• Sunday, February 19, 2012
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U. of Florida Panel Suggests Ways to Avoid Future Taser Incidents

A University of Florida committee created after the high-profile Taser incident there in September issued a series of recommendations on Tuesday.

The nine students and faculty members on the Ad Hoc Committee on a Civil, Safe, and Open Environment suggested that the university clarify free-speech policies and expectations, train groups that stage events to manage them smoothly and fairly, and require campus police officers to report publicly when they have used force.

The university’s president, J. Bernard Machen, accepted those recommendations and others. “The committee’s report reflects a thorough and thoughtful review of many complex issues and different perspectives involved in appropriately balancing safety and openness,” he said in a written statement.

Andrew W. Meyer, the student whom officers zapped with a Taser after he aggressively questioned Sen. John F. Kerry at a town-hall forum, later apologized for his behavior. A state investigation of the incident found that the university police officers had acted appropriately.

Florida’s police department continues to use Tasers, albeit with a slightly more restrictive policy, which the committee supported in its report.

The university planned to post the report online. —Sara Lipka