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A trial run needs to be weighed by the Public Safety Committee before it begins, Joseph Gray says.

By DAVID HENCH, Staff Writer June 24, 2009

PORTLAND — City Manager Joseph Gray said Tuesday that he wants a City Council committee to complete its review of Tasers before the city's police department begins a trial period of equipping officers with them.

Gray, who said he strongly supports Chief James Craig's plan for a trial run, gave the go-ahead based on a number of conditions the chief proposed. But "when I told him that he was clear to go ahead it was my understanding that the Public Safety Committee had formally voted to approve it," Gray said in the statement.

The committee had discussed the plan but is not scheduled to vote on it until July 14. That vote could be either a communication to the full council or a recommendation.

Gray's statement also addresses the issue of authority with regard to such matters.

City Councilor Daniel Skolnik, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, has said that his panel must review Tasers before they are deployed and that it will make a recommendation to the full council. The statement by Gray includes an assertion by City Attorney Gary Wood that any council action would be advisory to the city manager, "as under the City Charter and current ordinances, he is responsible for the administration and operation of all city departments, including the police department."

Craig has said that he will first seek to borrow the weapons for the trial, but if he cannot, he wants to buy 10 of them using federal stimulus money. He would like to have two officers on each shift equipped with a Taser, although at first there might be just one officer on a given shift trained to use the device.

The Taser fires small darts into a suspect, then sends a jolt of electrical current that temporarily disrupts voluntary muscle control.

The weapons are intended to be used on suspects who are violent, as an alternative to using a baton, hand-to-hand combat or pepper spray. That reduces the likelihood that a suspect or an officer will be injured, proponents of the weapons say, but critics contend that the devices are prone to abuse and have been linked to deaths.

Craig has proposed a number of conditions aimed at ensuring that there are no problems. The Tasers the city will try out include a video and audio recorder that is activated whenever the devices are used. When a suspect is shocked using a Taser, police will call a rescue worker to evaluate the person's condition.

Craig said Tasers also will be used only on suspects who are violent and combative, and never on suspects who are handcuffed, or on juveniles or pregnant women.

Use of a Taser will be reviewed by the captain of patrol within 48 hours, and a supervisor will always be dispatched to the scene when one is used, according to Craig's plan.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at: dhench@pressherald.com