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Police use of tasers or CDE’s, Conducted Energy Devices, has stirred some controversy that police authorities say they are not taking lightly.
The Police Executive Forum, or PERF, a national group of law enforcement professionals, just concluded a two-day conference in Houston on taser use. Perf Executive Director Chuck Wilcox says in five major cities with widespread use of tasers, and Houston is one of them, tasers have saved the lives officers and suspects. He says those cities have fewer police shootings and tasers have at least played a part in that.
HPD Executive Assistant Chief Charles McClelland says he has monitored every one of the 458 times tasers have been used in Houston since implementation last December.
HPD Chief Harold Hurtt says over the last ten months there have been i5 incidents in which deadly force by Houston police officers was justified, but was not used because officers used their tasers.
Chief Hurtt says over the last ten months no officer or civilian in Houston have been injured by tasers. He also said that most of the recommendations for taser use coming from the PERF conference are already part of taser training at HPD.