In a unanimous vote earlier this month, the Board of Selectmen approved $8,815 for the purchase of taser equipment for the police department. The funds include monies for both training and on-duty cartridges for the weapons.

According to Deputy Police Chief Chris Massey, the Guilford Police Department (GPD) has used Tasers for nearly two decades.

Massey said the department was in mandated upgrades but still had serviceable components of the devices that could be utilized effectively and safely, helping to keep the replacement expenditures to a minimum.

“We had to purchase supplies to maintain our Taser funding program,” said Massey. “For the latest set of Tasers that we are currently using and assigning to our personnel were purchased initially on a five-year plan, which includes batteries, duty cartridges that we carry when we’re out on patrol, and then also training cartridges. The cost of those Tasers was spread out over a five-year period, which recently ended. So, we utilized some money that we had in capital funding to purchase supplies necessary to continue the program. Essentially, if we wanted to be able to get the batteries, and the cartridges, for ‘free,’ we would’ve had to purchase entirely new taters and have a new five-year program. The Tasers we have are still very serviceable, so we elected to purchase the supplies ala cart and will probably do that for several years until we have to replace the Tasers handles themselves. It is just more cost-effective this way.”

According to Massey, the cartridges are single-use components, but the device handle that accepts the cartridge has a far longer serviceable life.

“The cartridges themselves can only be used one time, the handles last for years, and we have had ours for years. But just like any piece of technology, which these are, over time, they do break and require replacement, but these have been very reliable for us,” said Massey.

According to Massey, as a member of law enforcement, he welcomes any device or technique that can deescalate interactions and that has the ability to keep officers and the public safer.

“Deescalation is part of our job. Having extra tools on our belt to be able to handle a situation at the lowest possible level of force is certainly a welcome addition to our tool belt. Tasers are considered a less lethal option. Their use, although rare, when deployed effectively certainly can mitigate a tense situation and help get somebody under control more quickly and prevent additional injuries to both the individual the device is being used on, as well as officers,” Massey said. “When you look at the use of force, officers are provided with several options-we can use our voices and our ability to persuade people, which is the lowest level of use of force on the spectrum. And that moves all the way up to use of deadly force, so the more options we have between those two methods could be utilized, it really gives officers a lot more options and ways to work through situations.”

Massey added, “Despite the facts these devices are rarely used, they do need to be functioning at their peak level in order to operate effectively. Like any technology, if it’s not working, if the batteries are dead, it won’t be of use when it’s needed. We put our officers through yearly training on these devices, so keeping them maintained is critical as well.”