- 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."