Small-town police tout big benefits of stun guns.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

JUNCTION CITY - Ask a Junction City police officer about his Taser, and he'll rave about how wonderful the device is, especially when dealing with potentially violent people.

"It's just so much safer," officer Corey Mertz said. "I can't say enough good things about it."

In the two years since the eight-officer agency acquired the stun guns, officers have shocked combative people about a dozen times, police Chief Ken Hancock said.

But the stun gun's true usefulness lies in its ability to defuse tense situations before they get out of control, the chief said. The mere threat of a five-second blast from the 50,000-volt Taser has persuaded many people to comply with officer orders, police said.

Seeing the little red dot of the laser sight dancing across their chests has a calming effect on people looking to fight police.

And that's quite all right with the chief.

"That's really the goal - to use no force at all," Hancock said.

The Tasers are especially useful in a small department such as Junction City, where often a single officer works patrol with backup from neighboring agencies 15 or more minutes away, Hancock said.

Because of his small staff, the chief is always chasing down new technology, he said. His department is the first in Lane County to acquire Tasers, and was the first to buy bean-bag rifles a decade ago.

"I really believe in less-lethal," Hancock said. "The more less-lethal you have available, the greater your options are on the street."

Arizona-based Taser International says its product is "nonlethal" and saves lives.

However, the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an inquiry into the company's claim that the stun guns have never caused a death or serious injury. And a recent report by Amnesty International documented 74 Taser-related deaths nationwide in the past four years.

Hancock equated the backlash against Tasers to past resistance to police use of pepper spray when it was first introduced as an alternative to a baton, gun or fists. The city's officers carry the advanced X26 Taser, which logs the date and time it's fired and spits out tiny confetti marked with the serial number of the device.

"It's been a resounding success here," Hancock said. "We've never had an injury with it."

In fact, the Taser has prevented injury, officer Mertz said, partly because its reputation precedes it.

Mertz tells of a time, before the department had Tasers, when a man about to strike another man with a tire iron dropped the weapon and fell to his knees.

"Don't shoot me with the Taser!" the man cried, waving his hands in the air.

Another time, Mertz and a fellow officer went to a bar where a suicidal man had gone after cutting his wrists. With blood running down his hands, the man scowled at the officers and said, "There's one of me and two of you - I like the odds of that."

"In this job you hear that kind of thing all the time, but this guy was stone-cold serious," Mertz said. "This was the type of person who sent chills down your spine."

The other officer said he had a Taser, and instantly the man's demeanor changed. "That puts out 50,000 volts of electricity, right?" the suicidal man asked. "I don't like the idea of getting shot with that." After considering the options, the man allowed police to take him into custody.

Police officers in general aren't stronger or better at fighting than the average person, Hancock said. And they don't learn anything in the academy that makes them tougher than the people they encounter, although they do learn some defensive moves and control holds.

Instead, cops rely on the power of the badge and whatever tools they have on their belt, he said.

Many of those tools - such as the baton and pepper spray, as well as "focused blows" with the fist - rely on pain to gain compliance. But people hopped up on alcohol and drugs, especially methamphetamine, can be impervious to pain.

The Taser, on the other hand, temporarily paralyzes people regardless of their pain perception. "If you remove the Taser and you remove pepper spray, you're going to have to resort to the baton again," Hancock said. Striking combative people with a baton is "basically hitting people with a big stick," the chief said. A baton strike has a lasting effect, he said. "It's going to hurt and do more damage."

Seeing officers try to beat someone into submission can be upsetting for the public. "It doesn't look good," Hancock said.

All Junction City officers were tased during training so they'd know the limitations of the weapon and its effects. Hancock and his officers agree: They would rather be shocked with a Taser than pepper sprayed or hit with a baton.

Pepper spray continues to burn the eyes, nose and face for about 45 minutes - in some cases, for hours - and baton strikes can break bones and leave lasting injuries.

But the Taser shock, though painful, lasts for only five seconds and ends without lingering pain.

"If I had to have force used on me, I'd definitely say the Taser over anything else," Mertz said.

CAPTION(S):

Junction City police officer Corey Mertz is a proponent of using Taser stun guns, the effects of which he has experienced firsthand during training. The shock instantly incapacitates a suspect but is not as long-lasting as pepper spray or as damaging as using a baton. "If I had to have force used on me, I'd definitely say the Taser over anything else," he said. Brian Davies / The Register-Guard