Assessing the Safety of Conducted Energy Devices
Law enforcement officers frequently use conducted energy devices (CEDs) in hostile situations where suspects need to be apprehended without use of lethal force. CEDs are designed to induce involuntary muscle contractions, causing the subject to be temporarily incapacitated. These devices include traditional stun guns and projectile weapons sold under the trade names TASERS® and Stinger® Handheld Projectile Stun Guns.
Recently, controversy has surrounded CEDs and raised concerns about their safety. An Amnesty International report discussed a number of incidents where application of a CED could not be ruled out as a cause of death. To evaluate the safety of CEDs, NIJ has commissioned several studies.
- Deaths following electro-muscular disruption. NIJ's foremost study on CEDs selected a panel of physicians to conduct mortality reviews on a number of deaths that followed CED application. The medical panel is examining incident data from police reports. Police data are being combined with findings from an autopsy, toxicological analysis, medical records of symptoms the subjects experienced after being shocked, and care received afterward. Find out more information about this study and information about care received afterward.
- Reconstructing the chain of events surrounding an incident. NIJ is augmenting medical data by reconstructing each scenario in which a CED was applied. NIJ is partnering with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to conduct field research to support the reviews. The IACP is investigating each incident, reconstructing the chain of events that occurred before the death.
- CEDs effects on internal organ systems. A study at the University of Wisconsin is assessing the effect of electric current as it moves through the body. The study models the effects of a CED on internal organs, including the heart. In a related effort, the University of California in San Diego and New Jersey Medical School are studying CEDs effects on metabolic pathways in the body, as well as the cardiac and respiratory systems.
- Less-lethal monitoring system. Wake Forest University is piloting a monitoring system where NIJ-funded researchers and medical personnel accompany victims of an incident where a less-lethal device was applied to a hospital. Researchers will gather data for each case attended.
- Examining excited delirium. Researchers at Wake Forest University researchers are examining a state of extreme excitement or stress called excited delirium that subjects have been known to experience following CED application. Some theorists suggest that this excited state and the associated confrontation with an officer—and not the application of the CED—can endanger subjects' lives. Physicians will perform clinical evaluations of subjects who undergo a state of excited delirium. A select panel of doctors, medical examiners, and practitioners at Wayne State University will review the medical and incident data provided in the Wake Forest study. The panel will also evaluate the use of less-lethal devices and their effectiveness.
Police departments sometimes conduct independent studies on less-lethal device use and safety. See the results of a study on the use of TASERs by the Seattle Police Department Exit Notice.