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Chris Lollie case: A look at Taser policy

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With the Chris Lollie case in the news, we took a look at what the St. Paul police department's policy manual says about officers using force. It states, “Any physical force used by an officer must be necessary and reasonable under the circumstances.”

Officers are trained in a “Use of force continuum” — on one end is “Simple directions and commands;” the other end is “Any force that can result in death or great bodily harm.” The continuum “does not mandate step-by-step graduation by officer,” according to the department manual. 

forcecontinuum

A Taser is in the middle of the St. Paul police continuum. The police policy manual calls a Taser “a non-lethal weapon used as a means to control potentially violent or assaultive subjects.”

Mike Miller, an associate professor of criminal justice at South College in Knoxville, Tenn., has studied police officers’ use of Tasers. He thinks there’s been a national trend of ​police agencies ​adjusting ​policy ​​from allowing Taser use for “passive resistance” to “active resistance.”

​The St. Paul officers described Lollie as “actively resisting,” Miller said of his review of the​ police reports, which he did at the Pioneer Press’ request.

“​Officers have to act on the information available to them at the time of the encounter,” said Miller, who retired as a captain from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando, Fla. “I can understand the young man’s perspective: he felt he was being confronted about something he was not guilty of. Subsequent officers arrived and it tended to escalate the situation, and you see that a lot, unfortunately. From a purely policy perspective, officers have to counter the resistance they encounter.”

Miller, said he hopes the Lollie case will result in a review of policy about the public nature of skyways and perhaps more education for security guards about what areas are public and private, and when someone would be considered trespassing.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has also weighed in about Tasers after conducting a report, saying in 2011 that there is "no standard policy for Taser use in Minnesota."

The post Chris Lollie case: A look at Taser policy appeared first on The Usual Suspects.


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