From: Laura Sparks
To: Damien O"Bid; Michael Parish
Subject: Bean Bag Rounds inappropriate for crowd control Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2022 8:23:17 PM
Hello,
Thank you for the enlightening report and discussion on the military equipment policy. I know it takes a lot of ongoing new time and effort to keep up with all the new state laws that come through, and I appreciate the thorough job you're doing.
When the policy/ordinance comes back for discussion, I'd like to see both the pros and cons of using bean bag rounds for protest/riot/crowd control situations. To be fully informed, the council needs to know about the medical outcomes and the litigation outcomes that have come about when bean bags were heavily used during civil unrest. I request that you include this information in the packet:
Letter from physicians to the New England Journal Of Medicine https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2025923
Relevant quote from the last paragraph: "Although our report reflects the experience at only one center during a short period and we cannot determine the frequency of injuries when these munitions are used, these findings highlight the fact that beanbag munitions can cause serious harm and are not appropriate for use in crowd control. Beanbag rounds have since been abandoned by our local law enforcement in this context. In light of the ongoing nationwide protests, these observations are relevant to the broader medical community as well as to policymakers seeking to reduce rates of police-induced injuries and fatalities." Medical case study on bean bag injury (Caution - disturbing imagery) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8140765/
Relevant quote: "Although bean bag munitions are less likely to cause severe injury when compared with regular gunshot rounds, it is crucial to understand that bean bag munitions may be life-threatening."
$10M settlement - City of Austin for injuries sustained from beanbag rounds https://www.star-telegram.com/news/nation-world/national/article258515403.html Relevant quote: “As tensions escalated, APD instructed our officers to use tools that we thought would help manage the crowd - for everyone’s safety, however, we did not anticipate the injuries that occurred from the use of the less lethal rounds. We now prohibit the use of less lethal ammunition for crowd control.”
Thank you again,
Laura
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