Seymour police officers no longer carry Tasers, and the officers’ union says it’s because their bosses are stretched way too thin.
The administrators are overloaded, a fact underscored by the fact the department did not re-certify officers to carry Tasers, said Sgt. John D’Antona, president of Seymour Police Union Local 564.
In order to carry Tasers, Seymour cops are supposed to be certified every two years, per departmental rules.
“The officers certified to carry these lapsed because it got dropped by somebody upstairs,” D’Antona said. “When they are obviously understaffed, these are the kinds of things that are happening.”
The Seymour Police Department has just two administrators right now — Chief Michael Metzler and Lt. Paul Satkowski. A captain’s position has been vacant for some two years.
Satkowski acknowledged that administrators could use help, but said the decision to stop carrying Tasers was due to a combination of factors.
Usually, individual police departments have certified instructors who can then train the department’s other officers in the proper use of Tasers.
The certification for Seymour’s Taser instructor lapsed without police realizing it, Satkowski said.
The department could have had someone else certified as an instructor to train officers in how to use the weapons, or brought in an instructor from an outside department, he said.
Instead, Satkowski said they decided to initiate a department-wide review of its use of the weapons.
There are still Seymour cops certified to use Tasers — like officers hired in from other police departments who already have valid certification.
“But as a general rule, we said put Tasers on hold,” Satkowski said.
Tasers deliver an electric shock and are often used by police officers to subdue people who are combative.
Proponents say Tasers make police officers and the public safer because they limit injury and/or the use of deadly force. Opponents say they are used too often and can be deadly to people with pre-existing health issues.
“There’s been controversy over the use of Tasers in the law enforcement profession,” Satkowski said. “Because of that, we’re taking the time to say ‘Hey, let’s review this.’ We’re reviewing the Taser policy and the use of Tasers at the Seymour Police Department.”
There is no timetable for the review, Satkowski said.
‘It Just Drops Them’
D’Antona, the president of the Seymour police union, said Tasers are a valuable tool for police officers on the street. Not having them is a step backward in terms of officer safety.
The 24-year police veteran said Tasers are “the best thing to come along weapon-wise since i’ve been around,” and offer cops an option between using pepper spray, which might not be enough to take down a sizable or threatening suspect, and the use of deadly force.
“The taser is the weapon that controls those people,” he said. “It just drops them. It’s not a matter of how strong or tough you are with a Taser.”
“Guys still have to be able to defend themselves on the street,” D’Antona said. “That’s a big option that you take off the table for guys.”
He pointed to an incident in 2011 during which Officer Thomas Scharf used a Taser to end a standoff with a barricaded man at the Balance Rock Condominiums as “just one of many uses that have prevented very bad outcomes from occurring.”
D’Antona also cited an incident last month during which Officer Corey Tomasella was injured while fighting with a combative drunken driving suspect.
Tomasella wasn’t carrying a Taser, per the department’s review of their use, which went into effect in August.
D’Antona wondered whether Tomasella would have been injured if he had a Taser available to him.
But Satkowski said the lack of a Taser wasn’t responsible for the officer’s injury.
“They’re trying to blame that whole injury on the lack of a Taser, which is not the case,” Satkowski said. “There were two officers on scene, (and) neither one deployed their baton or pepper spray.”
Satkowski also said officers still have pepper spray and an expandable baton available to them before resorting to deadly force.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t go back to them,” Satkowski said of Tasers. “(But) they still have a use of force continuum equal to the Taser.”
Give Us A Captain
The Seymour Police Department had three administrators before the retirement of Captain Paul Beres, who had been on extended sick leave, last year.
D’Antona said if the department had another administrator they could stay on top of things like instructors’ certifications better.
Satkowski said the department has been short a third administrator for two years, referencing Beres’ absence on sick leave prior to his retirement.
First Selectman Kurt Miller said the Taser issue is a reflection of the department’s lack of a captain.
“There’s only so much work a chief and a lieutenant can do,” he said.
The town’s Board of Police Commissioners last year interviewed several candidates for the captain’s position, but never made a hire.
Instead, in March they asked the Board of Finance to move $20,000 in the police department’s budget from the line item for a captain’s salary to pay for overtime increases.
The police department’s budget for the current fiscal year included $80,000 to pay a new captain, but after the budget was defeated at referendum, half of that money was cut.
Miller said money for a new captain would be available as of Jan. 1, 2014.
He said he’d like to see a hire, but “what the police commissioners are going to do is up to them.”
“I would think that they should be interviewing these folks, getting organized, and if they find a person suitable for the position, have that person ready to start Jan. 1 when the funding is in the budget,” Miller said.
The Valley Indy left a message seeking comment Thursday with Lucy McConologue, chairwoman of the Board of Police Commissioners.
Miller said that while having only two administrators in the police department isn’t ideal, he pointed to the town’s recent hiring of three new police officers and the promotion of three new detectives as positive steps.
“One of the goals I had was to have the police department become fully staffed back to its original levels,” Miller said. “We’re in the process now of building back up to that.”
Not everyone agrees Tasers are great — particularly civil libertarians.
State Police are investigating the death of a New Britain man Monday who was Tased while police took him into custody at the end of a five-hour standoff.
The New Britain death prompted calls from the NAACP and ACLU for a moratorium on Taser use by cops until new regulations are written.
The state’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council on Wednesday (Sept. 4) published a “model policy” for electronic control weapons like Tasers. Article continues after the document.
But the policy is advisory — and though state lawmakers have previously proposed bills that would mandate more oversight of Taser use, they were not passed by the general assembly.
Click here to read more from a story in the CT Mirror.
