Local agencies to review Taser training

“If it needs to be tweaked, then we’re going to do whatever the law requires,” she said. “We have a policy that is probably going to be OK. We’ve got a high threshold, but I think the training aspect is going to be very important.”

The weapons, most of which are manufactured by Taser International Inc., can typically be fired from a distance of 25 feet and project two dart-like electrodes. The electrical charge temporarily immobilizes the muscles located between the two darts and, according to the ruling, causes extreme pain.

Controversial Taser incidents have spurred the debate over when officers should be allowed to deploy the weapons, even as advocates point to sharp reductions in the number of injuries resulting from officer confrontations with suspects.

Since implementing the two-year pilot program in Sept. 2008, Burbank officers fired Tasers 46 times, according to department records.

Burbank Police Officer Brent Ambrose, lead defensive tactics instructor and a state expert on police use of force ethics, said the department has seen an 86% reduction in officer injuries and 75% drop in injuries to suspects.

Use-of-force incidents in that time-frame fell by more than 50% from 2007 to 2009, he said.

Scott likened the shift to the implementation of pepper spray, after which the department saw a 80% drop in officer uses of their batons. Active resisters, combative suspects and those who pose a deadly threat in most cases can be Tased, Ambrose said.

In the opinion, judges established legally binding standards, including that police should only use a Taser in threatening situations because it inflicts more pain than other nonlethal weapons in an officer’s arsenal.