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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, June 23, 2005

HPD orders 229 electric stun devices

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Honolulu police department has ordered 229 high-voltage stun guns to be permanently used by officers in certain patrol districts, Chief Boisse Correa said yesterday.

The guns provide a nonlethal alternative to firearms that will be used only in extreme cases, Correa said.

He said that from March 2004 to March 2005, police officers used about 100 stun guns as part of a federally funded pilot program.

The weapons were used 66 times, he said, and a third of the time the officers merely brandished the weapon to deter further criminal activity.

"You pull it out, activate it, and show it, and people stop," said Correa, who was speaking to City Council members at a Public Safety Committee meeting.

Correa said officers who receive the weapons will undergo training and that the threshold for use will be higher than in most Mainland jurisdictions. He said the practice of using the stun gun like a cattle prod, instead of firing it from a distance, will not be allowed.

The weapons that were used as part of the pilot program have been returned, and the department is ordering Taser International's new X26 model.

According to Taser, the X26 delivers a 20,000- to 50,000-volt electrical signal transmitted through wires to probes that make contact with a person's body or clothing, resulting in an immediate loss of all neuromuscular control and the ability to perform coordinated action for the duration of the impulse.

The actions come as civil-rights groups and some police agencies question the use of stun guns. Honolulu and Maui police began using Tasers last year.

More than 80 deaths have been reported since 1999 after victims were shocked with stun guns, according to reviews by The Arizona Republic and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The SCLC, an interfaith activist group based in Atlanta, also asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to declare a moratorium on the weapon.

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.