BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – Buffalo Police will soon receive more non-lethal resources at their disposal.
The Buffalo Common Council on Tuesday is expected to pass two measures which will give the police department more tools in the fight against crime.
Taser purchase
The police department is expecting to receive 85 stun guns for 515 of its officers in what is the first significant purchase of the resource since it began a trial using 20 of them last year.
"We never had an actual taser deployment so we couldn't say, in terms of our research, how well it worked in actual field use," Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Rinaldo said. "There were a number of instances where just the presence of the taser or the threat of the use of it brought somebody under control and in compliance. For us, that's a success. If we don't have to use a device and we don't have to use a weapon, that's a win."
Still, not all officers will be immediately equipped with the stun guns. According to filing in the council agenda, the department will spend about $1 million over six years to equip their officers.
Each district in the department will receive about ten of the tasers.
"Our goal is to equip our officers with as many devices, items, and training that they can reasonably carry and, as a department we feel, would be successful in their mission," Rinaldo said. "…Tasers are not a perfect solution. (Pepper spray) is not a perfect solution. A baton is not a perfect solution. But if you give officers enough tools and enough options, hopefully we can start to see more successful resolutions to incidents where violence is present."
Buffalo Common Council President Darius Pridgen and Police Oversight Chairman David Rivera both support the taser plan.
"This is part of the reform that is happening here in the City of Buffalo," Rivera said. "We want to make sure the police officers have the tools at their disposal so they don't have to resort to more lethal weapons…It's one more way of hopefully de-escalating situations that may occur when police officers are responding to 911 calls."
"What is most important is to really continue to train officers and aggressively train them on de-escalation so that no device has to be used," Pridgen said. "That's the ultimate goal."
BolaWrap project to begin
The police department will also soon begin a six-month trial of BolaWrap, a device that deploys an eight-foot Kevlar tether which wraps around a person and acts as "remote handcuffs".
"Within one second the person would be wrapped up, whether it's their legs or arms that you would restrain," Rinaldo said. "It greatly limits the ability of the person to move or to offer any kind of resistance. It allows officers the opportunity to quickly detain somebody, get them into custody, and limits their ability to either flee or fight or hurt themselves or another person."
There is no cost for the department to use BolaWrap, though Pridgen said the council is voting on it to show that the common council and the mayor's office are working together on reforms.
"This is important," Pridgen said. "One of the things we did discuss and that the administration brought up was concern from the community of the little fish hook that the BolaWrap has going into people's skin. We were informed it will not be used on citizens who maybe have on shorts or no sleeves on their arms, depending on where it's being aimed at. This is a step forward, I think, for the Buffalo Police force and especially for our officers and our citizens."
Police reform activists earlier this month criticized BolaWrap because it could still cause some physical harm to the person it is used against. They prefer, instead, that money is used to have counselors intervene instead of police officers.
Rinaldo said the BolaWrap is not intended to make contact with a person's skin.
Buffalo Police hope to begin the six-month trial in November when they receive the equipment.
Even if the department believes the BolaWrap can be a successful tool and wants to purchase them, it may take years due to the financial concerns of the city. Rinaldo said it's a device that could be shared among officers and that because there is no recurring cost to use BolaWrap, it could be affordable.
