Although the Maine State Police Tactical Team has them, they’ve never had to use them.
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

PARIS – Paris police soon will be carrying the latest in non-lethal weaponry – Taser guns.

Selectmen agreed Monday to spend $2,500 from contingency funds to buy two of the guns, which stun victims by shooting an electrically-charged projectile attached to a copper wire for a distance of up to 21 feet.

Paris policemen Mike Dailey and Alan Coffin, who have been trained in the use of the Taser, said the gun beats pepper spray or batons hands down when it comes to subduing someone who is violently out of control.

The projectile has a quarter-inch needle, similar to a No. 8 fish hook, and delivers a 50,000-volt charge to the central nervous system that overrides the ability to contract muscles.

McAllister said the gun was demonstrated Friday for officers and town officials in Norway, Oxford and Paris. “It’s pretty impressive, and I can certainly see its usefulness.” He stressed, however, that a policy would need to be enacted after review by the Policy Committee before the guns could be put into service.

Selectman Ray Glover was dubious about the officers’ contention about the gun’s safety, particularly if it is used on someone with a heart condition.

Dailey said the gun works on a measurement of electricity much smaller than that of a defibrillator, and studies have documented the lack of aftereffects.

The guns cost $400 each, but with training cartridges at $16 apiece, chargers, holsters and other accessories, the total cost is $2,500.

The guns would be carried by the primary on-duty person and the supervising officer.

“One shot with the Taser and he was down and out,” said Town Manager Steve McAllister, showing selectmen a video clip of a rugged Marine who resisted all attempts to subdue him through conventional police means.

The charge can last anywhere from a quarter-second to up to five seconds, giving the assisting officer time to hand-cuff the person, Dailey said.

“There’s instant recovery,” with no ill effects, Dailey said.

The officers said that all too often, pepper spray is ineffective, especially on persons dulled to the sense of pain by drugs or alcohol. Last Thursday in Norway, Dailey said, three officers and a mother and young child were hit by pepper spray during the course of an arrest of a violent man who attacked a Norway officer.

The Taser gun would not replace the use of deadly force if deadly force is warranted, the officers said, but could help to quickly diffuse a standoff situation in which the person is threatening suicide with a knife.

Only around five other departments in the state use the weapons, they said, and although the Maine State Police Tactical Team has them in their arsenal, they’ve never had to use them. Taser guns, developed in 1995, have been used for years by big-city police departments in other states.

He said the town assumes a liability with the use of any weapon, but many towns have faced legal problems when police have used deadly force and killed a person.

“It just eliminates some of the hands-on fighting we have to do that results in injuries” to the arresting officer, he said.