Houston Police used Tasers on Minorities in Nearly 90% of Taser Incidents

• Originally published in The Houston Chronicle March 31, 2005 Copyright 2005 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company

3 rights groups want to meet with Hurtt to express concerns and urge tighter controls

By ROMA KHANNA


Houston police officers used Tasers on minorities in almost 90 percent of the incidents in which they shocked people in recent months, prompting civil rights groups Wednesday to call for tighter controls on the use of the stun guns.

Leaders from the ACLU, LULAC and NAACP requested a meeting with Police Chief Harold Hurtt to express concern about officers' use of the 50,000-volt alternative weapons since the police department bought 3,700 of them last year.

Officers stunned people with Tasers in 144 incidents between Dec. 3 and March 10, according to the department, shocking blacks or Hispanics in 125 cases, or 87 percent.

"It always seems that the minorities are the first to get a taste of something like this," said Sylvia Gonzalez, director of the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "We are very concerned."

Executive Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland said, however, that the racial breakdown on Taser use mirrors statistics of other police interaction with minorities.

"The Taser itself is not a racial device," he said. "Officers' decision to deploy the Taser is based on the suspects' behavior and the officers' training."

In police shootings throughout the county, however, about 70 percent of people shot from 1999 through August 2004 were minorities, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.

The Houston Police Department reported that 67 percent of people stopped by its officers in 2004 were minorities.

Departments in Harris County purchased about 4,000 Tasers last year, partly in response to concerns about the number of unarmed people shot by area officers in recent years.

Lack of guidelines

The stun guns - used not only as an alternative to guns but also when officers would use a baton or other physical force - raised concern among activists because local agencies did not immediately issue written guidelines on their use.

Concerns grew last month when a mental health patient with heart problems died after county deputy constables shocked him. HPD also disclosed that its officers were using Tasers at a rate of more than once a day.

The American Civil Liberties Union called for Texas police departments to suspend their use of Tasers until policies, training and safety could be reviewed.

"The Taser is being used way beyond any gun, and the effects have not been documented medically," said Randall Kallinen, president of the Houston chapter.

Kallinen also said Tasers do not appear to be reducing the number of times officers use deadly force.

Houston police officers have killed three people, all of whom were carrying guns, this year. Last year, the department had a record low of 10 incidents in which officers wounded or killed citizens.

McClelland maintains that Tasers have reduced the number of times officers resort to their guns.

"There were five or six instances where individuals were armed with guns or knives, when an officer would have been justified by policy, state law and good common sense that he could have used deadly force to protect himself and others," he recently told the City Council public safety committee.

How incidents begin

Officers are not targeting minorities, McClelland said Wednesday. He noted that most Taser incidents began with police being called because someone was "out of control."

"The majority of incidents are not initiated by officers," he said, although he could not say how many of the 144 incidents began with calls to police.

McClelland and Hurtt were scheduled to meet with representatives from the ACLU, LULAC and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on Wednesday evening, but Hurtt had to cancel late in the day.

HPD officials said the chief plans to meet with the leaders within a week.

Councilwoman Ada Edwards sent a letter to Hurtt on Wednesday, asking for more analysis of Taser incidents and expressing concern that the "overwhelming majority" of them involved black suspects.

"The numbers are just incredible," she said. "I need to know why that is."

Written rules issued

McClelland said HPD has taken steps to monitor Taser use that go beyond procedures for weapons such as batons or pepper spray.

Every time an officer uses a Taser, a report must be made and a supervisor must come to the scene, he said.

Hurtt issued written rules for Taser use in January and they were added to the use-of-force policy last month.

The chief also has volunteered Houston to be one of four cities where federal researchers will study Taser use, and he plans to ask the City Council to help fund another study.

"In our minds, there is no question (about Tasers)," McClelland said. "But to satisfy the public, we are going to go a step further."