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Trenton,
NJ -- Attorney General Anne Milgram today
issued a supplemental use of force policy
that allows law enforcement officers the use
of electronic stun guns in limited circumstances
involving emotionally disturbed individuals.
The
supplemental policy follows the recommendation
of an Attorney General’s Advisory Committee
on the use of less-lethal force. The use of
stun guns will only be allowed by trained
law enforcement officers who have completed
a Police Training Commission-approved course.
No officers could carry or use the guns without
authorization from his or her department’s
chief executive.
The
number of officers authorized to carry or
use the weapons will be determined by the
size of the department, from one officer in
a municipality with 25,000 or fewer residents
to four officers in a municipality with 75,000
or more residents. In addition, officers who
are members of SWAT teams, or emergency response
units, can be authorized to carry the electronic
weapons.
“This
is the first time in this state that officers
are going to be authorized to carry and use
stun guns in any capacity,” Attorney
General Milgram said. “Given this important
shift in policy, it is prudent to have a limited
initial deployment that provides for adequate
controls, training and accountability measures
so that we can evaluate the use of such devices.”
Noting
that stun guns can be potentially deadly weapons,
the policy states that the use of conducted
energy devices in limited situations may allow
police officers to resolve confrontations
without escalating to a level where deadly
force is required, and reduce the risk of
injuries to persons subject to arrest, the
arresting law enforcement officers, and innocent
by-standers.
“This
policy limits the use of the devices to ensure
that officers recognize the lethality and
seriousness of the weapons, deploy them consistent
with that lethality, and use the weapons only
where appropriate,” the policy states.
Possession of stun guns will remain prohibited
except for trained law enforcement officers.
The State Police, in consultation with the
Division of Criminal Justice, will be responsible
for developing a list of specifications of
stun guns that may be deployed by police in
New Jersey.
The
Attorney General’s Use of Force Policy
provides that deadly force may only be used
when an officer reasonably believes that such
action is immediately necessary to protect
an officer or another person from imminent
danger of death or serious bodily injury.
The
supplemental policy states that under certain
circumstances stun guns may be appropriate
weapons for law enforcement officers to use
against an emotionally disturbed person, which
is defined as a person who appears to be mentally
ill or temporarily deranged and is conducting
himself or herself in a manner that a police
officer reasonably believes is likely to result
in serious bodily injury to himself or herself,
the officer, or others.
The
use of a stun gun is authorized only if the
individual who appears to be mentally ill
or temporarily deranged has a weapon and the
individual will not voluntarily submit to
custody. In addition, the individual should
be isolated and contained so that there is
no chance a bystander can be hit by the electrically
charged darts that are attached by wire to
the weapon.
The
use of stun guns is specifically prohibited
as a “pain compliance” device
or in a situation where a person refuses to
comply with an officer’s order to move,
or get on the ground, or exit a vehicle. The
use of the electronic devices is also prohibited
if an individual is handcuffed or in a moving
vehicle. The weapons should not be used to
prevent someone from committing property damage
or fleeing a scene.
A
conducted energy device should not be directed
against a person who is situated on an elevated
surface, such as a ledge or near a precipice,
unless reasonable efforts have been made to
prevent or minimize a fall-related injury.
The stun guns also could not be used with
the gun in direct contact with a person, a
condition known as “drive stun mode.”
Training
in the use of stun guns must include a component
on how law enforcement officers should interact
with emotionally disturbed persons.
Specifications
for stun guns that will be allowed in New
Jersey include a date and time-stamped digital
record for each use and a digital recording
of each firing and electrical discharge.
The
Attorney General last year issued a supplemental
use of force policy concerning less-lethal
ammunition and the circumstances in which
the ammunition should be used. That policy,
too, followed recommendations of the seven-member
advisory committee, which was appointed in
2007 to examine use of force policies and
whether law enforcement officers should be
permitted to use less-lethal ammunition and
conducted energy devices designed to stun
or temporarily disable people.
The
first recommendation led to a supplemental
policy that allowed police officers to fire
less-lethal ammunition at a person only when
such force is reasonable necessary to prevent
that person from causing death or serious
bodily injury to himself or herself, a police
officer, or any other person.
The
standard for using less-lethal ammunition
is different from the policy concerning deadly
force, which may be used when immediately
necessary to protect an officer or another
person from imminent danger of death or serious
bodily injury.
Use
of less lethal force involves a situation
where the risk is reasonably foreseeable,
as in the case where officers confront a suspect
who is armed with a knife but refuses to disarm.
The risk of death or injury is real, but not
imminent until an officer is within striking
distance of the suspect.
The
advisory committee was co-chaired by retired
Superior Court Appellate Judge Dennis J. Braithwaite
and Mitchell Sklar, the executive director
of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs
of Police.
Other
advisory group members were Essex County Prosecutor
Paula Dow; Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce
Kaplan; Robert N. Davison, the executive director
of the Mental Health Association of Essex
County; Deputy Attorney General Dermot O’Grady,
who is the acting director of the Office of
State Police Affairs in the Attorney General’s
Office; and First Assistant Attorney General
Ricardo Solano.
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