San Francisco police chief urges stun gun use after shooting

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco is one of only two large cities in the country that do not equip officers with stun guns, a situation the city's police chief wants to change after police fatally shot a knife-wielding stabbing suspect last week.

The police chief said the fatal shooting could have been avoided if the responding officers had been equipped with Taser stun guns, which deliver 50,000 electrical volts and are designed to temporarily incapacitate suspects without killing them.

Civil rights groups and community activists say that, instead of more equipment, police need additional training in crisis intervention and how to defuse confrontations between police and armed suspects who sometimes are mentally disturbed or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Suhr and three of his predecessors previously failed to win the police commission authorization for stun guns even as the vast majority of the nation's law enforcement agencies have been outfitting officers with the weapon, which is shaped like a handgun and often is holstered on the officer's gun belt.

Wachtel said stun guns are designed for the situation— a man with a knife surrounded in close quarters by police officer — that led to the fatal shooting of Woods.

The five officers who fired their guns have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of three investigations into the shooting, which was captured by video by at least two witnesses.

Suhr appeared at a police commission meeting Wednesday and publicly renewed his call for police officers to be equipped with Tasers and said that a group is reviewing the department's use-of-force policies and should have a draft ready by January.

DeJesus called for a review and revision of the police department's use-of-force policies and procedures.

Northern California transit police officer Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after he shot to death passenger Oscar Grant on Jan. 1, 2009.