Letter: Civil Rights Groups Protest Guilderland Police Department’s Use Of Tasers On Minors

April 4, 2005

April 4, 2005

James Murley, Chief of Police
Guilderland Police Department
Guilderland Town Hall
Guilderland, New York 12084

Dear Chief Murley,

It has come to our attention that one of your police officers used a taser or electronic shock device on two handcuffed teenagers, aged fifteen and sixteen, at Crossgates Mall on March 11, 2005. We believe this action was a grossly inappropriate use of force and warrants an immediate re-examination of the policies and procedures with regard to stun gun and taser use in your police department.

Specifically, we urge you to revise the use-of-force policies as they relate to officers' use of tasers in situations that do not present a true threat to human life or safety. Tasers and other electroshock devices, are debilitating weapons that can cause serious injury, pain, and even death. This is especially true for individuals with pre-existing medical conditions and pregnant women. In most cases, an officer would have no way to determine the medical condition of an individual before deploying the weapon.

Further, we are concerned that tasers are being deployed in place of verbal negotiations and less serious forms of force. In this case, the teenagers involved claim that they had previously agreed, peaceably, to leave the Mall as requested and their behavior was neither threatening nor offensive. Further, they were handcuffed at the time. The many witnesses to the incident corroborate their account of the event.

We urge you to completely revisit your department’s use of these weapons, immediately suspending their use at the mall until a comprehensive analysis is undertaken. At the very least, we urge you to revise your supervision and training on taser policies, moving use of these devices up the continuum of force to either lethal force or one step below. To use this force in minor situations is out of proportion, cruel and inhumane.

Please contact our office to discuss whether or not your department intends to review its policy and prevent officers from using tasers on minors and at Crossgates Mall.

Sincerely,

Melanie Trimble
Executive Director
NYCLU-CRC

Alice Green
Executive Director
Center for Law and Justice

CC: Kenneth Runion, Guilderland Town Supervisor
Guilderland Town Board

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