OCPD TO GET 10 MORE TASERS

The Ocean City Police Department will be getting 10 new Tasers this fall, after OCPD Chief Bernadette DiPino presented City Council with data showing that the devices have been effective with just their presence, let alone their actual use.

In February, the OCPD purchased 15 devices and had an additional one donated to the department by a local business. All 16 equipped officers, as well as several alternate users, were given 30 hours of training on the device. The X2 is essentially a ‘double-barreled’ Taser device, capable of firing two sets of barbs without reloading. The barbs, trailed by thin wires, stick to the target’s skin so that the officer can deliver a shock from some distance.

However, according to the data that DiPino submitted to the council, more results have come from simply displaying the Taser as a means of warning, rather than have come from actually firing the weapon. Since February, the department has recorded 19 instances in which officers have intentionally removed their Tasers from their holsters and displayed the devices as a means of gaining submission from uncooperative subjects.

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