Tasers

Below are links to documents related to Tasers (also known as "electronic stun weapons," "stun guns," or "conducted energy devices") and their use.

• ACLU of Vermont, Focus on Tasers, September, 2008. This document provides an overview of Tasers; it's a good starting point for basic information.
  


• ACLU-VT letter to Montpelier City Council explaining concerns regarding Tasers. Jan. 12, 2011.
  
  
• ACLU of Arizona. A Force to be Reckoned With: Taser use and policies in 20 Arizona law enforcement agencies. June 2011.
  


• ACLU of Colorado, Evaluating Claims of Excessive Force, presentation at National Police Accountability Project Skills Seminar. 2006.
  


• ACLU of Massachusetts, Less Lethal Force, Proposed Standards for Massachusetts Law Enforcement Agencies.
  


• ACLU of Northern California, Stun Gun Fallacy, How the Lack of Taser Regulation Endangers Lives, September 2005.
  
  
• ACLU of Northern California, Guidelines and Limitations for Conducted Energy Devices (stun guns and similar weapons, including Tasers), March 2011.
  


• Amnesty International, Less than Lethal? The Use of Stun Weapons in US Law Enforcement, 2008.
  


• Brattleboro consultant report on Taser use to subdue protestors in 2007 incident. 2008.
  


• Canadian study finds Tasers can cause brain-related problems such as seizures. 2009.
  


• Maryland Attorney General's Office, Task Force on Electronic Weapons, 2009.


• Montpelier, Vt., Report and Recommendations of the Committee on Tasers to the Montpelier City Council, Nov. 1, 2011. Minority dissent.
  


• Montpelier, Vt., PD, Montpelier Police Department and Taser, informational Power Point slide presentation (in PDF format), 2007.
  


• New York Civil Liberties Union. Taking Tasers Seriously: The Need for Better Stun Gun Regulation in New York. October 2011. Read the Albany Times Union article on the report, New York Police Misuse Tasers,
  


• New York Police Department, Taser Policy. 2008.
  


• Ninth Circuit Issues Mixed Ruling On Taser Use. Sacramento, CA, Bee, Oct. 19, 2011. "Case law is so muddled, a majority ruled, that even though the use of Tasers by police in two cases before the panel was unconstitutional, the officers have immunity from suit because they could not have been expected to know that."
  


• North Carolina Taser Safety Project, Not There Yet, the Need for Safer TASER policies in North Carolina, 2008.


• Three Deaths in One Weekend Puts Taser Use by Cops in Crosshairs, Christian Science Monitor. Aug. 8, 2011.
  


• St. Johnsbury police settle excessive use of force case involving Taser. 2006.
  


• U.N. committee says use of Tasers can be a form of torture. 2007.
  


• Vermont Attorney General's Office, Study and Report Governing the Use of Tasers and other Less Lethal Means of Force by Vermont Law Enforcement, April 2008.
  


• Vermont Protection and Advocacy (now Disability Rights Vermont), Report of an Investigation into the Circumstances of the Use of Police Intervention and Subsequent Taser Shooting of a Juvenile Patient at the Brattleboro Retreat. February 2005.
  


• Vermont State Police settle excessive use of force case involving Taser. 2009.
  


• Vermont State Police, Non-Lethal Use of Force rules, 1999.
  


• Vermont State Police, Taser rules, 2007.

 

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