A TASER Device Reduces Police Injury Argue Houston Police Department

Houston police explain there is an advantage to officers employing TASER devices on hostile suspects – the self defense device is saving taxpayers millions by reducing injuries to officers.

The HPD has greatly invested in arming its officers with the stunning devices, as part of a strategy aimed at reducing deadly confrontations. Since 2004, the police department has purchased around 5,000 of the non-lethal tools from TASER International, at a cost of $4.7 million.

According to the latest HDP report on TASER devices and their use, workers’ compensation costs related to police confrontations have decreased as a result of the deployment of the self defense devices widely used by officers on Houston streets.

In 2004, the fiscal year report showed that workers’ compensation claims related to officers involved in physical confrontations reached $2.2 million. In the last month of the fiscal year for 2004 the stunning tools were introduced to HPD. However, for the fiscal year 2010, costs had dropped to $328,231.

In a statement the police chief of the HPD, explained that the employment of TASER devices not only decreased the amount of injuries to HPD officers, but in addition it also reduced the number of instances in which officers were forced to utilize deadly force in order to subdue offenders.

The police chief went on to say that of the 120,000 offender arrests each year by the HPD, fewer than one half of 1 percent have involved the deployment of a TASER device by an officer. Furthermore, in 103 documented incidents where the employment of deadly force would have been justified against a suspect, the arresting HPD officer instead utilized a stunning tool to subdue the suspect instead.

Reports from December 2004 to July 2010 show that officers have employed their TASER devices 2,570 times, which has seen them successfully incapacitate suspects 76 percent of the time.

As a result of the employment of the stunning tools, the HPD considers them to be a non-lethal form of protection when it comes to subduing unruly suspects. By doing so in this manner, not only are risks to officers down, but harm to the suspects and others involved is reduced too.

After all, if the HPD didn’t consider them safe and effective tools to employ, it seems unlikely that they would purchase just under $5 million worth of the tools.