Tribal, City Police Undergo Stun-Gun Training Exercise
By Ryan Schlehuber

At left: Ray Severance, a police officer for Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, reacts to 50,000 volts of electricity shot by fellow officer and instructor Rich Cullen. Holding Mr. Severance are tribal officer Dan Frechette (left) and Sault Tribe Chief of Police Fred Paquin.

Getting shot with 50,000 volts of electricity was all part of the training program for a dozen tribal and city police officers at Little Bear East Conference Center in St. Ignace Wednesday, March 15. Enduring the five-second jolt is required to be certified in the use of the non-lethal stun gun, which police use to subdue unruly law-breakers.

The course for Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians police officers was taught by tribal officer Rich Cullen and St. Ignace City Police officer Ryan Diehl. It lasted more than three hours, but the anticipated five seconds of high voltage made the trainees anxious.

"It's an indescribable feeling," Mr. Diehl said about being shot with the electric gun. He and Mr. Cullen were trained and certified as instructors a week earlier at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. They used a TASER X26 brand device, manufactured by TASER International of Scottsdale, Arizona. The training exercise allows officers to appreciate and understand the power of the electric gun and teaches them the responsibility of using the weapon properly, said Officer Cullen.

Tribal police officers are now equipped with the TASER X26, a non-lethal, defensive device which discharges two probes attached to wires that send 50,000 volts of electricity to temporarily incapacitate a person. The gun weighs less than a pound and can shoot the darts more than 20 feet.

Training is voluntary, but recommended, and each officer took a turn "riding the lightning," a term Mr. Diehl uses to describe the experience. Held by two other men to prevent falling, each officer was shot and shocked by Mr. Cullen from behind. The five seconds of high voltage they experienced is the standard length of time an officer would use the weapon to subdue a combative person as a means of defense.

The officers are encouraged to experience what it's like to be shot with the electric gun, Mr. Cullen said, to understand the effect it has on a person.

The seven-ounce device is loaded with a cartridge with two probes tied to high-voltage insulated wire. A probe is discharged by a nitrogen propulsion system and transmits powerful electrical pulses along the wires and into the body of the target, through up to two inches of clothing.

The probes are like straight fishing hooks, no longer than an inch, and are not painful to the subject when removed, said Mr. Cullen. Officers can also press the gun directly to the body to administer a shock.

According to TASER International, the 50,000 volts for five seconds is well within a safe range for even a two-yearold child or a 75-year-old man. The company states that the weapon is not dangerous to the heart and will not damage implanted pacemakers.

"Static electricity from a doorknob, for example, is measured between 30,000 and 100,000 volts," explained Mr. Cullen.

The patented technology used by TASER International is what it calls "Electro-Muscular Disruption" to temporarily override the sensory and motor nervous system and interferes with muscular control.

St. Ignace Police Chief Tim Matelski also participated in the training program and plans to hold a similar session for his officers.

"I couldn't move," he said of the effects of the gun. "It felt like forever."

Tribal officer Ray Severance, a day later, said his calves were still sore from tensing up.

"I penciled right up when I was hit," said Officer Cullen, describing how his body became stiff. "I was planning to fall to the ground and cover my face so no one would see my expression, but I couldn't move."

He said the use of the electric device is at the officer's discretion, most likely during combative situations, such as those where pepper spray may alternatively be used.

"The bottom line is saving lives," he said. "Officers do not want a situation to escalate to where he or she has to use deadly force, where they would have to draw their gun." Electric stunning devices, he said, allow them to subdue the subject without using deadly force.

"It's one more tool to use for which we are able to avoid hurting ourselves and someone else," said Officer Diehl.

The tribal police department purchased 20 new TASER X26 devises with the help of some small grants, said Tribal Police Chief Fred Paquin. Officer Cullen each device costs between $900 and $1,000. Cartridges are $20 apiece.

Chief Paquin, who also participated in the training, intends to hold a demonstration program on electric guns for the tribal board.

TASER stands for Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle, named after the boyhood hero of Jack Cover, the weapon's inventor, from Thomas Appleton's Tom Swift book series published from 1910 to 1941.