PORTLAND (AP) – About a dozen Maine police departments now use Tasers, weapons that use powerful electric shocks to quell suspects, and a growing number of departments are considering making the stun guns standard equipment.

But many departments, including the Maine State Police and Portland Police Department, have chosen not to use them.

Tasers transmit 50,000 volts at very low amperage over insulated wires connected to barbs fired into a suspect. The shock essentially short-circuits the brain’s ability to send signals to large muscle groups, causing them to go limp.

While many police agencies say Tasers can reduce injuries to suspects as well as officers, human rights and civil liberty groups worry about their potential for abuse. Some want a moratorium on Tasers until more is known about their health effects.

In South Portland, where police are being trained to carry Tasers, officers on a domestic violence call used the device to bring down a 300-pound male suspect without a fight or firing a standard gun. Chief Edward Googins said his department is monitoring allegations of misuse in other states as it develops its policy for using Tasers.

“The evolving technology of less lethal force is something we need to keep on top of and take advantage of if it will be beneficial in our mission to maintain public safety,” Googins said.

The chief said studies done in cities that utilize Tasers found that injuries to suspects and officers dropped sharply because police weren’t using batons or some other force.

South Portland police use one of the latest versions of the weapon, which records each time it’s fired and for how long. Googins said that feature ensures accountability for whenever the Taser is used.

Amnesty International says there have been many cases outside of Maine where officers used Tasers not to protect themselves or a suspect from injury, but to elicit compliance.

The Maine Civil Liberties Union does not want to ban Tasers, but says they should be used only as an alternative to firearms when someone’s life is in danger, executive director Shenna Bellows says.

“We haven’t seen examples of abuse here. We’re urging at the outset departments put in place policies to make sure some of the unfortunate deaths that have happened in other places don’t happen in Maine,” she said.

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