http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

The D.C. police department’s decision to arm patrol officers with semiautomatic rifles is promoted by commanders as a way to stay ahead of criminals. But it is raising concerns among civil rights groups and others, who question whether the weapons are necessary.Hundreds of officers will be issued AR-15 rifles starting this summer, and police say the guns will be a better match for criminals. Although Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier was unable to provide an example of when such firepower would have been needed in the recent past, she said police should not be caught off guard.

Police have about 500 of the weapons, and 352 officers have been trained to use them. Special units have used high-power guns for years, but officials said they wanted more officers to have access to the weapons. This is the first time AR-15s will be available for routine street patrols.

“We want to be prepared,” Lanier said. “I want officers to have what they need to be safe.”

Funny. These officers need bigger guns so as to keep them safer yet DC has what amounts to gun prohibition laws for the general public. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect here. Why is it that Joe Q. Public isn’t allowed “to have what they need to be safe?” And why should the police need to be safer? Wasn’t the point of the gun control legislation to reduce gun crime? If it’s so effective what’s with all the gun crime they need to match? If it’s not working why fight at the Supreme Court to keep it?

Perhaps because what they want is more power? A police state as it were.

The city got the AR-15 rifles from the Department of Defense for free as military surplus items.

Other police departments nationwide equip officers with semiautomatic rifles, including in Dallas, Los Angeles and Miami.

Although the overwhelming majority of D.C. homicides are committed with handguns, criminals have used powerful guns in recent years in some high-profile cases in the Washington area. A team of commando-style robbers carried out a string of bank heists in the District and Maryland in 2004, armed with assault rifles and handguns. At the time, police feared the crimes could be fatal, but the robbers were caught before anyone was seriously hurt.

Lanier referenced a 1997 bank robbery in Los Angeles, in which two men armed with AK-47 assault rifles engaged in a shootout with police. Seventeen officers and civilians were injured in the incident, which was captured on videotape. The case set off a debate about the need to better arm police.

Yes, because that kind of thing happens every day so they need to be carrying these AR-15s on their person during patrol. As for the 1997 robbery I’ve never understood how it is that there was no openings in their body armor. A hunter with a half way decent rifle should have been able to hit them at some junction in the armor. The foot or face/neck.

Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burke, who is in charge of special operations and homeland security, said protocols are being put in place to cover the use of the rifles and promised that officers will be “accountable for every shot.”

Just like they are held accountable now? Tell that to the Bell family,  Mark McCullaugh Jr.’s family, Tracy Ingle, and the hundreds of others who are attacked and fail to find justice.

http://www.ktar.com/…

AKRON, Ohio - A medical examiner must change her autopsy findings to delete any reference that stun guns contributed to the deaths of three people involved in confrontations with law enforcement officers, a judge ruled.

Friday’s decision was a victory for Taser International Inc., which had challenged rulings by Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler, including a case in which five sheriff’s deputies are charged in the death a jail inmate who was restrained by the wrists and ankles and hit with pepper spray and a stun gun.

Kohler ruled that the 2006 death of Mark McCullaugh Jr., 28, was a homicide and that he died from asphyxiation due to the “combined effects of chemical, mechanical and electrical restraint.”

Visiting Judge Ted Schneiderman said in his ruling that there was no expert evidence to indicate that Taser devices impaired McCullaugh’s respiration. “More likely, the death was due to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia brought on by severe heart disease,” the judge wrote.

Schneiderman ordered Kohler to rule McCullaugh’s death undetermined and to delete any references to homicide.

The judge also said references to stun guns contributing to the deaths of two other men must be deleted from autopsy findings. Dennis Hyde, 30, died in 2005 after a confrontation with Akron police, and Richard Holcomb, 18, died the same year after being hit with a stun by a police officer in suburban Springfield Township.

It was unclear what affect Schneiderman’s ruling may have on the upcoming criminal trial of the five sheriff’s deputies. One of them, Deputy Stephen Krendick, is charged with murder. Other deputies face charges of reckless homicide or felonious assault. All have pleaded not guilty.

Krendick’s trial is scheduled to begin June 16. A spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, which is handling the case, said its lawyers are prepared to go forward.

Steve Tuttle, vice president of communications for Taser International, said the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company is pleased with Schneiderman’s ruling.

“Taser International believed from the beginning that these determinations of cause of death must be supported by facts, medical research and scientific evidence,” Tuttle said.

John Manley, a Summit County prosecutor who represented Kohler, said the judge’s order went too far. The county is considering an appeal, he said.

“Taser is quite a force to be reckoned with and does everything to protect their golden egg, which is the Model X26,” Manley said.

Wouldn’t a high voltage shock from a taser possibly aggravate “severe heart disease”? Exactly how is it that judge knows better then the medical examiner?