Crime & Safety

VIDEO: Royal Oak Police Officers Undergo Taser Training

New Royal Oak Police Department officers are shocked by tasers' force.

With two fish hook-like probes embedded in his body, Royal Oak Police Officer Andre Stienke bellows in agony while he is guided to the floor.

After five seconds of tasing, he regains his bearings.

“Every new officer gets tasered. It’s part of our initial defensive tactics training,” said Royal Oak Police Chief Corrigan O’ Donohue.

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The chief believes it is beneficial to for officers to see and feel the electronic weapon’s effects. There are a lot of misconceptions about the Taser, he said.

Presently, there are three officers finishing up their training at the end of February. Each has been tasered by O’Donohue. 

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“The Taser is a very effective tool for controlling a subject,” the chief said. 

When the weapon is fired, it releases two metal probes with sharp ends that plant into a person's body and deliver a shock through 25-foot wires. When a person is tased, he or she cannot move. There is a lot of pain, but it’s only for a few seconds, O’Donohue said.

For arrests that require force, using a Taser is a safer option than wielding a baton or wrestling a person to the ground, according to O'Donohue.

“We want to avoid wrestling. That’s how people get hurt,” the chief said. “To a lay person, who sees someone being tasered, it seems worse. It may be unpleasant, but it has no lingering effects. Studies show it is one of the safest options.”

A Taser is only used when a person fails to meet officer demands and becomes combative toward the officer or innocent people, O’Donohue said.


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