Tasermania: 5 of 6 UC schools prohibit tasering of passive resisters

Guess which one doesn’t.

Police officers on six UC campuses carry Taser guns, but UCLA appears to be alone in expressly allowing officers to stun not only violent suspects but those who are passively resisting their orders.

In interviews Tuesday, top officials at university police departments across the state stressed that officers should be given discretion when using Tasers but said they thought the weapons should be used primarily against suspects who posed a physical risk…

[Orville] King [of UC-San Diego] said that in his department, having a detained person call for others to join his resistance in itself may not be justification to use a Taser.

“If it was simply requesting or verbally inciting others, I’m not certain whether or not that would be appropriate use of a Taser,” King said. “There have to be other elements … kicking, jumping, fighting.”

Four other UC universities don’t use tasers at all.

Here’s the official UCLA policy. It does indeed clearly authorize zapping passive resisters, including ones in handcuffs. From the regulation:

301.24 PAIN COMPLIANCE TECHNIQUES
Pain compliance techniques may be very effective in controlling a passive or actively resisting individual…

And from the general order on taser use:

4) GENERAL
Although not absolutely prohibited, officers should give additional consideration to the unique circumstances involved prior to applying the Taser to any of the following individuals:

A) Pregnant females;
B) Elderly individuals or obvious juveniles;
C) Individuals who are handcuffed or otherwise restrained;…

6) CRITERIA FOR USE – DRIVE STUN
Authorized personnel may use a Taser in a drive stun capacity, as a pain compliance technique, in the following situations.

A) To eliminate physical resistance from an arrestee in accomplishing an arrest or physical search.
B) When a skirmish line is deployed and/or for pain compliance against passive resistors as allowed in UCLA Police Policy § 301.24 (Pain Compliance Techniques)…

There’s a (non-exhaustive) list of seven factors in the reg that the officer’s supposed to weigh when deciding whether to use the taser. Like any “totality of the circumstances” test, because it’s so variable it gives the reviewing authority legal cover to second-guess the primary actor for virtually any reason it wants. Look for the school administration to use it to discipline the cops here — and then to quietly rewrite its controversial policy.

Blowback