In the wake of new warnings about how to use a Taser stun gun, local authorities are determining how, if at all, they’ll modify their own policies.

Taser International, the company that manufactures stun guns used by most police and sheriff’s departments, recently released a bulletin warning against deploying a Taser into a person’s chest.

The bulletin claims that stunning a person in the chest could result in an extremely low risk of an “adverse cardiac event.” Despite years of criticism from safety organizations and human rights groups, it’s the first time Taser has admitted that there’s a possibility of that type of injury.

However, in an accompanying memo, Taser claims that the warnings have “less to do with safety and more to do with effective risk management for law enforcement agencies.”

Sgt. Paul Higgason of the Ventura County Sherriff’s Department in Moorpark said the department has already issued a new training bulletin for its deputies. The goal is to keep both of the probes which deploy from a stun gun from entering the chest.

“It’s more of a precautionary thing,” Higgason said. “We went ahead and adopted a take on their advisement, and we have modified our preferred target zones. But really, the chest is fine.

“We don’t want both the probes in the chest intentionally, but if both end up there, that’s just how it works sometimes. No one is going to die or get hurt.”

Lt. Paul Fitzpatrick of the Simi Valley Police said the new warning hasn’t led to any changes in SVPD’s Taser policy.

“Nothing has changed here, not in this department,” Fitzpatrick said. “We try to avoid the head, and the best way to do that is to aim for the torso. I can’t get into their heads on why (Taser International) changed it, but that’s what we do.”

Fitzpatrick said that Taser now recommends a slightly lower preferred point of aim on the chest for more effective application.

“That reduces risk of accidental shots to the throat or eyes, and we make every effort not to do that,” he said. “We do make a pointed effort to avoid the possibility of hitting a suspect in the face.”

It’s becoming more common for attorneys to file excessive use of force and/or wrongful death claims against Taser and law enforcement agencies in cases where a suspect has died in situations involving Tasers.

According to Taser International’s latest memo, its independent field results showed there’s only a 0.25 percent risk factor for serious injury from use of a Taser, meaning for every 10,000 people hit with a stun gun, only 25 suffer serious injuries. The risk factor is even smaller for heart issues.

“The available research does not support (the risk of cardiac arrest) and demonstrates that while it may not be possible to say that (Taser) could never affect the heart under any circumstances, the risk of it is extremely rare,” said Rick Guilbault, vice president of training at Taser, in the memo. “However, law enforcement is left defending a lawsuit and disproving a negative, which is difficult to do.”

In May 2007, Reymundo Garcia Guerrero died after SVPD officers used a Taser 11 times on the 33-year-old. The Ventura County district attorney’s office cleared the officers, saying they were “fully justified” in the amount of force they used to subdue Guerrero.

Guerrero, who was high on cocaine, went into cardiac arrest shortly after being stunned when he refused to exit his vehicle.

Ventura County Medical Examiner Richard O’Halloran determined that Guerrero’s death was most likely caused by asphyxia related to being restrained by police, but the D.A.’s office concluded that Guerrero’s actions—not those of officers—are what ultimately led to his death.

In July, 36-year-old Charles Torrence of Simi Valley died after struggling against SVPD officers in front of his home. According to police, an officer deployed a Taser but was unsure if it actually hit Torrence. O’Halloran said he saw no visible signs of Taser probe marks on the skin but the cause of death is still under investigation.

Higgason said that the county’s deputies now consider an ideal shot to be when one probe enters slightly to the left or right of the center of the chest, and the other enters below the belt area—the buttocks on the back or the thigh on the front.

“Before, the entire chest was fair game,” Higgason said. “The goal is now to continue to get a good spread on the probes—that’s how you get good incapacitation—but not have them both in the chest.”

Fitzpatrick said SVPD considers the preferred spot for probe entry is from the sternum down but that anything can happen.

“When the trigger’s pulled, we aren’t shooting at a stationary paper target,” he said. “Most of the time we are shooting at a moving target. If it wasn’t moving, they’d be complying and then we wouldn’t be using a Taser.”

Higgason agreed that when a Taser is deployed it’s usually in a combative situation.

“We don’t intentionally shoot in the neck or the head or the groin, or now the chest, but you have to understand the dynamics of a subject moving when we deploy,” Higgason said. “The probes could end up anywhere. We don’t intend to hit any critical areas.”