UCLA Taser Forum

(Technorati Tags: UCLA, taser, hall staff)

Gotta love students' sense of activism (from the Daily Bruin 12/7):

UCLA officials held a town hall-style discussion Wednesday night to facilitate conversation between students and university officials regarding the Nov. 14 Taser incident.

...

But student turnout was sparse, with nine students present throughout the course of the discussion.

Evan Shulman, a third-year cognitive science student, attributed the low turnout to dead week and finals. "As a resident assistant I tried to get my floor to attend, but most told me they were too busy to come," Shulman said.

The forum was organized by the faculty-in-residence program, and if theirs is anything like ours here at Berkeley, it's small and works closely only with the residence halls and the career center. This event was likely only advertised in the halls for residents, but the numbers in attendance are still telling. Here's an event allowing for students to speak their minds in a forum slightly more important than an online message board, and for students to hear officials comment and debate what happened and explain their positions on the matter, and yet only a handful of students take advantage of it. I almost want to attribute it to facebook activism and the general apathy of our peers, but there were also successful on-campus protests that drew large crowds, so I don't think that's it.

Is it obstinacy? Perhaps. A couple of cops make a bad judgment call and the entire conglomerate of officials at UCLA are all taken down a peg. Students might not respect their opinions, and might not think it effective to even communicate with the older folks about the issue. Given the pending investigation, that's all that can be done and so trying to reason with idiots is a waste of time. This viewpoint won't help win any debates or convince anyone, but it might not matter for students. And if college students are this obstinate at this point in their lives, just think of what will happen when they get old, cranky, and lose their sense of open-mindedness. *shudder*

Is the issue just plain dead? Perhaps. The taser incident happened over a month ago. Do students just not care anymore, or think that the poor tasing of one of their brothers takes the silver when competing against that approaching calculus final? If our generation is that quick to forget, our future is still looking grim.

Did students realize they were wrong to judge the police so quickly and decide to call off la résistance? I doubt it.

None of the students in attendance actually spoke during the discussion. Instead, they listened to faculty members and university officials.

...and thought up more inane protest cheers about not tasing them for forgetting their IDs.

Smart Students

(Technorati Tags: UCLA, UCPD, Taser)

One cannot argue with the supreme logic found on facebook discussion boards. Here are some choice quotes made by our UC brothers and sisters down in LA:

"Cops are trained to be dicks. Go figure." --'06 Graduate

"BTW, Iranian Student Group and many others are having a PROTEST FRIDAY NOON KERCKHOFF STEPS. spread the word if you don't want to get tasered next time you do anything." -- Senior

OMG ANYTHING???!!

"One of my favorite things about UCLA, I used to tell people, was how safe it was. Looks like I was wrong." -- Senior

How terribly wrong you were. Indeed, tasering comes before all else.

"This was a clear cut case of civil disobedience. Saying that the "cops did their" job or an equivalent is like saying "I'm glad those British officers beat the shit out of Gandhi and his crew for taking salt out of a fucking lake" or "I'm glad those police officers hosed down blacks and released dogs on MLK's crew for marching"." -- Senior

Thank you, taser victim, for being a martyr for STUDENT ID RIGHTS!

"I would feel safe at UCLA if cops weren't scared to death of Middle Easterners."

"On the flip side, I do believe Tabatabeinejad was foolish for refusing to show identification. But then again, an officer was asked for his name and badge number, and when he refused, nobody tasered him." -- Freshman

Honestly, who knew he was a police officer? Anyone could've worn that uniform and fully-equipped utility belt and radio.

But this has to be my personal favorite:

"You can here the negro [officer] saying... "Get up or I'll taze you again" in the negro gangster accent. He can't be treating this like Compton, this is UCLA." -- Junior Scumbag Piece of Shit

I propose we tase THESE students multiple times. How about it?

Fun with Tasers 2

(Technorati Tags: UCLA, UCPD, Taser)




UCLA Students finally understand! But deep down I'm hoping they use some of our slogans for their next shirt design.

I feel bad for the CSOs that are checking IDs in that library now. Every encounter must now run something like this:

CSO: Can I see your ID?
Fucktard: I have it ---PLEASE DON'T TASE ME!!!!
CSO: Yeah, hah, ok, haven't heard that one before....
Fucktard: *dirty looks*
CSO: *rolls eyes; considers calling for a tase force just because*

Editorial from an Officer

(Technorati Tags: UCLA, UCPD, Taser)

It's like I was reading this cop's mind:

Taser was used as a defensive tool

I am a former full-time law enforcement officer and campus police officer.

As such, I have several points to make about the Taser incident at UCLA.

First of all, the student was unruly and uncooperative. "Get off me!" is not a response I will accept if I ask for identification on a college campus.

It shouldn't be an option to walk away from officers when asked for proof that you belong on campus.

