Deputies to Keep Using Tasers, Block Says : Law enforcement: Sheriff rejects grand jury recommendation to eliminate stun gun and replace it with weapon that fires plastic bullets.

Sheriff Sherman Block said Friday that his department will keep using the Taser electric dart gun as an “intermediate weapon” to subdue suspects rather than replace it with a weapon that fires plastic bullets, as recommended in a Los Angeles County Grand Jury report.

Block rejected the grand jury’s suggestion that the Taser causes greater injury than the Arwen gun.

“These weapons are not utilized under the same tactical situation,” the sheriff said in an interview. “Each has its own purpose.

“The Taser is a device that is used when you are in close contact with the person (whom) you’re trying to gain control over. Usually, we’re talking about a range of three to 10 feet, whereas the Arwen is a device that can fire up to 100 yards. And, in fact, if you were too close with the Arwen, there’s a possibility that the trauma that that would inflict could very well be fatal.”

Noting that sheriff’s sergeants carry both weapons, Block said that although the plastic bullets from the Arwen do not penetrate the body, as the darts from the Taser do, they hit with high velocity.

“They’re both called ‘less lethal’ weapons,” Block said. “We don’t use the word non-lethal because, depending on a person’s physical condition, they could be lethal.”

Two frequent critics of Los Angeles area law enforcement agencies’ use of force suggested Friday that the grand jury had missed the central point in focusing on the Taser issue in its review of Sheriff’s Department procedures.

Attorney Samuel Paz of Alhambra, who often represents plaintiffs in police brutality cases, and Gloria Romero, head of the Hispanic Advisory Council to the Los Angeles Police Commission, said they wished that the grand jury had instead examined the question of when deadly force is to be used.

Romero called the grand jury report “a real smoke screen. The question is not so much the type of weapon, but under what conditions should the weapon be fired,” she said. “The weapon is important, but the question of whether to shoot or not to shoot is more important. That policy question is what the grand jury should have examined.”

Paz agreed that policy issues should have been examined in more depth. But he said that Block is correct in deciding that the Arwen should not replace the Taser.

Paz said more frequent use of such intermediate weapons--in contrast to use of standard firearms--could reduce the department’s brutality litigation. “The law enforcement policy should be to use deadly force only when it’s absolutely necessary,” Paz said.

Block said the department’s policy on that issue is clear.

“Under the law, deadly force is appropriate only when there is an actual or perceived threat, when an individual may suffer serious injury or death without that force being used,” the sheriff said.

Block said his deputies need such weapons as the Taser, the Arwen and batons as alternatives to using deadly force.