francisco. i just wanted to go through a checklist here. taser costs. are they to thousand dollars each? -- $2,000 each? when i go to the budget hearings, at $10,000 is for whole programs. that is where it is coming from. last i heard, this comes out of the general fund. the first thing we ought to do is move it to the police budget. they don't care. i think it is very -- i see this proliferation of different names.

we have three or four names. no means no. this is not the first time. i went to some of these hearings it was exactly the same thing. the light, claiming it was not legal. -- they lied, claiming it was non-lethal. 80,000 said no. it is time for a lot of these people to go back to school. if you are watching your own things here, diabetes is not a mental illness. there are 10,000 physical conditions where people act

drunk or crazy or whatever. >> i would like to say that one of the things that produces mental preparedness, someone on their family and that person has to live with that, nothing is ever being done to resolve the issue that caused this person to become mentally ill. in the way that it is not proper to be tased. the reason i am here today, my brother was murdered january 2nd. i plan to keep coming down here until something is done for my brother. he has two children.

the person that killed my brother is still walking the streets of san francisco. i guess he feels he has a free pass. it is producing a mental imbalance for me and my family. we hope that something is done, and we appreciate the fact that the chief talked to his officers. we appreciate that. we still have some issues that need to be resolved. >> commissioners, director.

i want to thank all of the commissioners a lot of the same information was presented. i especially want to thank commissioner kinglsey. -- kingsley. i wanted to extend a thank-you to you. you are very much interested in getting a sense of the public.

and the amendment you put forward tonight would slow down the process. and you would be open to discussing this issue with the community. the taser is a symbol of police misconduct. they will contribute. the director mentioned it is paramount to effective policing. i would say that community trust in the police is also paramount. [chime] i ask you to vote no tonight, thank you. >> my name is francisco, i am on the executive board and supervising attorney to provide

deportation defense to immigrants. i am opposed to the implementation of tasers. one thing that has not been discussed, there is very little discussion of the city budget. taser international has asked for a hundred and $36 million -- $136 million. they lost $8 million, and $8 million reduction in their sales. we need to evaluate the $500 million budget. when our programs are being cut. we really have to closely evaluate that. there is no quick fix to the problem.

as we have seen time and time again, speaker after speaker, the conclusions are inconclusive. >> good evening, commissioners. [unintelligible] i apologize for not being at the joint meeting last night. what needs to be addressed here is the statement of common sense. you can have all of the practice is you want, but officers responding to a call, they will not use the policy. their adrenalin is rushing into they will subdued the suspect in any matter they can.

that is what is taking place. if you bring the community to the table, looked across the country involving officers. we need to be at the table here. they will be glad to sit at the table to talk about the community. we are scared of law enforcement. don't kid yourself. tasers, where is the money going to come from? who will regulate the policies? who will be the overseeing body? don't be in a hurry to vote for something that might cost some one their lives.

>> commissioners, i'm president of the booker t. washington center. i will keep my comments brief. both sides opposed to the tasers, i saw evidence of abuse. on the pro tasers, i saw anecdotes and role plays. it did not seem like a debate. you have facts on one side and desires and anecdote on the other side. it was mentioned a few times that the only time it should be used is in situations -- it was mentioned earlier that

[unintelligible] there is one thing that has not been talked about tonight. looking to the disproportionate impact on communities of color. it's happening with tasers, too. the only time is really rational is -- it came up a few times. the last point is about the budget. there is the republican congressman in the state of ohio. there is probably not one republican on the commission and we are considering this. it seems irresponsible to me.

i am here to emphatically ask you to oppose the taser and ask you to stop studying tasers. thank you. >> i'm a triple-bypass about two years ago. i would be at risk. former mayor newsome and the former police chief argued that it would reduce officer related shootings by 1/3. this argument is false. if they are genuinely in danger by an armed suspect, they will use a gun. they will use noncompliance

subjects. 80% of taser use is against unarmed individuals. if they are adequately trained, they can handle noncompliant subjects without tasers. police policy is that officers are not to shoot unless someone is in danger. meeting that the suspect is armed. if that is true, that they will reduce police shootings by 1/3, it implies police are shooting on their own suspects. we don't agree that it is an acceptable substitute for police education. police used the taser and will

make racial profiling much worse. courts do not protect against taser abuse. a 7-month pregnant seattle black woman was pulled over and she was refusing to sign the ticket. the court upheld that. [chime] >> good evening, commissioners. chief. several things have come up during this hearing, so i will not repeat what was said. but thank you for holding this hearing. i appreciate the consideration given to this very important matter. the issue has, about anecdote vs fact.

