August 01, 2011

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Police in NY to start carrying TASERs

Evans, NY has considered using TASERs for a couple of years now

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By Jay Rey
Buffalo News

EVANS, N.Y. — The Town of Evans will start equipping its police officers with Tasers.

Evans officers still need to be certified in how to use a Taser — which stuns a person momentarily with an electric shock — so it may not be until the end of September by the time they actually wear them, along with their side arm, said Police Chief Ernest P. Masullo.

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"We do have pepper spray," Masullo said, "but this is just another nonlethal tool to calm situations down."

The use of Tasers by police officers has become somewhat commonplace — and occasionally controversial.

At least several local police departments routinely use Tasers and rave about their effectiveness in shocking combative suspects without seriously injuring them.

Evans has considered using Tasers for a couple of years now, Masullo said, particularly after officers have been injured during altercations. Over the last three years, for example, one officer injured a knee, one broke an ankle and another suffered a back injury while trying to subdue suspects, Masullo said.

"When we lose one person, the overtime goes up, the compensation insurance goes up. It all comes into play," Masullo said.

The Town Board last week authorized spending up to $6,500 to purchase the Tasers. The Police Department will buy at least five Tasers — which cost about $1,000 a piece — to be shared among the officers.

There are five officers on patrol per shift, so each officer will have one of the five Tasers, Masullo explained.

The department is still working out the logistics, such as training and how the officers will carry the Tasers. Officers in other agencies tend to wear the Tasers in a holster on their thigh, on the opposite side of where they carry their firearm.

"Nationally, a lot of agencies have them. Locally, maybe 30 to 50 percent of the agencies have them," Masullo said. "We're finding that once the word gets out that we're carrying them, the aggressiveness of the people we deal with tends to diminish."

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