San Francisco Police commission set to potentially approve taser policy

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The San Francisco Police Department may finally be close to actually allowing officers on the street to carry and use tasers.

The civilian-run police commission is expected to adopt a use of force policy for tasers Wednesday night.

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Commissioner Joe Marshall says, "There's agreement on the majority of the plan. There are several sticking points that they couldn't come to an

Agreement on but tonight we'll get consensus on everything."

The same commission approved the use of tasers in November of 2017 but not the draft of a policy which was vetted by stakeholders.

fter that meeting Chief William Scott said that officers would have tasers by December 2018.

The police union said the Commission was dragging its feet on adopting a policy. Frustrated with the perceived lack of action by the commission, the union recently put a measure on the June ballot with its own version of a taser policy.

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"We believe our policy is consistent. It's practical. It's reasonable."

POA President Martin Halloran says the Commission's version may hinder officers in the field.

"It is a little more restrictive with their language that's in there and that's where we have concerns."

That move gained more attention after San Francisco interim Mayor Mark Farrell publically backed the union's plan.

In response, Chief Scott wrote a letter to the department of elections railing against the measure saying that it would prevent the department from implementing reforms recommended by the Department of Justice after several controversial police shootings.

Board of Supervisors President and Mayoral candidate London Breed also supports the Commission's policy, saying if there were changes needed, doing that with a policy approved by voters would be too difficult.

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"You have to go back to the voters and that's why it's important to keep the converneed to be trained.sations around the policy on the Commission level."

It'll still take some time before police in San Francisco actually get the tasers. The Commission's policy still needs to go through bargaining with the POA.

And then, officers need to be trained.

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