San Jose Police Respond To Grand Jury’s Taser Report
The San Jose Police Department is creating a “force response report” that will monitor police officers’ use of force, including whether a Taser or other weapon was used. The creation of the report is a response to a May 11 San Jose civil grand jury report regarding the use of Tasers by Santa Clara County law enforcement. The grand jury’s report was criticized for not going far enough by the Coalition for Justice and Accountability, which is urging San Jose to stop using Tasers.
The police department’s force response report will require officers to file reports every time they use force. The report will track a variety of information, including the force options used and the perceived effectiveness of those options.
The ACLU is investigating the use of Tasers in four deaths that occurred in California since July 16. To that end, the ACLU announced that it had filed Freedom of Information Act requests to review the documents and other evidence associated with those four incidents, which involved four police departments. The documents requested include communications records between Taser International and the various police departments.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the San Jose Mercury News (CA) (08/09/05); Carroll, Chuck .
