Springfield Police to Get Tasers (SPRINGFIELD, Mass.) (WGGB)–Springfield police will soon have a new weapon in the fight against criminals. Commissioner John Barbieri has ordered 22 Tasers which use a short electrical charge to temporarily incapacitate a combative offender. Barbieri says Tasers give police an alternative to stopping combative suspects through lethal or brute force,”Across the country we’ve seen a significant increase of force on police officers and a result for police officers to use deadly force in response and the goal is to hopefully de-escalate the situations through the potential use of Tasers and if necessary the use of Tasers,” says Barbieri. The commissioner says the Tasers will used only by officers who volunteer to carry them and who are properly trained. There are other departments in Western Massachusetts already using Tasers. One of them is West Springfield,”that is the arching the drive stun,” says West Springfield police training officer Joseph Lafrance demonstrates the x-2 Taser at low voltage. There is also a higher voltage where darts are shot at a combatant to deliver as much as 50-thousand volts,” We’ve had the Tasers now for 13 months and we found them to be a very effective tool filling the gap in our duty belt for use of force,” says officer Lafrance. Over the past year, West Springfield police have used the Taser six times, 4 at the lower voltage, a relatively small number considering the 20-thousand calls police have responded to,”It has reduced the number of officers having to use physical force , officer injuries has gone down, officer safety has gone up and also the people we’re dealing with,” says Lafrance. Officer Lafrance says no injuries were reported from the used of the Tasers in West Springfield. Tasers are being used by more and more police departments across the state, in fact right now about 180 communities have them.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 23:11:19 +0000
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