Grant funded 3 APD TASER guns

TASER: APD Officer Garett Maxwell unholsters one of the department’s new TASER devices, a tool officers may use to gain control of violent situations, Maxwell said.

With law enforcement officers in Shasta County and Redding already equipped with the technology, Anderson Police Department trained and outfitted its officers with TASERs, a company name for a Conducted Energy Device (CED), in January. The department spent $4,000 of grant funds for three TASERs with accessories, according to APD Captain Robert Kirvin.

When the trigger is pulled on a TASER, two probes shoot out. If the probes connect to the target person's body, a 50,000-volt shock is sent through the target's body, said APD officer Garett Maxwell, who conducted officer training at the department. The shock can last up to five seconds, and the officer must pull the trigger again to cause additional shocks.

The TASER uses the nervous system's electrical impulse against itself, Maxwell said. The electricity counters the brain's ability to control muscles between probes, causing muscles to cramp.

"(It can) bring potentially violent situations to a safe close," Maxwell said.

Volunteering to subject himself to experiencing a taser shot, Kirvin described the experience as five seconds of "incredible pain" that "pretty much locks up all muscles." Kirvin added he was able to put his hands out in front of him because he was afraid of falling face first.

"That five seconds seems like an eternity," Kirvin said, adding that the pain goes away immediately afterward with no lingering physical effects.

TASER technology has a definite advantage over pepper spray, Kirvin said. A potential assailant can still fight after getting pepper sprayed, whereas someone getting tased cannot, Kirvin said, explaining that pepper spray doesn't affect motor skills.

While a brief search on the Internet yields a variety of lawsuits related to their use, many law enforcement agencies use CEDs.

"(It has) not been proven that they have caused serious injury or death," Kirvin said.

Additionally, Maxwell said there was considerably less chance of injury to a suspect subdued by a CED than with an officer's baton.

"Simply removing the TASER from its holster has an immediate effect on a person's thought process," Maxwell said.

Maxwell said a suspect who previously refused to comply with an officer's order changed his mind when that officer simply unholstered his TASER.

Maxwell also recounted an instance when pepper spray did not work on a drunk, violent suspect. Maxwell said he then had to subdue the person by hand and ended up with pepper spray on himself as well.

The APD has already used the TASER once on Angela Marie Cantrell, 27, of Anderson on Jan. 23. Officers arrived at her Spruce Circle residence when her 8-year-old child dialed 911 because something was wrong with the child's mother, Kirvin said. Officers arrived to find Cantrell on the floor, apparently intoxicated, Kirvin said, adding that Cantrell then refused to follow an officer's order to stay in her house while the children were retrieved by their father.

After officers warned her against resisting, Cantrell swung at officers with hand cuffs attached to one wrist, leaving one of the steel cuffs to swing freely, according to Kirvin. Officer Matt Goodwin then used the TASER on her for a five-second charge, Kirvin said.

Cantrell was booked into Shasta County Jail for resisting arrest, public intoxication, assault on a peace officer, and child endangerment, Kirvin said.

TASER is an acronym for Thomas A. Swifts Electric Rifle. It references a children's story that was a favorite of CED inventor John H. Cover, according to the TASER Web site.

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