Report: Reign in use of Taser's and limit the cycles of electrical shock that officers can fire.

Oregon - For the past three years, outside consultants, Portland's city auditor, federal juries and a citizens' oversight panel have sent the same message to Portland police: rein in officers' use of the Taser stun gun and limit the cycles of electrical shock that officers can fire.

Meanwhile, Dave Woboril, a deputy city attorney, lectured officers during annual refresher training about evolving federal case law, including recent rulings that are more restrictive than Portland's police Taser policy. Woboril also prepared rough drafts of revised Taser policies for the chief's review.

"I've generated drafts over the years. They haven't been adopted," Woboril said. "You're going to have to ask the chief why he didn't move on it earlier."

Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, who sought citizen input on the bureau's Taser policy for more than a year, has let the policy stand with few changes.

Instead, the chief in March 2011 equipped officers' Taser guns with a longer dart, allowing officers to shoot the less-lethal weapon from farther away, after a spate of officer-involved shootings.

So it wasn't surprising to police observers last week when the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that Portland police engage in excessive and unjustified use of Tasers against people with mental illness. The department found a pattern of officers firing multiple cycles of Taser shock unnecessarily, and failing to wait between cycles to allow a suspect to comply with commands.

"There is a sense of deja vu," said David Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon.

Fidanque said he urged Reese about a year and a half ago to adopt more stringent Taser policies, concerned that officers were firing the weapons inappropriately.

The federal review concluded Portland's Taser policy lacks clarity and has led to a "state of confusion" -- even among Portland officers responsible for reviewing the weapon's use.

For example, in a January meeting of the bureau's Use of Force Peer Review, officers "struggled to reconcile" Portland's written Taser policy, which allows shocks when a suspect is not displaying threatening conduct, with recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case law that's more restrictive, federal investigators said.

"Through our review of use of force reports and interviews with the public, we encountered numerous incidents where PPB officers deployed ECWs (electronic control weapons, or Tasers) in a manner that was contrary to PPB policy and generally acceptable practices," Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez wrote to Mayor Sam Adams.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/09/portland_police_were_repeatedl.html#incart_river_default

Kent, WA - Tukwila police beat and Tasered to death a 25-year-old man, without cause, then told his family they couldn't see him because he was "sleeping," the family claims in King County Court.  http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/09/21/Police.pdf