By Doug Wyllie, Police1 Senior Editor
Read the full report (PDF): Study of Deaths Following Electro Muscular Disruption
A U.S. Department of Justice report released earlier this month said that the potential for moderate or severe injury related to conducted energy devices (CEDs) exposure is low. Electro-muscular disruption (EMD) technology has become the less-lethal weapon of choice for a growing number of law enforcement agencies; approximately 11,500 law enforcement agencies across the country have acquired CEDs, according to the DOJ report.
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) |
Studies undertaken by law enforcement agencies deploying CED indicate reduced injuries to officers and suspects resulting from use of force encounters and reduced use of deadly force, the report said. DOJ suggests that law enforcement “need not refrain from deploying CEDs, provided the devices are used in accordance with accepted national guidelines” such as Electronic Control Weapons, a model policy of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
The Study of Deaths Following Electro Muscular Disruption: Interim Report also stated that while there exists some health risks (some of which are noted below) there is “no conclusive medical evidence within the state of current research that indicates a high risk of serious injury or death from the direct effects of CED exposure” and that “exposure is safe in the vast majority of cases.”
According to the DOJ report, “human subjects maintain the ability to breathe during exposure to CED. Although there is evidence of hyperventilation in human subjects immediately following CED exposure, there is no medical evidence of lasting changes in respiratory function in human subjects following exposure to CED.”
Although some have alleged that EMD technology may lead to heart failure, the DOJ has concluded that “there is currently no medical evidence that CEDs pose a significant risk for induced cardiac dysrhythmia when deployed reasonably.”
Health risks cited by the DOJ include:
Puncture wounds to an eye by a barbed dart
Head injuries resulting from falls due to muscle incapacitation
Deploying a device against a person who is in water can result in drowning
Deploying a device against a person on a steep slope can result in a potentially fatal fall
Deploying a device near flammable materials can result in serious injury or death
The DOJ said that Excited Delirium, a syndrome characterized by psychosis and agitation that can render a subject “medically unstable” in a rapidly declining state “has a high risk of mortality in the short term even with medical intervention or in the absence of CED deployment or other types of subdual.” Excited Delirium is frequently associated with combativeness and elevated body temperature and in some cases, Excited Delirium that requires subdual carries with it a high risk of death, regardless of the method of subdual.
The report said that “current human research suggests that the use of CED is not a life‐threatening stressor in cases of Excited Delirium beyond the generalized stress of the underlying condition or appropriate subdual.”
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