; it can’t be taught.”

One of the things Sargent said officers are taught to specifically look for in a subject before using a Taser is “excited delirium” — an early visual symptom of toxic drug abuse where a person exhibits irrational, violent or aggressive behavior.

“We have to look at how a person is reacting —– whether there’s a sign of drug use or whether a person is off her medications,” he said. “In those cases, we don’t use a Taser – we take that person to a hospital.”

Less use of force

Sargent said no one in Muscatine police custody has been taken to a hospital and medically treated as a result of Taser use. The department has not issued any reprimands or disciplinary actions to officers for misuse of a Taser.

However, police officers’ use of batons and pepper spray during use-of-force incidents have gone down “significantly” since the Tasers have been deployed, Sargent said.

“It’s [the Taser] a convincing way to convince a suspect to comply with an officer’s orders,” he said.

The use of a Taser may have saved a Muscatine resident’s life.

“Officers answered a domestic call last year where a man suddenly reached for a knife to harm his wife,” Sargent recalled. “The officer used a Taser to knock the man down, and we were able to recover the knife and arrest him safely.

”The use of the Taser prevented the use of deadly force.”

Built-in accountability

Steve Tuttle, Taser International’s vice-president of communications and the company’s spokesman, wasn’t surprised with the Muscatine Police Department’s experience with his company’s product.

“They hit a home run, didn’t they?” he said during a telephone interview. “Their account is the same as what we’re getting from law enforcement agencies all over the Midwest.”

Claiming that Taser’s stun guns are the “most studied non-lethal weapons in history,” Tuttle disagreed with the conclusions of AI’s reports concerning stun-gun training and medical studies, but said his company and AI are working for the same goals, albeit on different paths.

“We’re striving to do more and more proactive investigations,” Tuttle said. “But it’s a tough situation – if we pay for our own studies, AI says that they’re not independent enough and if we release research from independent agencies, AI tells us that it wasn’t conducted over a long enough period of time.

“But I believe over time, AI has developed a more constructive approach towards stun guns.”

Taser International has taken a lead in pioneering safety, efficiency and accountability in their devices, Tuttle said.

“It’s saved officers’ jobs in excessive force cases because the device can be downloaded to a computer and indicate how many times it was used during a specific incident,” he said.

And Taser’s stun guns will have even more built-in accountability in the future, according to Tuttle.

“We’re beta-testing a built-in camera on our newest product,” he said. “When the images are downloaded, people will be able to see the image of the person and what their condition was before the weapon was discharged.”

Contact Stephen Byrd at 563-263-2331, Ext. 320 or Stephen.Byrd@muscatinejournal.com