Also, Tasers are defensive weapons, not necessarily compliance tools.

I was somewhat uncomfortable with the officers' use of the Taser. When faced with a subject who is restrained, but will not get up and come along, I usually just grab their ear and go to the car.

If that feels a little too strong at the time, I pick them up and carry them or drag them.

I don't beat them, pepper spray them, or use a Taser on them because they are not a danger to me.

However, given their presence on the scene, the officers may have decided that physically removing the student would have been dangerous to bystanders, the student or the officers themselves.

In addition, I would have told concerned bystanders to step away from what was happening or face arrest. This tends to work better than threatening them with a Taser. [My thoughts: Certainly, but it's important not to lie to the students, either. If a huge crowd of students are going to interfere directly with an officer while he is using a taser, there's nothing unjustified about the use of the taser as crowd control, IF the situation got to that.]

Soon after retiring from my job as campus officer, a female student was abducted from a parking lot, abused, and killed within a mile of the campus.

Having identification is the first thing you must do as a student.

The second is to not question when someone asks for it.

The Clog and the Taser Protest

(Technorati Tags: UCLA, UCPD, Taser)

So the Clog notes that Berkeley is throwing its own protest of the taser incident at UCLA tomorrow (Monday) at noon. They've jokingly asked counter protestors to make their voices heard, and are looking forward to seeing what's on their signs.

It's a tad bit childish of the Clog to be backing one side of this issue, to be chiding the opposition, and to not allow or respond to any feedback or alternative viewpoints they may (did) have received or found on the matter. This has been a good topic of conversation in many blogs and facebook groups, but I suppose the Clog is too highbrow to be bogged down with discussion, no?

And I've got a few counterprotest slogans to list here -- anyone have more?

"I am a Student! Rules do not apply to me!"

"Tasering is so, kinda, sorta, almost against the law!"

"Civil Disobedience: saying 'La La I Can't Hear You' to police"

"YES I've got an ID / NO you can't see it"

"TAZERZ is TORTURE!"

UCPD R TERIBBL!!!!

(Technorati Tags: UCPD, UCLA, Taser)

The title might help me relate to, oh, every goddamned college student in California lately.

I'm a raging liberal, but even I am getting a little steamed at the way UC students have faulted the UCPD in this situation, claiming an abuse of power. Let's go over some of the key issues, and I hope they are quick, because I gotta get ready for trouncing USC sobbing quietly in the corner.

1) If the officers felt threatened by the advancing crowds, letting students who are coming close know that they may also be tased is justified. The officer was giving the warning that if someone were to interfere with law enforcement, those folks would also have to be dealt with. The police statement mirrors what's seen in the video: the officers were vastly outnumbered by a very responsive and vocal student community.

You can whine about getting "threatened" all you want, but like it or not, the police have a job to do, and need to let you know the consequences of interfering with their job if you are perhaps contemplating it. Looking at the way many have responded to this event ("I WOULDA JUMPD THOSE COPZ!"), I'd say the warning was an important one.

2) With given policy, tasers can be used to attain compliance from passively or aggressively resisting individuals. The initial tase was fairly justified: an unidentified suspect resisted police and started screaming when the police tried to hold him. After the suspect is handcuffed, he still refuses to comply, and is tased multiple times thereafter. The alternative to tasing to attain compliance in this situation (his body would "go limp" and make it easier to transport him outside) would be to wrestle him down and drag him out. Given he wasn’t compliant at any point during the incident, why should the officers assume he would now comply in cuffs? He wasn’t acknowledging their clear directives, either in actions or in words.

Also important to note is the danger to both parties, not just the police. Given that the suspect is handcuffed, he would not be able to draw a weapon should he have one, but physical resistance could very well lead to more injuries to his own body, such as by falling head first on the tile. The situation provoked a judgment call, as officers ought to be used to, and the outcome fell on what the officers decided. Given what we know of the circumstances, it’s hard to honestly be angry at them, for it seems theirs was a logical call.

3) I'm not entirely sure I like the taser policy. But that's a different beast of a topic entirely. I'm seeing lots of arguments from folks who are not distinguishing between policy and action. However you want to go about responding, please understand that regardless of your feelings on police wielding tasers or how dangerous tasers can be, these officers were following their department's policy. You can protest the policy, but that does not also correlate with protesting the officers's actions involved.

4) There is little to no evidence that this incident is a hate crime, other than the suspect being Iranian-American. The CSOs followed normal policy, the suspect disobeyed police and started screaming when they tried to stop him from leaving without using the taser, the officers warned him approximately 70 times throughout the situation that his noncompliance would result in more electric shocks. There's a much better chance that this guy simply got what was coming to him. That's not an asinine statement at all.

