Lexington police get Tasers- but how safe are they?

X-26 Taser that will be used by Lexington Police Department.             

Photo by Queenie Wong.

By: Queenie Wong

 

“Taser! Taser! Taser!” a Lexington police officer shouts before 1,200 volts of electricity incapacitate his co-worker.

 

One by one, officers waiting in line get jolted as part of a six- to eight-hour class on how to use the three Tasers, or stun-guns, the department recently acquired.

 

Lexington police went through the training Sept. 14 to become certified Taser users. Getting hit was not required, but they all volunteered, taking the painful learning experience with good humor. Some screamed and others cursed, but all got up from the floor within seconds with smiles on their faces.

 

The hardest part is thinking about it while you wait, said Special Enforcement Officer C.H. Hurley.

 

“But once the few seconds are over with, you’re back to normal and you’re ready to jump up,” he said. “It’s just that quick.”

 

Two weeks ago an incident at the University of Florida, where a student was “tased” at a campus forum featuring Sen. John Kerry, re-ignited the debate over the use of Tasers.

 

Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International have been critics of police departments using Tasers.

 

Since 2001, Amnesty International has documented more than 270 deaths in the United States in which Tasers were involved, claiming the Tasers contributed to the deaths. But even Amnesty International acknowledges that Tasers were not the sole cause in most of those deaths, and Taser International, the company that makes Tasers,  asserts that Tasers were not the cause of any of those deaths.

 

Jason Disterhoft of Amnesty International U.S.A. said that police officers should be making the decision to use Tasers based on better information. Disterhoft said that there has yet to be a comprehensive study on whether Tasers are medically safe.

 

He also said he worries that Tasers have become a “weapon of first resort” for police.

 

But police say the point of Tasers is to reduce harm, not cause it. Tasers have been used by police officers world-wide to reduce firearms-related deaths.  Lexington Police Chief Steve Crowder said it protects the person being arrested as much as the arresting officer. 

 

In the last five years, the number of law-enforcement agencies using Tasers has increased nearly six-fold, to more than 11,500, according to Taser International. That is about 70 percent of all law enforcement agencies in the United States.

 

“It takes the fight out of an arrest,” Crowder said. Buying Tasers was a departmental decision that just made sense, he said.

 

The Rockbridge County Sheriff’s office bought about 25 Tasers last year, enough for each deputy to have one. Buena Vista police do not have Tasers.

 

The X-26 Taser – the model purchased by the Lexington police – takes five seconds to load. It fires two hook-like probes up to 25 feet, emitting 50,000 volts, but they enter the body at 1,200 volts. The charge can incapacitate a suspect by overriding the central nervous system. 

 

It’s not the number of volts alone but the amperage (amps) at that voltage that causes physical harm. The X-26 Taser produces only 0.0021 amps. A Christmas tree light bulb uses about one amp.

 

Funded through the department’s budget, each of the three Tasers costs $815. Each barb costs $17.97.

 

Officers E.C. Southers and Scott Fitzgerald head Lexington’s Taser program.

 

Currently, Lexington officers have to share the Tasers, but Southers said the goal is for each officer to have his or her own.

 

Southers had prior experience with the electric guns when he worked for the Rockbridge County sheriff last year. During the summer, he and Fitzgerald also went to a two-day instructor’s course at the Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy in Salem.

 

Lexington’s police policies classify the Taser as a non-lethal force on the same level as pepper spray. The National Institute of Justice, under the U.S. Justice Department, calls it a “less-lethal technology.”

 

Lexington police policies allow Tasers to be used in a situation where a person behaves aggressively or resists arrest. But they cannot be used once a person is restrained and under control.

 

So far, Lexington officers have not used a Taser while on duty.

 

Despite the criticisms of the weapon, Crowder believes it is perfectly safe.

 

Crowder, who has a heart condition called mitral valve prolapse, allowed himself  to be tased even though he knew of no medical research confirming that it was safe.

 

“I guess I’m a fine example of someone who took a chance with the Taser,” he said.