Gilroy
– The assailant stood 20 feet away, arms deep in his pockets,
facing Gilroy police officer Patrick Sullivan. Raising his arms,
steadying the weapon on his shoulder, Sullivan pulled the trigger
and a round of pepperball pellets dusted the target’s chest and
blew upward into his face.
Gilroy – The assailant stood 20 feet away, arms deep in his pockets, facing Gilroy police officer Patrick Sullivan. Raising his arms, steadying the weapon on his shoulder, Sullivan pulled the trigger and a round of pepperball pellets dusted the target’s chest and blew upward into his face.
The rubber mannequin had seen this before.
But watching a man felled from close range was new to most members of the Gilroy Rotary Club.
The demonstration was performed by Gilroy police to instruct members of the community on the usage of non-lethal weapons by some of the members of the department.
The Gilroy Police Department owns 60 Tasers, one for every officer. Tasers, also known as ‘stun guns,’ deliver a 50,000-volt electrical shock for five seconds to incapacitate violent criminals. All Gilroy officers are certified to use Tasers and must complete a 10-hour training session three times annually to retain familiarity with it and various other non-lethal weaponry.
A Taser operates by confusing the messages sent from the brain to the muscles, rendering the victim helpless for the period the shock is employed. While an individual loses control of the major muscle groups, they retain a high level of awareness.
“It stopped me,” said Gilroy Rotary President Kurt Michielssen, who experienced the weapon firsthand. “It didn’t hurt per say, but I did feel like I was being electrocuted . . . only I lived.”
Michielssen winced and fell to the floor, assisted by two police officers. The fall was immediate, and so was his recovery. He stood up, grabbed the microphone and asked for others to volunteer. No one did.
“It’s almost deceiving in its effectiveness,” said Assistant Police Chief Lanny Brown. “You almost think a person is faking it.”
Safety is a concern many have regarding the use of Tasers and other supposedly non-lethal weapons. Across the country, there have been cases reported of individuals dying after being shocked with a Taser. Police insist they are safe.
Often, those individuals are under the influence of methamphetamine or other stimulants that already impact their condition, Brown said.
Many officers have undergone the shock themselves.
“It takes the fight out of (you),” said Sgt. Kurt Svardal after he experienced the Taser gun for the first (and only) time. “My thought process was there, but my muscle control was gone. And it hurt. It hurt significantly.”
Most individuals surrender after one use, he said.
Tasers are used on a case-by-case basis, but primarily when an individual violently resists arrest. Using a Taser prevents officers from endangering themselves by trying to control a violent individual.
Since their introduction into the Gilroy Police Department one year ago, they have been used twice a month on average and are considered invaluable to the force.
“When you’re looking at escalation of force with a gun, we know the result – it’s a last resort. We would much rather have other options available to us,” Svardal said.
Brown views them as a less violent way to bring an individual down.
“It seems too barbaric to beat someone with a stick into submission,” he said. “It’s a much more humane way.”
Both San Jose and Morgan Hill police have Tasers available.
Other weapons Gilroy police demonstrated to Rotary members were the SA200 rifle and a 37mm Extended Range Impact Gun.
The SA200 is a “glorified paintball gun,” said Sullivan. “It’s not a rifle – it’s a launcher, they’re not bullets – they’re projectiles.”
The weapon launches a variety of projectiles such as rubber pellets, green paint, water and pepper spray. Officers use them at events such as the Garlic Festival as a form of crowd control. They are carried at Garlic Festival, but have never been used. The SA200 is also used to detonate pepperspray in stand-off situations.
The police department owns three rifles and one pepperball handgun.
“It’s not practical to put them in all squad cars,” Brown said.
While officers have these weapons at their disposal, according to Officer Stan Devlin, the most popular form of police force is their voices.
