Tag: deadly force

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New look at Tasers after police shootings in North Jersey

Ridgewood _police_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

JUNE 13, 2015, 3:34 PM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 11:59 PM
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

With three fatal shootings involving police in Bergen County within the past month, attention has turned again to stun guns as an alternative to the use of deadly force by officers. But the devices, which incapacitate suspects with a temporary electronic pulse, remain unavailable to most police agencies in the county, and in the state as a whole.

New Jersey, the final state in the country to approve the use of stun guns by police, has guidelines and procedures that stun-gun advocates say have become less rigid but are still more stringent than those of other states.

As a result, the process of rolling the devices out to law enforcement agencies across the state is progressing, but slowly, officials say.

After a series of revisions since it first introduced a guideline for stun guns, the state has gradually eliminated several hurdles for police departments to issue the devices to officers, said Steve Tuttle, a spokesman for Taser International, the company that manufactures the stun guns used by agencies in New Jersey.

Today, 168 departments in New Jersey — a state with more than 500 municipalities and 21 counties — have issued Tasers to officers, he said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-look-at-tasers-after-police-shootings-in-north-jersey-1.1355481

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In using deadly force, cops rely on their training, experts say

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file photo by Boyd Loving

JUNE 12, 2015, 10:46 PM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2015, 12:05 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

When a police officer uses deadly force against a suspect, the questions from grieving — and often angry — relatives tend to be as predictable as they are wrenching: Why didn’t the officer aim for the suspect’s arm or leg? Did the officer have to fire so many shots? Couldn’t he have used a baton, pepper spray or a stun gun instead?

The answer in many cases, experts said, is that officers who fire at suspects in deadly force situations are following their training.

These questions and others were raised anew on Friday, a day after a police officer fatally shot a 22-year-old man on a Hackensack street corner. Authorities said he brandished a large knife at the officer, who had responded to an emergency call reporting a domestic violence incident. The fatal shooting was the third in three weeks involving police in Bergen County.

Several experts who agreed to speak generally about deadly force situations said no amount of training can fully prepare officers for the pounding adrenaline and the split-second, life-or-death decisions they must make when confronted with a dangerous suspect.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/in-using-deadly-force-cops-rely-on-their-training-experts-say-1.1355263

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Reader says ,Officer Elwood. I’m going to tell you why you are wrong and why perceptions are very important.

deadly force

Firstly, I am generally pro-police. I think this is how the majority of the public feel. However, there’s a side to the police that irks many, and you have demonstrated this side. It’s the circling of the wagons mentality in your description of the events at this incident, which you have no more insight into that anyone else who was not there. I understand the whole band of brothers sense of camaraderie, but when it comes to incidents of police officers discharging a firearm, and that incident is still in the review stage, you have no business making public statements about what happened. It’s this very kind of public statement that gives the general public a very low opinion of how the police, police themselves. As for the previous incident, yes, this is noteworthy. It possibly indicates issues of the officer’s ability to self-manage his anxiety levels during moments of stress.
Also , I didn’t realize, Officer Elwood, that you witnessed the incident, because according to statement in which you say the police officer “really had no other choice”, it appears that you saw it all. I hope that you provide this important testimony to whoever is in charge of officially reviewing the incident.

Another poster chimed in ,  What I don’t understand is what people think the Police Officer should do. A German Shepherd as the 2nd most forceful bite of any dog – 235 lb per square inch. That’s enough to break bones in the leg, ankle or foot.

Soto replay this scenario, an 85 lb dog has your foot in his mouth. Being 4 -legged the dog can move, laterally, faster than an upright human – especially if he has the human’s foot in his mouth! SO exactly what is it that you think the Officer should have, or could have, done? Better yet, if this had been you, what would you have done?

Looks like the police union is out with its “facts and figures” to try and muddy the water to distract attention away from the real issues here: 1) This was an 85 lb German Shepherd with the 2nd most forceful bite of any dog – 235 lb per square inch. That’s enough to break bones in the leg, ankle or foot; and 2) having a window open to allow a dog to go in and out of a house into a fenced backyard poses a problem itself, especially in terms of liability for the homeowner. Guess the union hasn’t learned anything from the recent human deaths in Staten Island, Ferguson, Georgia, South Carolina or Baltimore.

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Readers not buying Ridgewood Police officer’s defense of Wyckoff dog Shooting

otto
Reader says , There is so much wrong with your editorial I don’t know where to begin.

It was a fenced in yard and the policeman was a stranger. He had a choice: run. Get the hell out of the yard. Or would that be too detrimental to the tough guy image?

Are you saying that people should not allow their dogs to roam their fenced in yards now? The dogs should be confined to the house? Is there a particular room inside the house where the dog should be sequestered?

Your fantasy about the cop saving a child from a fierce beast holds no water. If the kid was from the neighborhood, the dog would have known him. If there was a trespasser in the yard, then good.

I only hope, officer Elwood, that when you find a group of kids smoking a joint behind starbucks some night, and they all scatter, you realize that you do have a choice other than to shoot the slower ones.