Tasers Soon Required For Deerfield Police

DEERFIELD, IL — Deerfield police will soon be required to carry tasers, with the mere sight of officers carrying the less lethal weapons likely to make people less likely to resist officers, Chief John Sliozis told Deerfield trustees Monday, before they village unanimously approved a request for authorization to buy the "electronic control devices" at a board meeting Monday.

Currently, the Deerfield Police Department has pepper spray, bean bag bullets and collapsible batons as the less lethal items in its arsenal. Over the past year, tasers may have been called for in about four instances, Sliozis said. In those cases, "physical contact" was used.

"The taser would serve as an additional method that would allow officers to subdue resisting or aggressive subjects while lowering the rate of injury to all persons involved in those type of contacts," Sliozis said.

The roughly $24,000 cost of the buying 12 of the devices, training officers on their use, and implementing them will be paid for out of funds already budgeted to the village's vehicle equipment replacement fund, Sliozis told trustees. The dozen devices will be enough for every uniformed officer to be equipped with a taser while on duty. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Deerfield — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

There will be an estimated annual cost of about $5,700 until 2021 for training materials, as well as a warranty and replacement place, according to a memo from Sliozis to Village Manager Ken Street.

Deerfield Police Deputy Chief Thomas Keane said the department needs to order the devices and implement a policy regarding their use. He said he hoped the tasers, which will not be equipped with recording devices, would be in the hands of officers on duty by the end of November.

_{Top photo via Patch archive}