A Tribune analysis shows Taser use has jumped fivefold since 2008.

Chicago, IL- A Tribune analysis shows Taser use has jumped fivefold in the city since 2008 and suburban agencies that were surveyed were on pace to double their use, as departments equipped more officers with the devices. Chicago police were deploying Tasers at a rate of more than twice a day in 2011.

And oversight has not kept pace with the explosion in use. Departments are on their own in developing policies on when and how electroshock devices should be deployed, with no state regulation.

In Kotlinski's case, the engineer at Abbott Laboratories was removed from his SUV and pinned in the snow. He lost control of his body as an "intense burning sensation" accompanied the surreal feeling that he was floating over the ground, he said. He roared about his heart condition, then begged in a faint wheeze for someone to call 911.

"Pain. I've never felt that way in my life," Kotlinski said.

They may bring pain, but the weapons save lives by reducing the use of guns or physical combat, police say. Civil rights advocates and experts on use of force counter that some officers deploy them too eagerly, spurring lawsuits and fomenting distrust of officers. The potential lethality of the weapons remains under debate, but critics point to hundreds of deaths that have followed their use as proof that electroshock devices should be seen as deadly weapons.

Like almost all states, Illinois does not track the weapons' use by local police, and departments have been left to monitor and govern electroshock devices with a patchwork of policies. In Chicago, the leap in the number of police carrying Tasers coincided with the scaling back of post-shock investigations by the Independent Police Review Authority.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-taser-use-increases-20120101,0,3298710.story