CC Minutes - 06/14/10 Work Session

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The council was joined by Police Commission Chair Tamara Miller and commission member Marilyn Nelson. Ms. Miller recalled the previous council work session on the topic and updated the council on the work the commission had done on the policy since that time and the many opportunities the public had to comment on the commission’s policy revisions. Ms. Nelson reviewed the revised taser policy. Mayor Piercy solicited council questions and comments, first recognizing commission members Mr. Brown and Mr. Clark. Mr. Brown thanked commission members for their work on the policy. While he doubted the policy would ever be perfected, Mr. Brown believed the revised policy was an improvement over the previous policy. He found Section 309.4(1) and (2) somewhat complicated and hoped that training would help officers distinguish the difference between sections. He had reviewed the policy language used in Denver, Colorado, which seemed clearer, and asked if that had been examined. Mr. Brown thought that Denver’s policy language related to no use was clearer than Eugene’s language. He said if he was to change anything he would add back the word “physical” to Section 309.4(a)(2). He said the community wanted the policy to be as clear as possible for the safety of all concerned. Mr. Clark thanked the Police Commission for all its hard work on the policy. He particularly recognized the contributions of the commission’s Use of Force Subcommittee. He said the process involved a great deal of review and public input. Speaking to Mr. Brown’s concerns regarding Section 309.4(a)(2), Mr. Clark said the word “physical” was deleted after Police Chief Pete Kerns had asked the commission to what situations it had envisioned the word would apply. The commission had discussed a person holding a knife who disobeyed an order to drop the knife but who took no active physical steps forward; as previously written, the person would not be subject to being tasered because they made no physical movement. However, the individual was still an immediate threat. That example had prompted a commission majority to remove the word. Mr. Clark referred to 309.4(4), which spoke to consideration of other options and said he was challenged by the commission’s request that officers consider other options because there was considerable work done to establish the use of force standard. It was “all necessary force” rather than “least necessary force,” and there was a difference. Mayor Piercy asked Police Auditor Mark Gissiner to speak to the policy. Mr. Gissiner said his primary responsibility was to evaluate officer conduct based on adopted policies and procedures, so he first asked himself if the policy was understandable to officers. He believed that with the proper training, which was a key component, the policy was understandable. Mr. Gissiner also asked himself if he could effectively evaluate police conduct using the policy, and the answer was yes. He asked himself if the policy was consistent with national standards; he believed it was. Mr. Gissiner emphasized the importance of officer training, particularly training regarding the mentally ill, and hoped the appropriate treatment of mental illness was a major consideration in training. He also noted that the device would be tested biannually and he supported annually testing as recommended by the Institute of Justice. Mr. Gissiner observed that the deaths that occurred from the application of a taser, either from a contributing or primary standpoint, were generally from applications that were longer than five seconds. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 14, 2010 Page 4 Work Session