North Port police to get Tasers

The city says the controversial stun guns will prevent officers from being injured

NORTH PORT -- A Taser can send 5,000 volts of electricity through a human body, quickly taming even the most resistant criminal suspects.

Soon, North Port police will have that electrical current within easy reach. The department is the latest in the state to arm its officers with stun guns.

The city received approval for a $10,000 grant from the state Department of Law Enforcement last month to purchase 11 stun guns for its road patrol.

But the purchase comes at a time when the stun gun is one of the most debated police weapons in the nation.

Taser International, one of the largest distributors, said this week there are no proven medical side effects. But Amnesty International claims more than 120 people in the United States and Canada have died shortly after being hit with Tasers.

Just this week, a 46-year-old Medford, Ore., man went into cardiac arrest and later died after being stunned. Last year, a 35-year-old man died inside a police station in Queens, N.Y., after he was stunned.

Studies are still being conducted to see if the use of stun guns is reducing injuries for police officers, a claim many departments are making. The University of South Carolina received $650,000 to launch a 2-year study.

Meanwhile, the controversy is causing legislators to increase training and pressure departments to monitor the use of Tasers. The Florida Senate is looking at a range of bills this session, including one that would restrict the general public from owning a stun gun and another that prohibits the use of a stun gun on a minor. One bill also requires annual training for every officer who chooses to carry a stun gun. All of the bills are under committee review.

"There's going to be argument on both sides," said North Port Capt. Robert Estrada. "It's an added nonlethal tool that we could use to bring somebody into compliance so that no one is harmed."

North Port will be the second police department in the county to get Tasers. It might not be the last. The Venice police department does not yet have them. But when the department's new chief starts in April, administrators will discuss getting them, said Deputy Chief Dan McGoogan.

Sarasota police carry Tasers that were purchased in January 2005. Out of 10,000 people arrested in 2005, 154 were stunned with the weapons. Meanwhile, the number of officers injured on the job dropped 49 percent.

"Officers no longer have to put their hands on

. nds on people and fight people," said Jay Frank, the department's spokesman. "It hurts for almost five seconds but then it's over."

The officers received an eight-hour training session before they were given the weapons. The department's policy requires that officers yell "Taser" three times before stunning someone. But it is up to the officer's discretion to use the stun gun.

"People don't realize that officers engage people every day," Frank said. "People don't want to be handcuffed. They don't want to get in the car. They want to run."

Fleeing suspects also can be caught by use of a Taser. With a squeeze of the trigger, the probes can be shot up to 21 feet.

But North Port police rarely need to use force. The city has very little violent crime. From mid-2004 to mid-2005 there were five rapes, 15 robberies and 61 aggravated assaults compared to the nonviolent crimes: 167 burglaries, 315 larcenies and 32 motor vehicle thefts, according to the state.

Department administrators say they are purchasing the Tasers because the city's rapidly growing population is expected to mean more crime.

"We're talking a major city," Estrada said. "We're a young city. Usually, with a younger population, you have more crime, more calls for service."

North Port's 11 Tasers will be distributed to selected officers so that each of the four shifts has two to three Tasers available. The department is in the midst of writing a policy that will require annual training and a procedure that scrutinizes each incident involving the firing of a Taser, Estrada said.

"They're not going to be used or utilized at all until the policy is written and the officer is fully trained," Estrada said.

The city's policy may mirror that of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, which tightened its own policy and improved training after deputies unnecessarily shocked people, including a man having a seizure.

"You're going to have incidents where someone has a heart condition and they're going to be Tasered and they die," said City Commissioner Vanessa Carusone. "There's always a measure of uncertainty with no matter what you do. It's all about training."



The Associated Press contributed to this report.