By Heron Marquez Estrada, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Minutes after getting zapped with 50,000 volts of electricity and being left writhing on the floor in pain, Omar Jamal (pictured, center) was more than ready to support the St. Paul Police Department’s latest crime-fighting weapon.
The Taser X26 is an energy gun that shoots two barbs at a suspect and then delivers 50,000 volts of electricity to the body, paralyzing the person for about 5 seconds.
“I think it’s a good tool,” said Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. “I think it will save lives. We should have more of them on the street.”
Jamal was one of about 40 community activists, human-rights workers, mental-health advocates, media representatives and police officers who learned about the Taser on Tuesday at the Police Department.
About half of those who went through several hours of training -- including all 18 police officers -- were stunned with the gun. Nearly all yelled in pain, convulsed to the floor, or did both.
“It just hurts,” said Gilbert de la O, a community liaison at Neighborhood House in St. Paul, after being one of the first to be zapped.
“I couldn’t even scream,” added Tanya Hunter, the first police officer zapped.
Police Chief William Finney said the Tasers, a little smaller than the department’s handguns, will be used by about 100 officers within weeks. The entire department could be using them within a year.
Taser X26
Judy Griesedieck Star Tribune
The hope is that the weapons will reduce the number of times officers have to use deadly force.
In 2002, St. Paul officers killed two mentally ill men within about a month of each other.
“We simply needed to have a different alternative,” Finney said at the training.
The Taser can be used against people who are drunk or suicidal, armed suspects, hostage-takers and anyone else who is not holding a firearm, trainers said.
“I’m impressed,” said Anna Mae Hogan of the Minnesota chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
The Taser company said that the device is used by more than 2,500 police departments worldwide and that it has been credited with saving more than 1,700 lives since it was introduced about five years ago.
Although most community leaders in attendance supported the use of the Tasers, some said they worried that there could be abuses if officers use them to coerce information from suspects or they reach for Tasers instead of their guns.
Police officials said safeguards are built into the Taser to make that nearly impossible.
Each Taser records when it is used and how long it is used, which should provide a record of how often officers are using it on people.
Also, the Taser will be worn by officers on the side opposite their handgun, which should reduce confusion over which is being used.