Palo Alto police officers are completing extensive Taser training and likely will begin carrying the stun guns by the end of the month, Police Chief Lynne Johnson said Tuesday.
Palo Alto's 100 Tasers arrived in the city July 9 but will not hit the streets until the entire police force is trained to use them properly, Johnson said. The stun guns were purchased with a $120,000 state grant.
All sworn officers in Palo Alto must undergo 16 hours of training to learn how and under what conditions to use the Tasers. Johnson said the instruction includes crisis intervention training, practice scenarios and recognizing when subjects have been using drugs. Officers may also volunteer to get Tased "so they know what it feels like," she said.
Members of the police department are now taking the classes from Sgt. Natasha Powers and her defensive tactics team in staggered shifts, but the entire force will likely be trained by the end of the month, Johnson said.
"Our training is longer than most any other agency I'm aware of," Johnson said Tuesday.
In San Jose, where Taser use has been controversial, officers must undergo four hours of training, said spokesman Officer Jermaine Thomas.
Nearby in Los Altos, every uniformed sworn officer has to complete a minimum of eight hours of Taser training, said spokesman Detective Sgt. Paul Epley. Los Altos purchased 38 Tasers in August 2006, but Epley said the police department has yet to deploy one.
"So far, just having the Taser has been deterrent enough," he said.
Mountain View armed its force with 96 Tasers in two phases, said spokeswoman Liz Wylie. Before the department's "partial roll-out" in 2005, all officers took 6 1/2 hours of training and then two more hours before the "full roll-out" in 2006, Wylie said. In addition, the department undergoes additional training every year that takes two to four hours, she said.
Johnson said Palo Alto will also provide updated training every year.
The controversial decision to equip the Palo Alto Police Department with stun guns came after a majority of the council-appointed Taser Task Force voted in April to recommend that.
In May, the city council narrowly approved Taser use and directed staff to draft a policy that would guide their deployment. After some debate, the council decided police officers may use Tasers as a substitute not only for guns in dangerous situations but also for batons and other less-lethal weapons.
Johnson said a final draft of the Taser policy will be sent to the city council for review, but does not require approval Monday night.
Palo Alto resident Aram James, a former deputy public defender and Taser opponent, said he does not believe the city can draft a safe policy for "an inherently unsafe weapon in the context that it's actually used." He said he will ask the city council to reconsider its decision.
Contact Kristina Peterson at [email protected] .
