An In-Depth Look at Taser Use Among Lake Minnetonka Police Officers

Although a recent report by 60 Minutes indicates use of Tasers by police across the country is skyrocketing, brass with the five departments ringing Lake Minnetonka say that’s not the case locally.

In fact, less than two dozen people have been Tased over the last three years by officers patrolling Lake Minnetonka communities.

The Mound Police Department was among the first on Lake Minnetonka to begin equipping officers with Tasers, doing so in 2002. Nearly a decade later, all officers—to include those on the reserve unit—carry Tasers.

Sergeant Kenny Beck is a member of Lake Minnetonka’s Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and the Mound Police Department’s Taser instructor. Beck said Tasers have revolutionized law enforcement and have proven to be an indispensable tool in gaining early control of potentially deadly interactions with volatile individuals.

“The community and officers are safer with the MPD having the availability of Tasers,” Beck said. “It is another tool for law enforcement to use in situations where a suspect is not cooperating with the police or in the event an innocent person is being assaulted.”

Orono Police Chief Corey Farniok agrees. The Orono Police Department began carrying Tasers in fall 2003, and Farniok said officers have used Tasers on approximately a half-dozen occasions in the last three years.

“They are a vital tool that we can use to de-escalate versus going hands-on,” he said.

In Deephaven, Chief Cory Johnson has removed expandable batons from his officers’ belts and replaced them with Tasers—a move more and more chiefs throughout the nation are making.

“An expandable baton can cause devastating injuries,” Johnson said. “They can cause broken bones, visible injury and possibly death if a subject is not hit in the intended area. The Taser probe impact is minimal.”

Only one individual has been tased by Deephaven police since the department began carrying the weapons in 2008. Chief Johnson said that instance occurred in 2010 and involved a suspect who was resisting arrest.

“The subject was drive stunned in the back three times,” Johnson said. “The Taser was used for pain compliance, to release his hands and arms. It worked well."

Drive stunned refers to the practice of placing a Taser in direct contact with an individual.

Police aren’t the only ones carrying Tasers. Laws in most states, including Minnesota, allow for the private purchase and possession of the devices, and they are widely available online.

Show of force

Chiefs and others who have received advanced Taser training say the mere sight of a Taser and verbal threat to use it is often more than enough to get a suspect’s attention and gain control of a situation.

“I know of only a few instances in the past three years where a suspect has had the probes or darts fired at them, however I also know that officers have removed their Taser from the holster either in preparation for firing or as a warning sign on many more occasions,” said South Lake Minnetonka Police Department (SLMPD) Sgt. Jim Williams, also a certified Taser instructor.

Proponents of the Taser say the non-lethal weapon has reduced instances of deadly force and slashed the number of injuries sustained by both police officers and suspects.

“Individuals have heard about or watch YouTube videos on the Taser and have drawn a conclusion that they do not want the Taser used on them, therefore they will cooperate with the police,” said Beck, of the Mound Police Department. “There are combative people who will give up right away once a Taser is pulled out from an officer’s holster.”

Anatomy of a Tase

Newer versions of the Taser, which all full-time police officers in the Lake Minnetonka area now carry, propel a trio of darts from a hand-held device smaller than a typical 9mm handgun and instantly shock a target upon penetration of the skin.

But Williams, the Taser instructor for the South Lake Minnetonka force, made a point to stress that media reports about how much electricity is actually delivered are, more often not, misleading.

“It is true that there is a 50,000-volt discharge from the Taser unit initially,” Williams said. “However, that is the charge that gets the process started. Once the probes connect with a person’s body, the voltage delivered is actually only 1,200 volts.”

While 1,200 volts sounds like a powerful punch, it’s the amperage at which it’s delivered that gets the Taser classified as a non-lethal weapon. Tasers use a fraction of an amp to dish out their voltage; a typical wall outlet uses between 15 and 20 amps.

Shocks delivered by a Taser interrupt the natural electrical impulses emitted from the brain—temporarily incapacitating the target.

“It’s not the 'brute force' of the shock delivered, rather it’s the manner in which it is delivered. It’s really quite remarkable,” Williams said.

Training and shifting protocols

All officers are required to undergo comprehensive training on Taser use before being cleared to carry one on patrol. Most of the younger officers have received Taser classes at the police academy, and all local chiefs require annual refresher courses—typically done in-house or as a cluster of departments.

Beck, the Mound instructor, is trained by Taser International and re-certified every two years. He then returns to his department and is tasked with crafting and carrying out a training program for all Mound officers.

While Wayzata police have only deployed a Taser once since 2008, Chief Mike Risvold said his officers are constantly adjusting their training to new protocols that are changing the way Tasers are deployed.

While lasting effects and death are rare, they do occur and almost always involve cardiac arrest. Because of this risk, protocol now states center mass, or the chest area, should not be a targeted area.

“It’s kind of difficult now for officers because if you have a somewhat combative or moving target, in order to try and hit a leg or arm or the back or stomach area with the probes—especially when you fire them at distance—the lower probe shoots at a degree of angle that sepeartes the probe,” Chief Risvold said. “Center mass is obviously the biggest target and the easiest to hit. Now, if you can’t shoot for that area, your chances of missing and being ineffective with the Taser increase, and stopping a situation is taken away.”

Citing a recent government study of Taser use among U.S. police officers, Beck said injuries such as broken bones and usually minor head trauma also occur as a result of suspects falling to the ground.

No Magic Bullet

While local police chiefs overwhelmingly say Tasers make their officers and communities safer, all are just as quick to stress that Tasers are not intended to be a first option in most instances.

Responding to critics who say police over use the Taser, Williams from the SLMPD said training regiments are being designed to instill restraint.

“As effective as the Taser is, our officers are trained not to rely on it as some sort of magic bullet,” Williams said.