Monticello Live

Monticello Police Dept. Lt. Steven Stain led a class of law enforcement officers and visitors who work in related fields in proper procedures for the use of the police dept.’s new Taser units.

Class topics included safety, effects, dept. policies, documentation, and removal of darts. 

Under the topic of “effects” all MPD officers present lined up to have the taser used on them.  This was done so that each individual officer would be able to use proper discretion in decisions about when to use the new taser unit.

Greg Johnson, shown above, was one of the first to take his turn.

Carlos Garcia, who used the unit on Johnson, was next in line.

The taser shoots two small darts into the person being restrained, followed by sending 500,000 volts of electricity into them. 

The muscles between the two darts are the only muscles that are directly affected, but that effect is enough to bring anyone to the ground, and eliminate any physical confrontation.

A total of 25 men including Monticello Police, some Drew County Sheriff’s deputies, a DTF agent, a SouthEast Emergency Services employee, and myself, felt the “knock-down” of the taser.

Mark Grant, who carried the new unit later that night, is shown here, being assisted to the ground by nearby officers.  

When the taser’s darts hit it’s target, the shock immediatlely begins, and the person is unable to control their actions, so the mat was used as a safety factor, with other officers being stationed close to prevent the upcoming fall to the ground.

More photos and information are in the following article.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 7:56 am and is filed under Police /Legal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.