Tactical Deployments:
The Seattle Experience

Officer Steve Ward
Seattle Police Department SWAT

Outline
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Review of Seattle’s one year report
Seattle’s high profile cases
Analyzing M26 deployment evidence
M26 testing

Seattle P.D. One Year Report
• One year study from 1-1-01 through 1-1-02
• 106 M26 incidents studied
• Some incidents involved more than one
deployment
• All 106 taser incident reports were reviewed
and the information was recorded

Taser Use By Time Of Day
60
50
40
Percent
Number

30
20
10
0
0800-1600

1600-2400

2400-0800

Incidents By Taser Officer,
Back-up, Or Requested
60
50
40
Taser Officer
Back-up
Request

30
20
10
0
Number of Incidents

Percent of Incidents

Initial Classification Of Incidents
16%

16%

13%

Drug/Alcohol
Related
Fight/Disturbance

16%

Mental
Illness/Suicide
Traffic Related
Violent Crime

19%

Other
20%

Age Of Suspects
20
18
16
14
12
Number of Subjects
Percent of Subjects

10
8
6
4
2
0
<20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 >40

Race Of Subjects
6% 4%
White
African American
48%
42%

Asian/Pacific
Islander
Other

Taser Subject Impairment

23%

Alcohol impaired

40%
10%
4%
23%

Chemical/Drug
impaired
Drug & Alcohol
impaired
Mental
illness/delusional
No apparent
impairment

Suspect Injury
• 13 percent of suspects were injured
subsequent to taser deployment - generally
occurred as suspects fell to the ground
• No suspect injuries were major
• No injuries were attributed to the M26 itself

Officer Injury
• In 5 percent of the deployments an officer
was injured
• All injuries were minor

Taser Use Against Armed
Suspects
• 25 percent (26 cases) of all M26
applications were against armed suspects
• 11 of the 26 suspects were armed with
knives
• 62 percent of armed suspects were impaired
• These statistics show the need to deploy
with lethal cover

Taser Performance
• Out of all the deployments there have been
14 cases of misses or clothing related failure
• In 95 percent of deployments there was a
reported disabling or partially disabling
effect on the suspect
• In 92 percent of deployments the taser was
solely credited with bringing the situation to
resolution

Seattle High Profile Cases

Seattle High Profile Incidents
Case 1
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Knife wielding suspect
Small room
2 M26 deployments
1st deployment made contact but was
broken
• 2nd deployment - no verifiable contact
• Suspect lunged and cut officer’s shirt
• Lethal cover shot suspect

Seattle High Profile Incidents
Case 2
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Sword wielding suspect
2 M26 deployments
1st deployment was a miss
2nd deployment was effective
Lethal cover acted at same time to protect
themselves and other officers

Analyzing The Evidence
• Taser instructors might get called to assist
in analyzing evidence from a taser
deployment
• The need to analyze evidence supports the
idea of saving the cartridge, wires, and
probes after a deployment

Analyzing The Evidence
• If possible, talk to the officers involved to
get their thoughts about the incident
• Read all statements and reports from the
incident
• View the physical evidence - clothing,
pictures, M26 cartridge, and the M26

Clothing Evidence

TASER PROBES

Forensic Mannequin

Analyzing The Evidence:
Misses
Conclusion?

Miss

Hit

Analyzing The Evidence:
Misses
Cartridge Analysis
Both probes
attached

(Grass)

Analyzing The Evidence:
No Contact With Body
• Examine the body or
pictures of the suspect
for M26 puncture
wounds
• Ask officers if they
heard the M26 deploy
- a loud deployment
usually means no
contact was made

Probe impact

10”

Analyzing The Evidence:
No Contact With Body
• Examine the body or
pictures of the suspect
for red or sunburned
areas around the area
where the dart came
close to the skin

Wounds

Taser Testing
• Department administration might want to
have independent testing done
• RCMP published an independent report in
May of 2001
• Washington State Patrol Crime Lab has
commissioned a study and is writing a
report for the Seattle Police Department

Contact Information
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Officer Steve Ward
Seattle Police Department SWAT
610 3 Av Seattle, WA 98104
206-856-5868

• Tasertrainer@hotmail.com
• Homepage.mac.com/stevenward
• Password “buffalo”