The Kaua‘i County Attorney’s office has approved this week a contract for the Kauai Police Department to purchase TASERs outfitted with cameras. The KPD is the last of four Hawaiian police departments to get TASERs, stun guns that immobilize their
The Kaua‘i County Attorney’s office has approved this week a contract for the Kauai Police Department to purchase TASERs outfitted with cameras.
The KPD is the last of four Hawaiian police departments to get TASERs, stun guns that immobilize their targets with electrical currents instead of bullets.
Police Chief Darryl Perry said in an e-mail that Monday, after significant legal negotiations with the company TASER International, the County Attorney’s Office alerted the KPD that it would approve the contract.
The department will get 20 TASERs with camera attachments, he said.
TASERs were already approved by the County Council for KPD’s current fiscal year budget, for which approximately $30,000 was allocated.
Perry said a TASER is an electronic control device that serves as a “highly effective, less-than-lethal control tool for law enforcement agencies.”
According to the manufacturer, several police departments have reported a decrease in suspect and law enforcement injuries as a result of using the stun guns.
Such claims, the company states, are supported by police statistics from departments across the nation, such as Phoenix, Ariz., which reported a 67 percent decrease in suspect injuries in 2004 and a 54 percent reduction in use of deadly force.
TASER is based out of Scottsdale, Ariz.
Kauai police will likely receive the first order of TASERS before the end of this fiscal year, or June 30.
