Stun gun becomes part of Paris police arsenal
PARIS – “Ow,” was the collective sentiment of police Friday as they got a taste of the Taser.
The Taser sends two small projectiles attached to thin wires onto the clothes of a suspect that police want to detain or subdue. It sends electric shocks into the suspect at the rate of one every five seconds.
It has 50,000 volts of power and 26 watts.
“I tell you that, oough, that that did get my attention,” said officer Ray Paar, who sampled the Taser’s power Friday at the Paris Fire Station. “It’s a jolt. It was just . . . bam! It’s there.”
The memory was still vivid in Paar’s mind 10 minutes after he felt the Taser.
Sgt. Mike Dailey said the shock was on the same deterrent level as pepper spray and it had no aftereffects.
“I’ll take the pepper spray,” Paar said.
Dailey said it incapacitates for five seconds. Then, automatically, another shock is sent every five seconds.
“This gives the arresting officers an opportunity to take control of the suspect,” he said.
He said an officer can touch a person being stunned, unless he or she makes contact with the area between probes. The officer would then also be stunned.
Dailey said the two probes look like No. 8 fishhooks that had been straightened out. They have a single barb on them to catch onto clothing.
The Taser can send the probes 21 feet, but 12 feet to 18 feet is the recommended range.
Dailey and officer Alan Coffin went to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in June to be certified as Taser trainers. He and Coffin have been carrying the Taser since August. He said they haven’t used it yet.
Dailey said that to be certified, officers had to feel the effects of the Taser.
“Instructions from Taser International don’t necessarily state that a user has to feel the experience of the system,” Dailey said. “As instructors, we felt it would be appropriate and academy recommended it.”
He said tests showed there is no cardiac interference to those who have been stung by the Taser and that its power is much weaker than a defibrillator.
“Most pacemakers today are made to withstand the defibrillator,” Dailey said.
Dailey said the Taser costs about $400 for the gun and about $26 per cartridge. The cartridge is at the front of the barrel where probes are contained.
jsmedley@sunjournal.com
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