Police Test
'Taser' Stun Guns:
Law enforcement considers non-lethal options
for capturing criminals
Shreveport Police Sgt. Doug Garsee on Wednesday experienced
firsthand what it feels like to be shocked with 50,000 volts.
"It was just an instant pain," said Garsee, a
firearms instructor for the Police Department. "It locked my muscles and my mind went
blank. I couldn't even think of the word he told me to say."
Garsee is one of three people who volunteered to test the
effect of the Advanced Taser M26, a projectile stun gun, during a demonstration at
Shreveport Police Academy. Robert Arbuckle, a representative with Taser International,
showed members of the department the benefits of using what he described as "impact
munition." The device has become increasingly popular among law enforcement agencies
throughout the United States as agencies look for non-lethal ways to capture criminals.
Now Shreveport police are considering adding the $400 Taser
M26 to its inventory as part of the ongoing effort to better equip officers. The Taser
would be added to a lineup of weapons that include pepper spray, batons and bean bag guns
used in non-lethal situations - assuming funding to equip 500 officers with them can be
found.
Police officials insist their interest in the Taser is not
related to the March fatal shooting of Shreveporter Marquise Hudspeth by police when they
mistook his cell phone for a gun. Critics have argued deadly force could have been
avoided.
"I wanted to look at some additional tools for
nonlethal situations," Shreveport Police Chief Jim Roberts said. "I was
particularly interested in the product for jail, in addition to the bean bags guns that
were purchased last year."
The March 15 shooting was "a lethal-force situation
from the very beginning," Roberts said. "But we have many instances where we
have to physically wrestle suspects and this would be the perfect tool in those
cases."
The M26 is a gun-like device that discharges two electrical
probes 15 feet to 21 feet and that override the central nervous system and cause
uncontrollable muscle contractions.
When the trigger is pulled, the Taser sends out electrical
pulses for five seconds. The cycle can be repeated by pulling the trigger again, but the
output can be stopped at any time, Arbuckle said.The suspects are incapacitated as soon as
they're hit by electricity.
The Taser can be between 92 percent to 98 percent
effective, Arbuckle said. The weapon is equipped with monitor records each time the weapon
is used.
R.T. Edwards, a six-year veteran on the force, said the
Taser M26 was like nothing he has seen in the past, including being sprayed with pepper
spray.
"There is no fighting through that thing," he
said after being shocked with the M26. "That's the only thing I've seen that will
work. I was focused on going one way when shocked, and I went the opposite direction. We
could definitely benefit from a weapon like that."
Copyright 2003 The Times (Shreveport,
LA) All Rights Reserved The Times (Shreveport, LA) May 29, 2003 Thursday, BYLINE: Loresha
Wilson, Staff |