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Concerns about Tasers are raised anytime a person stunned by one dies.In the days after a 20-year-old Frederick man died in November 2007, members of the local NAACP urged Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins to have his deputies stop using the electronic devices to incapacitate suspects.
Jenkins declined to do so, pointing to studies that have found the weapon safe and effective.
Jarrel Gray died hours after being tasered twice by a sheriff's office deputy.
Tasers, used by thousands of law enforcement agencies nationwide and overseas, are manufactured by Taser International, based in Scottsdale, Ariz. The devices cost about $800 each. Cartridges run about $25.
Each deputy at the sheriff's office decides whether to carry a Taser, said Lt. Tom Winebrenner, a patrol shift commander who oversees the Taser program.
Over several years under former Sheriff Jim Hagy, Tasers were phased into use at the agency.
The evaluation process started with the Special Services Team, or SWAT, in 2003. A grant later enabled the agency to buy Tasers for the SWAT team in 2005.
Today, 135 of the agency's 174 sworn deputies have been certified to carry Tasers.
Taser International requires a minimum six-hour training block. The sheriff's office has an eight-hour class for certification with annual retraining.
During training, local police who will carry the Tasers get tasered themselves. The experience helps officers understand what the Taser can do.
A Taser can be used to stun by coming in contact with a person directly. Probes may also be deployed on unruly suspects who may be up to 30 feet away.
Although the first police agency locally to have Tasers, the sheriff's office isn't the only department in the county with them. The Brunswick Police Department has four, Thurmont has eight and Frederick has 16, divided among shifts of its 145 officers -- 163 for the county.
The city agency would like to buy more when finances permit, Capt. Kevin Grubb said.
Testing the Taser
In general, the agencies are able to conduct training together because they use the same models.
Maryland State Police road troopers do not carry the devices, but members of the state police's SWAT team do, Sgt. Arthur Betts said.
"Because of the nature of their work, members of the S.T.A.T.E. team have them," Betts said. Members of the S.T.A.T.E. team, which stands for Special Tactical Assault Team Element, handle high-risk cases, such as barricade and hostage situations, for example.
"Road troopers have other tools on their gun belts they can use to handle situations," he said, such as pepper spray and expandable batons. "These seem to work for us."
Thurmont Police Chief Gregory L. Eyler became acquainted with Tasers while at the sheriff's office before taking the reins in Thurmont . He said Tasers have the potential to save lives -- and money.
"Tasers allow officers to avoid physical confrontation and injuries by allowing them to remain distant instead of coming into contact with a combative subject," Eyler said.
Additionally, the use of "lesser force" decreases liability and legal and medical expenses.
Winebrenner said the sheriff's office began testing the Taser after learning the device was on the market.
"We've evaluated a lot of devices, from different types of batons, different types of O.C. spray, to see if something is of benefit to deputies on the street," he said.
Oleoresin Capsicum, or O.C. spray, is a pepper spray used as a nonlethal weapon by military and law enforcement.
The sheriff's office was convinced that the Taser could be a useful tool.
"Tasers can incapacitate anyone, no matter how big they are or what (drugs) they may still have in their system," Winebrenner said. "We felt it was a good option to move to."
Tasers are another step that can be taken before resorting to deadly force.
Worth the outcry
Young people, ages 17 to 29, accounted for 64 percent of those tasered by local police during a 16-month period studied by The Frederick News-Post.
Fifty percent of those tasered were white and 30 percent were black, according to police use-of-force reports.
Eyler said Tasers, while controversial, are worth the public outcry.
Law enforcement officers today face increasingly violent criminals.
"Suspects have a lot better weapons than we do," Eyler said.
Thurmont officers used Tasers twice in each of the agency's first two years of carrying them.
"You've got to look at the safety of officers," he said. "If we're not safe, how are we supposed to protect everyone else?
"We have to keep up."
