By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
Local law enforcement officials dispute the allegation by a member of a committee on child abuse that Tasers are being used too often by school resource officers to subdue students.
Mary Beth Smith, a citizen member of the Rowan County Task Force for Child Abuse Prevention, said at a meeting Monday Taser use is becoming too common in schools and that resource officers are using Tasers on students when the situation does not warrant them, such as to break up a fight.
Local agencies that equip their school resource officers with Tasers say thatís not true.
China Grove Police Chief Hodge Coffield said Tuesday a Taser is primarily a compliance tool. China Grove provides resource officers at Carson High School and China Grove Middle School.
ěThe officer really wouldnít use it to defend themselves,î he said. ěThey have their hands, an asp or their own words to defend themselves.î
An asp, or small baton, is a common tool for law enforcement officers.
Option for officers
Coffield said the use of Tasers and pepper spray is an option for officers, who are trained to use both. The training includes being sprayed or stunned with a Taser in order to know how it feels, he said.
School resource officers, like all law enforcement officers, are trained to use certain types of force in different circumstances, as they would outside the schools. When force is used it has to be a reasonable use, and that is determined by the officer, Coffield said.
An officer would not use the same type of force on a juvenile or elderly person he would on others. And he would not use pepper spray in a large crowd.
ěYou canít go to a nursing home and spray. It could get into the ventilation system,î Coffield said. ěOr you wouldnít want to spray a first-grader.î
Coffield said his department got Tasers sometime before 2005.
When he became chief, officers checked out Tasers and carried them on a rotating basis. In 2008, the department was able to purchase enough Tasers so each of its 11 officers could carry one.
Strict policy
The department keeps records showing when Tasers are discharged, but not when an officer threatens to use one, and Coffield said it has a strict policy regulating their use.
ě… When and where you can and canít use it. We have reviewed our policy a number of times since Iíve been here in the last four years,î Coffield said.
The Taser policy is part of the departmentís use-of-force policy, he said, which is based on national models for police agencies.
ěItís pretty well laid out,î he said. Besides, it doesnít pay to overuse Tasers. Besides the $850 average cost of the weapon, the batteries cost $24 and the cartridge that holds the barbs costs $21 and canít be used again once it is deployed.
ěWe have to dispose of it,î he said.
Coffield said even though students have become bolder over the years when confronted by officers and schools face more serious problems than in the past ó including drugs and sex offenders ó he has no indication officers use Tasers more in the schools than they do elsewhere.
ěThe school is a microcosm of the community,î he said. ěThey have a lot of the same problems a small town has.î
He said the resource officer at Carson High School has deployed her Taser twice in three years. And he said the Tasers arenít used to break up fights.
ěIt is not our policy to use Tasers or pepper spray in a fight,î Coffield said. ěThe only way to break up a fight is to get between the two combatants.î
Threat of force
Spencer Police Chief Robert Bennett said his department has had Tasers since January 2005 and officers have deployed or unholstered and threatened to use them 62 times since then, including a high of 27 times in 2005 and once so far this year.
Four of those instances involved the school resource officer at North Rowan High School and one involved another officer at the high school.
North Rowan High School Resource Officer A.C. Hinson deployed his Taser one of the four times heís threatened its use.
In that instance, Hinson said, the student had been in trouble on previous occasions and student made physical threats to the officer. He did not comply with Hinsonís commands and was stunned with the Taser.
Hinson said he does not use pepper spray in the school, mainly because it can spread to others around, including the officer, even if it is intended for one person.
Bennett said 80 percent of the time an officer draws a Taser, he doesnít have to use it. Officers in his department have actually used their Tasers to stun someone, he said, between 12 and 20 times. And he said school resource officers follow the same protocols as other officers.
ěAn SRO is not different than any other officer. Heís just assigned to a different place,î he said.
Set to stun
There are two ways a person can be incapacitated with a Taser, said Spencer Police Sgt. Eric Ennis.
One way is with a drive stun, used when the officer is fairly close to the suspect and places the Taser against the skin and fires, administering a jolt of electricity. The drive stun incapacitates the muscles. Officers are trained to go for a large muscle, typically the thigh area, chest or upper arm.
ěItís a burning sensation,î said Ennis, the Taser instructor for the department.
The sound the gun makes can be heard above any brawl. A blue spark flashes between the probes.
The second way is when the officer fires the Taser and two barbs are deployed. The barbs attach to the person, but donít have to puncture the skin.
ěThere is very little blood and the pain is not from the barbs, but the electricity,î Ennis said.
The Taser sparks for five seconds before automatically shutting off. Officers are trained to press the trigger once and release.
The Spencer Police Departmentís Tasers are equipped with cameras, which record the firing and length of time the device is deployed and apply a time stamp.
Ennis is the only person who has access to download the information.
All of the officers cars warn people the officers are equipped with Tasers.
About 95 percent of the officers have been shot with a Taser.
Since the department has had Tasers, only one officer has suffered injuries on the job. Before getting the Tasers, Bennett said, there were three or four injuries.
The Spencer department hasnít had any serious injuries to suspects resulting from Taser use. In instances when people have been seriously injured after being stunned with a Taser, Bennett said, itís typically due to another factor, such as drug or alcohol use or an existing medical condition.
No second-guessing
Rowan-Salisbury School System spokeswoman Rita Foil said the system doesnít second guess officers when it comes to handling the law and maintaining safety in the schools.
ěThey are the experts,î she said.
Foil said the use of Tasers, guns and other equipment is up to the officer or department.
ěItís not our place or our authority to tell them what to carry and what to use,î she said.
However, Foil said, the school system appreciates the concern about Taser use in schools and will work with a committee appointed by the Task Force for Child Abuse Prevention to study the issue.
ěWe will be pleased to assist this committee in any way we can in this effort,î she said.
Mary Beth Smith, who raised the issue with the Task Force, did not return calls to her office and home Tuesday.