The Harvard Police Department placed an order last week to buy nine Taser stun guns, one for each full-time officer. Money for the purchase was provided by a grant of nearly $25,000 from the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.
Police Chief Ed Denmark called Tasers “an important tool in de-escalation” for police officers. He said in a telephone interview that they give officers a less lethal option than a gun, especially in cases where mental health issues or drug overdoses are involved.
Harvard usually has just two officers—and occasionally only one—on patrol at a time, Denmark said, and a Taser allows one officer to control a situation with a lower level of force.
When fired, Tasers and other brands of stun guns shoot a pair of barbed darts into a person’s body. The darts deliver multiple, short electrical pulses, which disrupt the person’s muscular control and cause painful, disabling muscle contractions. Tasers have been in use since the 1970s but have become much more widely used since 2000. A 2019 Reuters article reported more than 1,000 deaths following the use of Tasers in the United States since the stun guns were first introduced, which is why Tasers are described as “less lethal” rather than “nonlethal” weapons.
Denmark first asked the town to purchase stun guns two years ago, in January 2019. At that time, he wrote that about 25% of officer-involved shootings nationwide involved citizens with mental health problems. Tasers, he wrote, allow officers to resolve potentially violent situations without resorting to their guns. “Failure for us to equip officers in a manner consistent with the current best practices is ill advised,” he concluded then. But his request for $18,000 was dropped from that year’s town meeting warrant because of budget constraints.
Police departments in Ayer, Shirley, Bolton, Littleton, and Boxborough all have stun guns as part of their standard equipment. “We are the last on the boat,” Denmark said of Harvard.
Shirley began with a single Taser in 2008 but now has one for each of its 11 full-time officers, along with two spares. Police Chief Samuel Santiago said his officers rarely use their Tasers, but the weapons still serve as a deterrent. Bolton Police Chief Warren Nelson agreed, saying, “It’s a great tool, but we don’t use ’em a lot.” His department has had Tasers since 2016.
One reason the stun gun is effective as a deterrent is that it is often a bright, highly visible color, making it obvious that an officer has it available, according to Nelson. Officers carry the Taser on the opposite side of their body from their gun. Both its position and its color helps to distinguish the Taser from a firearm, Denmark said.
Massachusetts law requires a minimum of six hours of training before an officer is authorized to carry a Taser, followed by yearly recertification. Each police department must submit a use-of-force policy to the state. The policies are based on a statewide template and so are quite similar from town to town, Denmark and the other chiefs said. Departments must also file a report with the state every time an officer uses a Taser.
Though Harvard’s grant came by way of the state office, it is part of a federal Department of Justice program called the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant program. It is named for a 22-year-old New York City police officer who was shot to death in 1988 on orders from a drug kingpin.
