Plan to arm jail deputies with stun weapons attracts opposition in South Bay

SAN JOSE — A coalition of South Bay activists rallied outdoors the Santa Clara County Most important Jail and Board of Supervisors assembly Tuesday morning towards the proposed enlargement of a program that will lengthen the usage of stun weapons within the jail.

The protest was set to coincide with a Board of Supervisors listening to the place the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Workplace gave an replace on the primary six months of a pilot program that bought 75 stun weapons for deputies and correctional officers. This system would in the end buy 1,400 stun weapons, in line with a press launch from the Coalition for Justice and Accountability, the group of organizations pushing towards the ordinance.

“The community is demanding the video footage of the tasering of 9 inmates, their medical records and the corresponding use of force reports,” Aram James, co-chair of CJA, mentioned in a press launch. “Without access to these records the public is shut out of the critical oversight process. The community demands transparency.”

Stun weapons are steadily offered below the model identify of Taser, which is owned by Axon.

Supervisors voted in 2024 to design a pilot program to outfit deputies with stun weapons, ordering the creation of a report that will define potential well being impacts and group considerations of the the weapon’s disproportionate use towards minorities. On the time of the preliminary vote, group members expressed considerations that the the sheriff’s civilian oversight physique didn’t precisely symbolize stun weapons below its billing of “less lethal than guns.”

Santa Clara County jail deputies had been beforehand armed with stun weapons till the Nineteen Eighties — after they had been faraway from use after 37-year-old inmate Jeffrey Leonti died of cardiac arrest after he was zapped whereas restrained by guards.

In this system’s first six months, which started in March, 75 units had been bought — 60 of which got to tenured employees, in line with the Sheriff’s Workplace report given to the Board of Supervisors.

In that point, the units had been deployed 9 occasions and resulted in no accidents, the report mentioned. There have been 39 occasions when deholstering a stun gun was capable of de-escalate a scenario with out the machine’s deployment.

“These outcomes suggest that broader access to CEDs could further strengthen safety and reduce injuries to incarcerated persons, staff, and others in the jails,” the report reads.

The protesters chanted “no tasers now!” and held indicators studying “tasers kill! and “no to tasers” as they stood on the steps outdoors the Most important Jail. Audio system cited considerations in regards to the risks posed by stun weapons and expressed considerations that their elevated use will end in lethal pressure.

They then led extra chants as they marched from the jail to the Board of Supervisors assembly up the road. The board was anticipated to listen to a report on the primary six months of the pilot program at its common Tuesday assembly.

This can be a growing report. Verify again for updates.

Initially Printed: October 21, 2025 at 11:34 AM PDT