Folks,

There is an important public hearting (get announcement) coming up on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 9:00 AM. The SM County Sheriff's Department and Detention Center both requested that they be armed with TASERS (electronic control devices that deliver 50,000 volts).

The SM County Commissioners now want to hear from you before they vote on the issue. They want to know what you think about county-level law enforcement and detention center officers having Tasers. They're holding a special meeting/public hearing on Tuesday, October 6th at 9:00 AM at 179 Bridge St. (WLV School Board conference room).

We've worked hard to educate the commissioners, and they've been listening. Now they need to see where the community stands on the issue. The Las Vegas Peace & Justice Center is opposed to Tasers. This decision came after a great deal of research, examining all sides of the issue.

No rigorous independent impartial medical studies have yet been done on the effects of Tasers on humans. Those most likely to get Tasered are those with mental illness, people of color, and folks who are high on drugs. There's been more than 400 deaths following Tasering. Children as young as 5, people in their 80s, disabled people in wheelchairs, pregnant women (leading to fetal death), deaf people and non-English speakers who couldn't understand officer commands have all been Tasered. People having seizures and heart attacks were Tasered because officers didn't recognize that these people were in the midst of a health crisis. And 80% of those Tasered who then died were unarmed.

Workers inside the Taser, International factory testified under oath that they were making faulty weapons, knowingly shipping defective Tasers. Police departments around the country were returning the weapons (as many as 6,000 in one month) because they were malfunctioning. The company settled the lawsuit for $20 million.

If Tasers were going to be used instead of shooting someone with a firearm, that would be one thing. But most police department policies say Tasers are equivalent to pepper spray. Instead of talking someone down with negotiation skills, like officers used to do, a Taser is now used, on average in the U.S., within 30 seconds of an officer arriving on the scene.

If you can attend this public hearing to officially go on-the-record re: whether our sheriff's dept. and detention center should have Tasers, please be there. See details below. And if you want to back up your public input with facts, just google "Taser abuse" and you'll have plenty.

Thanks!

pat

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http://www.smcounty.net/

PUBLIC NOTICE The Board of County Commissioners of San Miguel County will hold a special meeting and public hearing on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Board Room of the Donaldo A. Martinez Administration Building of the West Las Vegas Schools, 179 Bridge Street, Las Vegas, New Mexico.

The purpose of the special meeting/public hearing is to entertain and consider comment and input from all citizens and interested persons concerning the use of Tasers (electronic control devices) by law enforcement personnel and detention center officers. All interested persons are invited to attend. The agenda will be available 24 hours prior to meeting in the County Manager's Office, 518 Valencia St., Suite 100, Las Vegas, New Mexico 87701.

Les Montoya, County Manager

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