The Associated Press
Springfield, Mass. (AP) -- Some Massachusetts police chiefs say the state should drop its ban on electronic weapons and allow law enforcement to carry stun guns that are legal in nearly every other state.
The weapon, called a Taser, fires two dart-like probes with wires that snag the target up to 21 feet and deliver a 50,000-volt burst of electricity, incapacitating the person long enough for police to put on handcuffs.
Taser supporters say that unlike other police weapons, such as pepper sprays, batons or firearms, a Taser blast is usually quick and painless and doesn’t result in a trip to the hospital or the morgue.
“It’s very difficult to subdue some of the people we are required to subdue,” Springfield Police Chief Paula C. Meara told the Republican newspaper of Springfield. "(A Taser) puts them on the ground. ... They don’t suffer, there’s no permanent damage, and there is less injury to the police officers.”
West Springfield Police Chief Thomas E. Burke, recently elected head of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said he became a Taser supporter last fall after watching a demonstration at the Boston police firing range.
With the exception of firearms, other police weapons require officers to get much closer to offenders than 21 feet. Pepper spray’s range is four to six feet, and can blow back in the officer’s face. A police baton is effective only for as far as the officer can reach.
More than 3,500 police departments and law enforcement agencies in North America have purchased Tasers in recent years, according to Arizona-based manufacturer Taser International, Inc. Massachusetts and New Jersey are the only two states that do not allow police to carry Tasers.
Massachusetts General Laws forbid possession or sale of weapons using “an electric current, impulse, wave or beam to incapacitate temporarily, injure or kill.” A bill filed last year by state Sen. Linda J. Melconian, D-Springfield, and backed by the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, would allow police to carry Tasers, but keep the ban in place for the public.
Northampton lawyer William Newman, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Western Regional office, said the use of Tasers would have to be closely watched.
“To the extent that it reduces violence and death, it is clearly a huge benefit to police officers and to the community,” he said.
Because Tasers do not cause a lasting or even visible injury, Newman said they could be abused by police.
“The technology permits the possibility of misuse,” he said.