County needs clear policy on Taser use

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has no business allowing the purchase of 40 Tasers by the sheriff’s department until a policy is in place on how they will be used.

Sheriff Laurie Smith has a legitimate argument that the $45,000 purchase could provide a valuable tool in some cases when force is necessary, especially in the county’s troubled correctional facilities. But Supervisor Joe Simitian is right to insist that a policy on how they will be used needs to be in place before the board authorizes the request. Tasers have a long, and too often tragic, history of being misused when clear guidelines are absent.

The issue arose Tuesday during a routine budget hearing. Smith maintains that it’s unrealistic to think that a thoughtful, comprehensive policy can be written before supervisors approve the final county budget in June. But her department has had months to do just that, knowing full well that the request would be going before the Board of Supervisors. The Deputy Sheriffs Association has been pushing for Tasers to be made available for years.

Just last week a 41- year- old Forestville man, Branch Wroth, was killed after being shocked with a Taser stun gun by Rohnert Park police. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death. Wroth was reportedly “acting strangely” when approached by police. An officer used a Taser on Wroth an undisclosed number of times before he became unresponsive. Efforts to resuscitate him failed.

The city of San Jose in 2005 was forced to reassess its policy on Taser use after Jose Angel Rios, a 300-pound, 38-year-old man went into cardiac arrest after an encounter with police in which Rios was shocked at least twice and hit with batons before being subdued.

Sound training and meticulous monitoring are essential elements of a comprehensive stun gun-use program. Sheriff deputies and jail officers must have clear guidelines for when it’s appropriate to employ stun guns and, equally important, when stun gun use should be avoided.

The Board of Supervisors should take special note of the risk of Taser use on people who are mentally ill, because a stun gun shock that may just temporarily disable a healthy person may be lethal to someone who is taking medication. A 2015 study found that nearly 50 percent of the inmates at the county’s main jail and Elmwood facility in Milpitas have a mental illness, and an estimated 650 inmates receive some kind of psychotropic drug on a daily basis.

Deputies face a similar risk when trying to subdue people under the influence of alcohol or drugs, because they are also at greater risk of significant injury from stun guns.

The Board of Supervisors should delay purchasing Tasers for the sheriff’s office until it has a clear understanding of how they would be used.