Saying that this is a hate crime shits all over the concept of hate in our society. Wanna know what a hate crime is? Savagely beating and sodomizing a teenager for being Hispanic, all the while shouting racial epithets, is a hate crime. Lodging a bullet in the head of a Muslim mother of 6 in Fremont, while she walked down the street with her 3-year-old daughter to a nearby elementary school, is a hate crime.

That the suspect is not white in this case does not make this a hate crime, and it shames all of us collectively for college students to be claiming it. We have a wealth of hate and apathy to be actively addressing in our communities, and the only thing that can come from protesting this incident in the name of racial equality is deterrence from that duty.

Fun with Tasers

(Technorati Tags: ucla, taser, ucpd)

Can't help but laugh:

Meyerhoff Park was electric Friday afternoon when more than 400 students, faculty, staff, parents and community members gathered to protest the use of a Taser multiple times on a UCLA student in Powell Library on Tuesday night.

...

"These police were way out of bounds," said Samer Araabi, a general representative on the Undergraduate Students Association Council. "Do you feel protected by the police?"

The crowd roared back with a resounding "No."

(Daily Bruin 11/17/06)

Glad it wasn't a night rally, otherwise they'd have to call up some of those unprotective police officers for escort services.

"It's a shock that something like this can happen at UCLA," she said.

These ongoing puns make up for everything that happened, in my humble opinion. Please, students and journalists, keep them coming!

Thoughts on UCLA Taser Incident

If you're a UC student, you've probably already heard of the shocking (*snort*) news to hit the UC campus in LA, but for you "Melinda Duckett Porn" googlers:

UCPD officers shot a student several times with a Taser inside the Powell Library CLICC computer lab late Tuesday night before taking him into custody.

...

At around 11:30 p.m., CSOs asked a male student using a computer in the back of the room to leave when he was unable to produce a BruinCard during a random check. The student did not exit the building immediately.

The CSOs left, returning minutes later, and police officers arrived to escort the student out. By this time the student had begun to walk toward the door with his backpack when an officer approached him and grabbed his arm, at which point the student told the officer to let him go. A second officer then approached the student as well.

The student began to yell "get off me," repeating himself several times.

It was at this point that the officers shot the student with a Taser for the first time, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain. The student also told the officers he had a medical condition.

(Daily Bruin, 11/15/06)

You can check out the YouTube video of the incident, as it loads a lot quicker.

While watching the movie is enough to make one cringe, no one should be all that convinced that this is a flagrant abuse of power.

The issue here is not simply that the student forgot his ID. If you forget your ID, you say, "Whoops, forgot my ID!" and the situation is over. The CSO asks you to leave, you comply, end of story.

That's not what happened.

"He wasn't cooperative; he wouldn't identify himself. He resisted the officers," Young said.

...

Young said the CSOs on duty in the library at the time went to get UCPD officers when Tabatabainejad did not immediately leave, and UCPD officers resorted to use of the Taser when Tabatabainejad did not do as he was told.

If you are going to tell a CSO to get lost after a directive to leave, and the real cops need to show up to ask you to do so, there's a good chance they're going to want to talk to you. You don't suddenly get to pack your things and leave at this point.

But some students feel differently:

When asked whether the student resisted when officer attempted to escort him from the building, the witness said, "In the beginning, no. But when they were holding onto him and they were on the ground, he was trying to just break free. He was saying, 'I'm leaving, I'm leaving.' It was so disturbing to watch that I cannot be concise on that. I can just say that he was willing to leave. He had his backpack on his shoulder and he was walking out when the cops approached him. It was unnecessary."

I mean, one can try asking politely, but I don’t think the officers are going to just let go after they’ve had to physically hold someone down to the ground. Say what you want, but at that point, you aren’t leaving.

In this situation the use of a taser seems fairly justified, particularly because the unidentified person is not complying with police directives. Yeah, getting tased hurts, but using other physical means to detain this person, or to perhaps pull this person up from the ground and out the door, particularly when the police do not know whether he is armed, can end up being more dangerous for both parties.

My stomach turns everytime I watch this clip, and I do feel some sympathy for the guy (the visceral emotions evoked by his screams is what gets most students, I wager), but I really do not understand his preaching about his rights and the officer’s abuse of power. Priorities are important here. Do that AFTER they have deactivated the taser and ceased with the threats to tase you again. The police made the consequences of continuing to ignore police directives very clear, yet he refused to comply.

Given what we know of the situation, we can of course logically protest the policy of officers wielding tasers, but we cannot fault the officers for doing their job.

"Any student who witnessed it was left with an image you don't want to remember," said a witness who asked not to be identified.

Yeah, and I hope that image and this story's moral is crystal clear: shut the fuck up about the Patriot Act and listen when an officer has already had to use force to subdue you and is giving you stern commands, with a stun gun primed and aimed up your ass.

***
The Daily Bruin has an editorial that reflects some of this sentiment.