Some of Berkeley's famously passive (and passive-aggressive) residents are up in arms over a proposal from the Berkeley Police Department to look into equipping their police force with Tasers.

Where SFPD explored the idea of arming cops with stun guns, Berkeley's city council agreed to look into how other departments use stun guns and other electrified weaponry. Berkeley's watchdogs, however, have a problem with the fuzz adding another piece of weaponry to the department's arsenal.

As Andrea Prichett, who runs the blog Berkeley CopWatch, pointed out at a recent city council meeting, Berkeley Police officers are already armed with handguns, batons, and pepper spray.

Meanwhile, Berkeley cops agreed they would rather have something a little less lethal than a handgun in certain situations — like when someone is coming at them with a knife, for instance. “We are not a violent department, OK?” Officer Samantha Speelman said at the meeting. “We are trained. We are educated, and that’s why you hired us.” Or, as one officer with a master’s degree in clinical psychology put it, there are some instances where, “no amount of verbal de-escalation would work."

Previously: San Francisco Still Not Cool With Police Tasers
[Chron]
[CopWatch]