ABOUT TOWN: A Compelling Argument For Tasers

TOWN MEETING PART SIX takes place tonight, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the . Highlight of the evening is sure to be the debate over whether to supply . 

After doing hours of research and speaking to a few Stoughton Police officers who had been injured on the job, I changed my mind on the subject.  I was concerned with the cost of it ($67,500), and the dangers it seemed to impose to the community.  Now, having educated myself, I realize that the community (even the criminals) will be safer, and the town will SAVE money on injuries incurred by officers on the job.

Last night, one of the most noted civil liberties attorney in the country, Scott Greenwood of Ohio, who has sued numerous police departments for police brutality and civil rights violations, wrote me about Tasers.  Here's what he told About Town:

"I'm a civil libertarian. By profession, I'm a civil rights lawyer, and I've spent much of my career working on issues of police accountability. Bad decisions by police -- or their overseers -- have resulted in many cases I've litigated. I advocate for the adoption of these devices because they save lives, reduce injuries to subjects and officers, and drastically reduce the possibility that confrontations will escalate to lethal-force situations.

"All of these are conclusions I've drawn over a long period of time. From the 7 years I played as lead counsel in the Cincinnati police reform case, In re Cincinnati Policing, in which that department became the most-monitored in the nation, I learned that introduction of these weapons had the real potential to change a department with a reputation as one that routinely had excessive force into one that used force much less frequently and much more intelligently.

"The chief that presided over that transition -- my former adversary turned friend -- just received the Leadership award from the Police Executive Research Forum. Clearly, we were on to something. A department that had a riot when an officer killed my client's son in an all-too-common use of deadly force now uses barely any deadly force at all -- because well-trained officers are able to defuse confrontations much more quickly and safely before they escalate. They could not do that without ECWs [tasers].

"Over the last six or seven years, I've trained police executives and civilian overseers of law enforcement that the key to a smarter use of force is accountability, transparency, and training. As part of that work, I've been through the same training that Taser master instructors (the ones who train the trainers) receive. I've been exposed to a Taser for a full 5-second probe deployment. I have worked with hundreds if not thousands of them all over the country, and I have personally reviewed the statistics for perhaps 1000 of the agencies that use these devices.

"Adopting ECWs (Electronic Control Weapons) requires a strong, sound use of force policy that provides for robust reporting of all force, use of the accountability features built into ECWs (i.e. the download feature on TASER devices), and leadership that will not tolerate excessive force.

"Mark, your town can achieve the same success, too. This decision shouldn't be made out of some ill-founded emotional opposition. It should be made on the basis of the facts, which are overwhelming."

The Stoughton Police Department's presentation on tasers can be found . Check back later today for the Afternoon Edition of About Town with Mark Snyder.