The recent use of a taser on a 14-year-old student, a taser-related hospitalization of one Chicago citizen and the death of another last week were reason enough for Ald. Andrew Heidt, Dist. 13, to issue a call of action.
His proposal, which he will deliver to Madison City Council Feb. 22, would ban any use of tasers by the Madison Police Department until the City Council can find definitive proof of tasers' safety.
\There's significant documentation of fatalities for what's supposed to be a non-lethal weapon,"" Heidt said.
Tasers are a common tool modern police departments use to immoblize suspects without permanently injuring them.
According to Taser International's website, www.taser.com, tasers work by releasing a shock of up to 50,000 volts, prompting the ""uncontrollable contraction of the muscle tissue, allowing the Advanced Taser to physically debilitate a target regardless of pain tolerance or mental focus.""
However, Heidt is unconvinced of tasers' safety after hearing of numerous reports where those receiving tasers' shocks died soon after.
""You don't know if you're tasering somebody, if they have a heart problem,"" he said. ""To be hit with this kind of voltage can exacerbate it and cause a fatality.""
After he presents it to the City Council, Heidt's proposal will likely head to committee. While Heidt is unsure of what documentation is needed to prove tasers safe, the committee could potentially be a place for alders to decide such specifics.
However, John Webster, UW-Madison professor emeritus of biological engineering, currently investigates just that. Webster is creating a standard test to determine whether or not tasers actually put forth deadly levels of current.
Although Webster believes pre-existing, industry-sponsored studies have scientific merit, his independent research could potentially become the universally accepted benchmark for taser safety.
""It is my opinion, my hypothesis, that tasers don't do that, that people are not electrocuted by tasers,"" Webster said after citing how taser victims' symptoms are inconsistent with that of electrocution.
Webster believes exacerbating factors such as cocaine usage or preexisting health problems are actually at fault for taser deaths. He also emphasized the difference between current, which is what actually kills people, and voltage.
""The voltage is really not important. But it certainly makes a good headline, if you want to alarm people, to talk about the 50,000 volts,"" he said.
Police Chief Noble Wray also finds the safety concern concerning tasers to be exaggerated. In interview with the Wisconsin State Journal, Wray said he would oppose the Taser moratorium.
Currently, every Madison police officer with taser access receives specialized training regarding their operation, according to Madison police sources.
