Feb. 1, 2007, 12:24AM
Pearland police officers learn firsthand the power of Tasers
Pearland Detective Jeff Jernigan, left, shocks officer Joseph Hoffman, center, with a Taser as he is held by officer Adam Carroll, front left, and Pearland EMS supervisor Fred Ortiz during training Wednesday.
James Nielsen: Chronicle
By RICHARD STEWART
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
PEARLAND - When the Taser sent pulses of 50,000 volts of electricity through officer George Dacy's muscles; he went into spasms, lost control, groaned and shouted an obscenity.
The roomful of fellow Pearland policemen erupted in laughter - not at Dacy's two seconds of obvious pain - but because the young patrolman seldom talks at all, much less curses.
Rite of passage
Dacy had just gone through his rite of passage. Every Pearland officer must be shocked by a Taser before being allowed to carry the device designed to render a person helpless without lethal force. Officers go through recertification training every year, but don't have to be shocked after their first time.
Making officers submit to being shocked keeps them from wanting to use the device unless it is really needed, said department spokesman Roy Castillo.
Being shocked is not required in every department.
Houston Police Department officers do not get shocked during Taser training, but deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Department have the option during their training. Deputies are not required to participate, Lt. John Martin said.
So far, about 70 of Pearland's 104 officers have been certified to carry Tasers. In the four years the force has had them, Tasers have been used in 23 incidents, said Detective David Patterson, one of the Pearland training officers. In that same time, no Pearland officers have shot anyone with a gun.
Dacy's shout is common for officers getting shocked for the first time, Patterson said. A few minutes earlier, patrolman Joseph Hoffman had reacted with the very same word. He said the pain was bad, but the loss of muscle control is worse.
"As soon as it ended, the pain went away," he said.
What won't go away for a year or so will be the small burn marks on the officers from the device, Patterson said.
In the field, the Tasers shoot two small probes that are tipped by needle-like barbed tips about an inch long. The probes fly up to 21 feet trailing tiny copper wires that connect with a battery in the gun.
The probe tips can stick in skin, or just in clothing, Patterson said. They can deliver their electric charge through two inches of clothes, he said.
The muscles between the two probes tighten up in uncontrollable spasms as the device sends about 19 pulses per second. The device delivers the shocks for five seconds, but can be used multiple times to subdue a combative subject.
A small red laser points to where the top probe will hit.
Video, audio records
"Often just using the laser and telling the subject that you have a Taser is enough to subdue him," Patterson told the officers.
Pearland's newest Tasers also have tiny video cameras and microphones in the battery pack that sticks out of the hand grip. "Don't put your finger over the camera lens," Patterson warned.
He said having video and audio records of Taser incidents can help the department avoid some of the questions that linger over how and how often Houston police use the weapon.
Pearland Sgt. Andrew Beavers said he responded to a domestic disturbance in which three members of a family were fighting. "The mother came out of the kitchen with two butcher knives," he said.
He shot her with the Taser and not his gun. The woman survived, as did the officers.
"If you can diffuse a situation verbally, that's what we want you to do," Patterson said.
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