AUBURN - There was some charged discussion Thursday as law enforcement and skeptical residents squared off on the topic of tasers.

A handful of local residents raised concerns during a public hearing about a proposal to use approximately $38,278 in federal funds to purchase electric tasers for the Auburn Police Department.

The hearing took place during a meeting of the Auburn City Council, at which representatives from the APD also spoke about the devices in question.

APD Officer Michael Roden presented information about the tasers and statistics from police departments where they are used. In Phoenix and Cincinnati, suspect injuries and officer-involved shootings and assaults were drastically lower after officers began to use the devices, Roden said.

Roden also presented numbers showing a correlation between taser deployment and lower insurance costs.

The point of arming officers with tasers, which he described as non-lethal weapons, is to give them another tool to use before having to use hands-on - or even deadly - force, Roden said.

When an officer has to put his or her hands on a suspect, he continued, someone is going to get injured nine times out of 10.

“If you use a baton, is it going to cause injury? Yes,” Roden said.

While the APD has been allocated the money, a grant proposal must be approved by the justice assistance program administering the funds. The department is looking to apply jointly with the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, which was also allocated approximately $12,000 through the same program.

The city council will have to vote to accept the funds if and when they are finally granted.

A taser utilizes an electric charge to incapacitate a person. The devices the APD are looking at purchasing use two probes connected to wires that attach to a subject and conduct the charge.

While the tasers use 50,000 volts of electricity, Roden said they use fewer amps than a Christmas tree bulb.

But Auburn resident Cherry Love Duncan, who spoke during the public hearing, said she was not convinced. She said she has witnessed separate incidents in which an individual suffered a heart attack and another suffered a miscarriage after being subject to taser deployment.

Love Duncan also said she does not think Auburn is a big enough city to merit the use of tasers.

“I have seen these tasers used,” she said. “It is not a pretty ordeal. It is very painful.”

Mary Lou Picciano was also critical of the proposal. Picciano, who has been at odds with the APD for years over an alleged incident involving the department and her son, said she believes tasers can be deadly.

Especially, she said, when they are in the hands of “cowboy” cops.

“This is Auburn, not New York City or Syracuse,” Picciano said.

The public hearing became heated on a number of occasions. Mayor Michael Quill interrupted Picciano during her talk, requesting that she stick to the topic at hand. Quill also interrupted Gary Temple with the same request while Temple brought up alleged past incidents of excessive force by the department.

“So much for my public hearing,” Temple said while walking away from the lectern.

But Roden insisted during his presentation that tasers are non-lethal weapons. They are not even classified by the federal government as firearms.

While Roden acknowledged that organizations such as Amnesty International have linked tasers with deaths, all those cases save one have involved individuals with another medical condition or extensive drug use, he said.

And in the California case in which police tasers were found to be a factor in a man's death, the charge was deployed 25 times. That is not the fault of the equipment, he said.

“That's bad training,” Roden said.

Not all those who spoke were completely against the proposal. Abdur-Rahim Muhammad, who represented local organization Community Wide Dialogue, said he understands the desire to give law enforcement another tool.

But Muhammad also said he does not have all the information about the tasers, and he has some concerns. Perhaps some of the public's concerns can be lessened with more information, he suggested.

“While we equip our peace forces, we don't want to do something to instill fear of the peace forces in the people,” Muhammad said. “The people shouldn't be afraid of the police.”

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.