Murphysboro Police to receive new Tasers

The Murphysboro City Council approved a plan to replace the Tasers currently in use by the police department.

Mayor Will Stephens said the department's Tasers were getting old, and some were obsolete. Some were so old that the cartridges were no longer available. So, Police Chief Chad Roberts did some research.

"Axon, which used to be Taser International, is the only company that makes the Tasers," Chief Roberts said. "We will spend $3,729 to replace all 16 of our Tasers. Each of our 16 officers will get a new-model Taser under full warranty, and we will have a replacement plan with Axon for five years."

The mayor thought it was a "great deal."

"The public demands - and appropriately so - that police officers have less-than-lethal weapons," Mayor Stephens said. "I want to make sure that those Tasers are going to work, that they're up to date, too, in order to minimize any possible reason for officers to have to use deadly force."

Chief Roberts agreed.

"In today's police environment, we have to have de-escalation techniques," he said. "We need options, and Tasers are one of the best. They reduce officer and civilian injuries."

A 2009 report by the American College of Emergency Physician states that a three-year review of all Taser uses against criminal suspects at six law enforcement agencies found only three significant injuries out of 1,201 criminal suspects subdued by Tasers, and reports that 99.75 percent of criminal suspects shocked by a Taser received no injuries or mild injuries only, such as scrapes and bruises.