By Colleen Rivecca, HANC Board Member

On April 10, 2013, SFPD Chief Greg Suhr announced that he was dropping his proposal to arm certain SFPD officers with Tasers. The SFPD has tried, under four previous police chiefs, to arm part or all of the department with Tasers. The Taser issue was revived by Chief Suhr in the summer of 2012, after police fatally shot a mentally ill chocolate factory worker who was armed with a box cutter. Chief Suhr’s proposal was to arm Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trained police officers, officers who are specially trained to de-escalate situations involving people with mental illness, with Tasers.

The SFPD held a series of community forums in early 2013, where community members shared their concerns about arming SFPD with Tasers. Community members opposed to Tasers explained that Tasers, while seen by the police as “less than lethal” weapons, have actually been shown to be dangerous weapons and that their use can lead to fatalities, especially when used on vulnerable people, including people with mental illness. Community forum participants also brought up an independent study from researchers at UCSF, which shows that, in the first year after Tasers were introduced in cities across California, sudden deaths in custody increased by 500%.

One of the most important messages from the community forums was that community members want to see the SFPD use a non-weapon based strategy for interacting with people with mental illness. The CIT program approved in 2011 calls for improved training, coordination between 911 dispatch and officers trained to de-escalate crisis situations, and coordination between SFPD and mental health service providers. CIT had not been fully implemented at the time of the shooting of the chocolate factory worker. The full implementation of the CIT approved by the Police Commission in 2011 will help to decrease officer injury while preventing unnecessary deaths of people with mental illness.