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By Barbara P. Jacoby
Cherokee Tribune Managing Editor
Canton Police Department Officer Luke Barrett now knows what 1,200 volts of electricity will feel like to a suspect he shoots with his newly issued Taser.
"It's like being stabbed with a million little knives," said Barrett, who along with four of his fellow officers underwent training Monday for the new stun guns the department begins using this week. "It felt like I was on fire."
Each officer who will use a Taser had to take a hit to understand the gun's level of force, which the department does with every new non-lethal device it employs.
A Taser looks like a gun, but instead of a bullet, it shoots two small metal darts attached to wires that carry as much as 50,00 volts of electricity. The actual voltage that enters a suspect's body is about 1,200 volts, but that still is strong enough to contract a person's muscles and drop him or her to the ground. The shock can be sent from a Taser to a suspect as far as 25 feet away.
"I'm glad I did it. Now I know what to expect when we use it," Barrett said, noting the experience was similar to when he tested pepper spray and learned suspects will need water after being hit and that its effects can easily transfer.
Police Chief Jeff Lance said the department has purchased five X26 model Tasers at a cost of about $800 each. The quantity will supply one weapon for each shift, with the other Taser-assigned officers being Cpl. Jason Yarbrough and Officers Dan Combs, Shane Ladner and Daniel Henley.
Lance said he and former Chief Billy Cantrell decided to add Tasers to the non-lethal armory, which also includes such choices as pepper spray and asp batons, after reviewing results of a three-year study of the weapon.
"I'd rather use these than use deadly force," he said of Tasers, noting studies he's reviewed have shown deaths related to the weapon were caused by drugs in the suspects' systems.
"It's a tool that keeps officers and people who are called suspects from getting hurt," Lance said, adding that injuries to officers lead to higher costs for taxpayers. "No one wants to get hurt."
The department has created a policy regulating how and when Tasers can be used as well as the required reports officers must file after one is deployed, Lance added.
After a testing period in 2006, the Woodstock Police Department began using Tasers in April of 2007. The department now owns six weapons, with two assigned to officers for each shift, and funds for three more Tasers are budgeted.
Police Chief Ric Moss said Tasers have been used twice by officers: to arrest an intoxicated and disorderly man who refused to leave a party and to arrest an intoxicated man who became violent at a hospital while being treated for a hand wound he suffered at work. No one was injured during either incident, he said.
Tasers also have been pointed in other incidents, which Moss said led suspects to stop aggressive behavior without the need to activate the weapon.
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office does not use Tasers, instead opting for pepper-ball guns, bean bag rounds, pepper spray and asp batons.
Sheriff Roger Garrison said he doesn't see the need to begin using Tasers given the deaths related to the weapon and the many other current non-lethal options.
"It certainly has pros and cons," Garrison said of Tasers, noting before adding any non-lethal weapon to the agency's armory, he must feel ready to defend its usage in court. "It all boils down to comfort."
The Canton Police officers said given past experiences - including the fatal shooting of a suspect armed with a knife and serious injuries suffered by officers while tackling suspects - they are happy to have Tasers in their holsters.
"It may enable you to save someone's life," Detective Rodney Campbell, who led Monday's training with Lt. Scott Hoffman, said of Tasers. "You could stop someone with a knife with this instead of using lethal force."
bjacoby@cherokeetribune.com
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CAN I TASER THE COPS ?