After recent controversy over Taser use, San Diego County Sheriff's Department officials say the electroshock weapons have defused hundreds of possibly lethal confrontations and kept deputies and the public safer since deputies began using them in late 2005.

To show that Tasers have reduced deadly violence, officials point to the following: Just one deputy-involved firearm shooting has taken place in the past three years, while 17 were recorded from 2005 through 2006.

Critics, however, are not convinced that Tasers -- which temporarily incapacitate people with their 50,000-volt charges -- have made their North County communities safer. Some say deputies have used the weapons too often and without justification. And in at least one local case still being investigated by the department, Taser use contributed to a man's death, critics contend.

The blast from a Taser immobilizes a person within seconds, causing the muscles to contract uncontrollably. Medical and law enforcement studies show, however, that Tasers cause no long-term damage. Injuries beyond scrapes and bruises from a person falling after they are struck are rare.

Sheriff's deputies fired Tasers at people 521 times from 2005 through March 2009, officials said. During that period, they also pointed the weapon at people 575 times. In the latter cases, they did not fire because the subjects complied with deputies' orders, officials said.

Deputies must file a report each time they fire or display a weapon. The Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement for Vista, San Marcos, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and Poway as well as unincorporated areas.

"We have extremely low numbers (of Taser use) … It's not being abused," said Sgt. Mary Helmen of the inspection services division, which conducts audits on use of force practices.

She added that any abuse of force is "despised and will not be tolerated."

Tasers can only be used "as a means of subduing and gaining control of a subject displaying assaultive behavior," according to the department's guidelines. They can be deployed only "where it is deemed reasonable and necessary to minimize the potential for human injury," the guidelines state.

Examples where deputies are allowed to use a Taser include breaking up a beating, defending against someone charging at them and protecting a fellow deputy during an attack, Helmen said.

Late last month, two Camp Pendleton Marines accused Vista deputies of using excessive force when they shot a Taser and also pepper spray at them to break up a party on Palomar Place. Marine Pfc. John Simpson said he was trying to get a fellow Marine to sit down when he was hit with a Taser. Marine Cpl. Brandi Bates said she was offering information when hit with pepper spray.

Later the same day, April 26, Vista deputies again used a Taser and a pepper spray gun to break up a loud party on Lone Oak Lane. An internal sheriff's review of both incidents found no inappropriate use of force, Vista Sheriff's Lt. Scott Rossall said.

No formal complaints about those incidents had been filed as of early May, officials said.

Vocal critic

Tina Jillings, a Vista activist, said the more frequent use of Tasers has not made her hometown safer. She contends the weapons are used too often and for the wrong reasons, based on accounts she's heard and one she said she witnessed.

On average, Vista deputies have used Tasers about once or twice a month since 2005, Helmen said.

Jillings said she and other members of her Coalition for Justice, Peace and Dignity are skeptical of those statistics. The group wants deputies to limit their use of Tasers and to receive more training for appropriate use of the weapon, Jillings added.

Only greater outreach to the community, particularly the Latino immigrant community, will change law enforcement's image in Vista, she said.

The human rights group Amnesty International has called on police departments to suspend or limit their Taser use until further and independent medical research is done on effects of the weapons. It contends that since 2001, more than 351 people in the United States have died after being shocked by police Tasers. Most of those tased were not carrying a weapon, the group said.

Amnesty International is concerned "that Tasers are being used as tools of routine force -- rather than as an alternative to firearms," according to its Web site.

Law enforcement officials, including Helmen, argue that the stress exerted by a subject as they are resisting arrest contributes more to such a death than a Taser would.

At least one area medical expert said Tasers rarely, if ever, cause a person's death.

"I have not seen anything that would make me think that a Taser actually killed somebody," said Gary Vilke, a professor of clinical medicine and emergency physician at UC San Diego Medical Center.

Vilke has assisted with and monitored the department's Taser training, sheriff's officials said.

Death investigation

Six Taser-related complaints have been filed against the sheriff's department since 2005, said Carol Trujillo, executive officer of the San Diego County Citizens' Law Enforcement Review Board.

The board dismissed one of the complaints for lack of merit and justified the actions of deputies in four other complaints, including one filed by Jillings in 2007 against Vista deputies after witnessing a Taser firing, Trujillo said.

The board has not taken action on a sixth complaint, involving the use of a Taser on Martin Mendoza of Oceanside. Mendoza, 43, slipped into a coma and died three days after his February 2007 confrontation with three deputies. Sheriff's detectives have not completed their investigation of the incident more than two years later.

In February, Mendoza's daughter, Jasmine Martinez, filed a lawsuit in federal court asserting a number of claims, including wrongful death, police negligence and product liability.

As of last fall, Taser International, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based manufacturer of the weapon, was named as a defendant in 40 lawsuits in which plaintiffs allege either wrongful death or personal injury when the device was used, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting.

The company notes that 77 other lawsuits have been dismissed or judgment entered in their favor, CIR reported.

On its Web site, the company describes the Taser as a "safer use-of-force alternative," though it acknowledges there are some safety risks associated with the weapons.

Training and accountability

Before carrying a Taser, deputies and sergeants must complete three days of use-of-force training by the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, Helmen said.

During the training, deputies are put through numerous scenarios to show when it is appropriate to use a Taser, the sergeant said. Such a scenario would include: "An angry subject takes a pugilistic stance, balls up his fists and charges the deputy and refuses to halt," Helmen wrote in an e-mail.

Deputies are instructed to announce "that the subject will be Tased if they fail to comply or stop. If the subject continues their advance, the Taser is deployed," she said.

Deputies must take a course every two years to renew their state certifications, including those for use of force, she said.

To account for Taser use, each weapon includes a data chip that records when and for how long a Taser was deployed. Each time the weapon is used, deputies are required to upload that data. The information is then printed out and included in the crime or arrest report, Helmen said.

Rossall, the Vista lieutenant, said the lack of officer-involved firearm shootings since 2005 speaks volumes.

"Nobody comes to work wanting to have to use deadly force," he said. "That's why we have these less-lethal tools in our arsenal."

Contact staff writer Chris Nichols at (760) 740-5426