Cactus Village Community

A New Tool for the Police -By Donna and Jerry Neill, N.A.I.L.E.M

Jul 17, 2003

We have just returned from a meeting at 620 W. Washington St. with Chief Hurtt. The Chief had invited a group, which represented a cross section of the demographics in the City of Phoenix. The subject of this meeting centered on a new tool for the police to use in fighting crime. It?’s the Taser.

The TASER will incapacitate even the most violet, strung out criminals in a heartbeat. The TASER will help to reduce injuries to those being arrested as well as reduction of injury to the officers who will be using them. They have been testing them for about 6 months. They are now going to issue them to first responders (patrol).

The training time for use of this weapon is 5 hours. Phoenix Police Department has ordered 1,185 of these units and they should all be in use by March or April of next year.

The presentation was excellent, and all questions from the audience were answered to everyone?’s satisfaction. This is another tool to add to the police arsenal to find ways to reduce and deter crime without the use of deadly force.

We thank the Phoenix Police Department for sharing this with us. The measure was approved by City Council on Wednesday, December 18th. The safety of our officers and the public will be better served with the addition of this weapon to their arsenal. . . ☺