Markeshia Ricks Photo
Vazquez oversaw writing new rules.
Officers who carry Tasers will no longer get to take them home. They’ll park them instead in a locker at police headquarters at the end of their shift.
The Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday night approved that and other changes to the department’s policy on Tasers, also known as conducted electronic weapons, updating what Police Chief Dean Esserman said Tuesday is already one of the strictest policies in the state.
“There are departments that use Tasers every day,” Esserman said. “We don’t even use Tasers every week.”
Assistant Chief Al Vazquez, who oversees professional standards and training, said that the policy changes were necessary because of changes required by the state’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council, but also because of changes the department wanted to make to further tighten up its procedures.
The state council is requiring police departments to include in their policies that officers must report every time they unholster a Taser and point it at someone as a “use of force.” Vazquez said New Haven officers will be required to go a step further. They will be required to make report if they unholster their Taser, whether they point it at someone or not.
Starting next January, police departments also are being required to produce an annual report about Taser use that includes the race and gender of each person the weapon was used on, the number of times the weapon was activated, whether or not the person was injured, and what operation mode the device was in when it was used.
Vazquez said the department added its own procedural changes including disallowing officers to take their Tasers home. Instead they will be placed in a special locker where they will be stored and charged. Officers also will be responsible for making sure that the Taser prongs that latch on to a person when the weapon is deployed are not disposed of improperly and not left on the street. Instead officers will use a biohazard container. Vazquez said there have been no specific instances of the prongs being left on the street by officers.
That might seem like a lot for an officer to consider before deploying a weapon, Vazquez said. But the department makes it a point to train officers in proper procedure so that when they do have to make quick decisions out in the field, they can make them without having to pull out the manual to see what should and shouldn’t be done, he said. He said officers get those training through emailed copies of the policies as well as through in-service training.
The department already has policy that allows only select police officers to use Tasers. The department now requires that those officers requalify for using the weapon every year. Among the fewer than 100 officers authorized to use them, the majority have been issued new Tasers. The department recently bought 65 Tasers.
Esserman said it is wrong for people to think of Tasers as less than lethal. “They are less lethal than guns,” he said. “But [Tasers] are very lethal. They can kill and we treat them just as we treat guns.”