TASER™ The Target Zone, Policy & Training
PAGE 2 THE LEGAL REALITY As pointed out by TASER™ International in Training Bulletin #15, it is virtually impossible to replicate a study reflecting the impact of TASER™ ECD on the type of person law enforcement may come into contact with on the street. Obviously, finding study subjects who are in the midst of crisis, high on drugs, flooded with alcohol, or in the midst of an excited delirium event is not likely to occur in the laboratory setting. Thus, most of the study subjects are not identical to the people that law enforcement deals with on the street. This [...]
TASER™ The Target Zone, Policy & Training
PAGE 1 Over the last couple of weeks, a training bulletin has set off a controversy throughout the law enforcement community. This controversy came to light at the Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute when it was learned that a number of agencies had taken TASER™ ECDs out of service. At the outset it is important to recognize that electronic control devices are a valuable law enforcement tool and are safe for continued use. A great deal of the initial reaction was based in confusion as to the distinction between products liability law and the law related to law enforcement’s [...]
Mistaken Identity Warrant Arrests
The identification of persons named in arrest warrants at times presents unique challenges to law enforcement agencies and officers. Two competing concerns exist. On one hand the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits unreasonable seizures of persons and guarantees that no person may be arrested unless there is probable cause to believe he or she has committed a crime. It is a critical function of law enforcement agencies to ensure that they have created policies and procedures that minimize the possibility that the wrong person will be mistakenly arrested as the person named in a warrant. On the [...]
TASER® CASE RE-VISITED
©2010 Jack Ryan, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (llrmi.com), Bryan v. MacPherson, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12511 (June 18, 2010) A case which got tremendous media attention when first issued by the United States Court of Appeals in December of 2009 has gotten virtually no attention since the re-hearing and new opinion was issued June 18th 2010. While the re-hearing did not change the court’s opinion on the TASER® as an intermediate weapon that must be justified in its use by a strong government interest, it did change the outcome of this case. The United States Court of Appeals for the [...]
Mistaken Identity Warrant Arrests
The identification of persons named in arrest warrants at times presents unique challenges to law enforcement agencies and officers. Two competing concerns exist. On one hand the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits unreasonable seizures of persons and guarantees that no person may be arrested unless there is probable cause to believe he or she has committed a crime. It is a critical function of law enforcement agencies to ensure that they have created policies and procedures that minimize the possibility that the wrong person will be mistakenly arrested as the person named in a warrant. On the [...]
TASER™ The Target Zone, Policy & Training
PAGE 9 It is undisputed, however, that at some point shortly before Mr. Thomson was killed, he was aiming the gun in the direction of the officers. Both Deputies Morrical and Shire perceived Mr. Thomson's conduct as physically threatening to them and prepared to shoot him based upon that conduct. Before Deputy Shire fully pulled his partially depressed trigger, Deputy Morrical fired one shot into Mr. Thomson's head, killing him. Events were unfolding extremely quickly; the entire sequence of events from when the officers entered the backyard and could see Mr. Thomson until the time that he was shot took [...]