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APD trains with Tasers

• A least 10 APD officers are carrying Tasers while on patrol, officials said.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — For Sgt. Keithen Hall, a Taser is more than just another less-than-lethal tool to wear on his belt — it’s 50,000 volts of pure attitude adjustment.

A state certified Taser use instructor, the APD veteran put 12 more of the department’s officers through an eight-hour training course Tuesday at the APD’s District Three Headquarters on Broad Avenue.

According to Hall, at least 10 officers already are patrolling city streets with the tool he says is “vital to making sure the officer and the suspect don’t get hurt.”

“Nothing really beats it,” Hall said. “It doesn’t stick around like pepper spray and has no long lasting effects like the batons, so really its an ideal tool to use when you have a suspect coming at you.”

The unit looks like a gun when mounted on the officer’s belt, but when used, it fires two metal probes into the target, triggering a 50,000 bolt of electricity that temporarily interrupts the connection between the brain and the rest of the neuromuscular system, causing the target to instantly become incapacitated, Hall said.

Tuesday, officers learned about the equipment itself and the practical uses of the device, including the department’s standard operating procedure for the weapon.

“We’ve developed a clear SOP that specifies when they can and can’t use their Taser,” Hall said.

And, in keeping with the law enforcement tradition, each of the officers Tuesday had to subject themselves to the bite of the Taser before being allowed to carry it.

The Tasers are part of Chief James Younger’s plan to make the department a modern and versatile force on Albany’s streets.

For Hall, the benefits of carrying the device will hopefully keep him, as well the as the offender, safe.

“With this, your looking at maybe some scrapes and abrasions when they the hit the ground, which is a lot better that the pepper spray, which can last for hours and get on the officers too,” Hall said. “The Taser is quick and to the point.”

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