PERRYSBURG – Tasers will be standard issued equipment for all Perrysburg police after approvals came through from council on Tuesday.
“I appreciate you investing your time in non-lethal options,” Councilman Cory Kuhlman said.
Council unanimously approved the $141,452 purchase from Axon Enterprises.
There will be 43 new Taser 7 units purchased for the police division, as well as a docking station, software licences for each user, training items, a five-year warranty on all hardware, five years worth of duty cartridges and training.
“As the chief showed us in the (safety) committee meeting, there’s a distinct difference between the old and the new,” Councilman Barry VanHoozen said. “Secondly, each officer will be issued their own taser. Right now, they are being shared.”
The new tasers are yellow, and they will be replacing all of the old black tasers. Police Chief Patrick Jones also noted that the officers are required to carry the taser on the opposite side of their body from their handgun and it has a distinctly different shape and feel from the regularly issued firearm.
“We go through taser training every year,” Jones said.
The tasers will also be logged in at a computer docking station every 30 days. There will then be a record every time the taser has been used.
“With the new policy, which we have modeled off of other agencies, and the docking station downloading date every 30 days, we will then know if the taser has been used and not reported to us, or if there has been a mischarge,” Jones said.
Kuhlman asked if the officers were required to be hit by the taser.
“At the citizen’s police academy our instructor volunteered for it, so we got to witness that,” Kuhlman said.
Jones said that taser company recommends it be an option for all officers, but that all the instructors for the Perrysburg Police Division have been hit with the taser.
Two of the new tasers will be considered extras, and used as back-up units or to be on hand if additional officers are hired.
“We have 38 sworn officers and we’re hiring three more,” Kathryn Sandretto, law director, said.
Also at the meeting, council approved the purchase of four new marked vehicles. The $151,504 purchase of four 2022 Ford Police Interceptor Utility Hybrid Vehicles will be to replace a 2004 Ford van, a 2012 Ford van that was used for transfers to the Perrysburg Municipal court, a 2014 Chevy Tahoe and a 2015 Chevy Tahoe. Vehicle equipment packages for total of $65,751 were also approved.
Council also approved the purchase of two 2022 Ford Police Interceptor Utility Hybrid Vehicles for a total of $75,918, replacing an unmarked 2009 Crown Victoria and a 2014 Ford Fusion.
A one-year dispatch software agreement was also approved for $34,278 with ProPhoenix Corporation. It will include support to the department’s computer aided dispatch software, mobile terminal software and a records management system.
A renewal of a radio maintenance agreement with P&R Communications Service for $25,987 was also approved. The maintenance covers all mobile and portable radios for the police division, the dispatch console positions and radio control room hardware.