as someone who works weekly with police abuse, i ask you to look very deeply where you find the truth. accountability has come up in this discussion, and we are far more interested in accountability before people are attacked with weapons. i appreciate the contributions concerning the tactis and the focus on tactics. frankly, i get threatened nearly every week. i was told, i am going to come find you and get you. a direct quote. frankly, as a black man who

has low body mass and a history of epilepsy, i have a huge candidate for having fatal results. with me or anyone else in this public, i would ask each one of you to please explain [unintelligible] thank you very much. >> throughout the meeting, it seems like we were having this great conversation. they were having to listen and we would have this great discussion or counter argument. in this case, children are getting tasered.

we have families, too. i think the problem is, we are people. we have communities and a voice, too. we worked with the sfpd in teh past, -- the past, and we worked hard to keep costs from getting on muni and harassing passengers. safety in times where there is poverty exploding into police oppression on the rise, especially for people that are listening right now, for the communities that have been hit hardest by the depression, they have access to medical care and we should also [unintelligible]

in san francisco, no, this paid less than $100,000 a year. -- no cop is paid less than $100,000 a year. that will provide for a better future. and if you want support to remain poor, the potential students and workers -- [chime] >> good evening, commissionaires. thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak tonight. you have each received a copy of the letter we have submitted in

opposition to the use of tasers by the san francisco police department. eva pattterson, the executive director, the president of the san francisco lawyers association and other community leaders. the woman was thrown to the ground, placed in a chokehold and tased while her hands were behind her back. she was purchasing can be for a movie and had the receipt to prove it. this is the real narrative of how tasers are used. the stories are all too common

in communities of color. despite the trading protocols that are put in place by the police department, these are the kinds of incidents that happen again and again despite their best efforts to protect against them. we come today with a simple request that the commission should not move forward when some many of our community leaders and so many community members have serious and legitimate concerns. that is why your vote is of critical importance. >> good evening, commissioners.

i am the president of the national lawyers guild, i am a local attorney. we live in a world with too many weapons, and we don't need any more weapons. they don't make us safe. i'm opposed to the use of tasers. there is a history of them being developed as instruments of torture. we don't need the extra costs associated with buying tasers. as we've also heard, police are likely to use force against people of color. our black and brown brothers and

sisters are likely to be at an additional risk. tasers end up causing more deaths after they are adopted by the police. i was at a cafe and i noticed a commotion. there was a guy being beat up outside by someone else. the guy was left there, he was dazed and confused. people gave him water. the cops showed up, and because he would not stand up, they held him against the wall like this. and a woman cop shot him with a taser. i made a complaint. they did not find any wrongdoing. the man was taken away in an

ambulance. [chime] >> my name is catherine, here i teach art at the community center. i am a little nervous about speaking. the argument that tasers are more dangerous, they are usually thought of as less lethal. they are actually lethal to some degree, and in my opinion, a significant degree. there is an inherent danger with the less-lethal weapons. the public's fear of authority has shifted in the past few decades. it is coupled with an increasing fear of the law.

it is seen as a less lethal weapon. it will be used more often if there were not a taser option. it is a choice between violent action and restraint. i do not support the increased use of violent weapons, i understand the argument for the less lethal option. if you vote to support this option, i want to the equal amounts to be invested for low education -- low-income communities in francisco -- san francisco. thank you.

>> good evening, i am a student and a member of [unintelligible] this is not another tool for the tool box, it is another weapon to brutalize the community, especially communities of color. how can we believe that they will exercise caution described as humane. community members will feel more fear. we need to use the money to strengthen our communities. thank you. >> i am a resident of san francisco and their practice medicine in san francisco -- and

i practice medicine in san francisco. the issue tonight is whether the adoption will result in fewer deaths and severe injuries. growing medical evidence suggests that it is not much of that. i have looked into some of the details and spent some time with that. severe injuries to officers increase when they were introduced. his data does not support that conclusion. and also the death of subjects increased twofold. that is because the relatively small size of the study, it did

not have that much significance. both cannot be ruled out. the findings are also similar to a 2008 study where the officer sites they did not rule out an increase in death. there is some data in the study, one of which is that the death rate in the intervention department was lower by a factor of four. there was a suggestion that the departments that were there were not matched. in the study, they presented it that it was published and considered the last time. the last thing i will say, if

you don't use it in legal situations, there doesn't seem to be a role for tasters. -- tasers. >> police officers are using extremely [unintelligible] when the police leave, i have to deal with the aftermath. when you put extra weapons on

them, it is going to cost them. the fact that he was on the ground with four people surrounding him, it shows a lot of irresponsibility and unaccountability. remember this. we are people, we are not statistics and numbers.

-- get nervous and hold their thumb down. i am a great grandmother with a heart murmur. i want to know if police will be able to recognize that fact when we are protesting the future budget cuts that will be necessary to pay for these tasers. thank you. >> i am from north beach. during the 1990's, i probably attended 150 police commission meetings. i represented people in an