The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Police stymied on Taser decision Purchase tabled after police chief demonstrates weapon
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: December 13, 2007
City Council tabled a $45,000 motion to purchase 45 X-26 Tasers for city police officers.
Advertisement
"Tasers are very controversial devices," said Brian Robb, D-3rd Ward, who motioned to table the purchase. "All you hear about this is the bad things."
The vote to table was split 4-3 Dec. 4, with John Gawlas, D-2nd Ward, Bill Nickels, D-2nd Ward, and Mayor Paul Schreiber voting against the motion.
Robb said he wanted to see a use policy from the Ypsilanti Police Department, as well as specific information from surrounding agencies. He said he would like to know the frequency of use the department expects and the budget impact they would have from reduced injuries to sworn officers.
Though Ypsilanti Police Chief Matt Harshberger said the department is close to finalizing a policy on use of the Tasers, it has not yet been completed. He said one of the hold-ups in the process is the concept to do replace the department's batons with the Tasers.
"I have serious issues with the baton," Harshberger said. "We're really on the edge of taking the batons away."
Compared to batons, he said Tasers have a similar objective, non-lethal compliance. However, he said batons can inflict serious and more lasting injuries on a suspect where as compliance from a Taser is immediate and cause only temporary pain, lasting about five seconds. He said officers themselves are less likely to sustain injuries from using a Taser because they can be used from a distance.
Like the batons, Harshberger said use of the Tasers would only be permitted in response to "physical resistance," and not "verbal resistance." He said the devises are equipped with digital storage so they could be checked to see when and if it was deployed. Additionally, each time a Taser is shot, confetti is expelled as well and each piece of paper has a serial number printed on it, to confirm who used the devise and where. He said the data would be checked regularly to make sure reports concur with the digital information.
"You have to literally have an arrestable offense," Harshberger said.
"I have to rely on (police officers) to make good judgment," he said. "If they abuse that privilege it will be taken away and they will be dealt with."
On the frequency of use, Harshberger said he expects "three months of using the Tasers quite a bit," then as word got out of the new devices, suspects would become more compliant with officers.
"Folks do not want to get tased," he said.
During his presentation earlier in the meeting, Harshberger demonstrated how the Tasers function. When the safety is turned off on one of the weapons, a flashlight and laser sight is activated. He said suspects usually become compliant after seeing the laser on their person.
Harshberger explained how the Tasers work.
Shaped like a gun, when the trigger is pulled on the weapon two small metal probes, each pointed, are discharged using compressed nitrogen. The probes are connected to the devise with a thin wire attached. An audible clicking noise is heard, and lasts five seconds, this is the electrical pulse emitted from the Taser.
The weapon can reach 35 feet and effect a temporary incapacitation through contracting the person's muscles and overriding the central nervous system.
Attempting to dispel myths, Harshberger said the weapons are safer than batons and stun guns because the effects are only momentary.
He said the department will discourage the use of the device on pregnant women, unless the situation is that serious. He said the weapons are safe on pregnant women, but the subsequent fall could injure an unborn child. He said other myths are either inaccurate or circulated through rumor.
Other than the two university police departments, Harshberger said Ypsilanti is the only police department in the county not already using Tasers. He said 421 other police departments in the state issue Tasers to sworn officers.
"I think the controversy here is not in the weapon itself," Schreiber said, "but in its use and policy."
City Council is expected to come back to the issue at its next meeting on Jan. 17.
Contact Staff Writer Dan DuChene at 697-8255 or at dduchene@heritage.co
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
