- Title: Police test 'Spider-Man' lasso device as alternative to Taser
- Date: 17th September 2019
- Summary: LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) CLOSE-UP OF BOLAWRAP DEVICE EMITTING GREEN TARGET LASER BEAM THREE MEN FIRING BOLAWRAP DEVICE AT MANNEQUIN DURING TRAINING SESSION VARIOUS OF BOLAWRAP BEING FIRE BELL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM SMITH, PRESIDENT OF WRAP TECHNOLOGIES, SAYING: "So this the ... there has been a gap created in law enforcement. From presence, to all the other tools being pushed up to intermediate level of force. Whether it is a Taser, pepper spray, baton, so kind of there's been this gap created by the courts requiring a higher level of force be used at the appropriate time so this tool fits perfectly into that gap giving the officers another option to use before having to use that high level of force to end that conversation very early, very safely. We are not putting anything into the body, no electricity, we are not working on pain compliance, simply remote restraint, giving the officers the opportunity to take that person into custody without it requiring a higher level of force." VARIOUS OF TRAINEE COCKING AND FIRING BOLAWRAP DEVICE AT MANNEQUIN (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM SMITH, PRESIDENT OF WRAP TECHNOLOGIES, SAYING: "So, it is a handheld device, it is a little bit larger than a cell phone, it's a little bit thicker and it's got an internal mechanical system that basically has an integrated safety that when you take it off of safe it automatically turns on a green laser that is activated at all times. It also vibrates the unit so tactically you feel that it is on, in addition to seeing laser. At that point, with the cartridge installed you would cock the system with our cocking levers and there is an activation button that actually will deploy the cartridge and deploy the eight ft. kevlar tether out to the subject. And it is coming out at about 640 ft. per second, almost 200 meters per second. And that is... you won't see it." LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) TRAINEES LEARNING HOW TO USE BOLAWRAP DEVICE AT FIRING RANGE VARIOUS OF BOLAWRAP BEING FIRED BELL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE POLICE CHIEF OF THE CITY OF BELL, CARLOS ISLAS, TAKING PART IN BOLAWRAP DEMONSTRATION ISLAS WITH HIS LEGS WRAPPED IN BOLAWRAP (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARLOS ISLAS, POLICE CHIEF OF THE CITY OF BELL, SAYING: "I personally went ahead and took the opportunity to get wrapped myself and reason I did that it is important for me to understand what an individual who is going to get wrapped is going to feel and to me it's very negligible, I mean there was no pain." VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS WATCHING AND TAKING PART IN BOLAWRAP DEMONSTRATION VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS EXAMINING BOLAWRAP DEVICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARLOS ISLAS, POLICE CHIEF OF THE CITY OF BELL, SAYING: "I can envision if a person is still resisting that the wrap is going to tighten up and maybe the fish hook ends may pierce the skin but the option of doing that and taking them into custody without escalating to force I think it is negligible and I am really excited to try this. We are going to try to put this out in the field as soon as possible. I am really anxious to see if we can utilize this in the way that appears to be positive for us." VIEW OF BOLAWRAP DEVICE CLOSE-UP OF HOOKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM SMITH, PRESIDENT OF WRAP TECHNOLOGIES, SAYING: "So, we use number 10 fish hooks and they are curled. And the intent of the device is that when it wraps around you those kind of lay across you. But if you try to fight it they can dig in just like a fisherman might get a fish hook in his finger. So, obviously if I am wearing a short sleeve, like I am today, and you hit me on the skin then the fish hook has the potential to go in that. But it is a very small hook, no different than fishing. Obviously, we do train for elbows and below because we also ... if you hit someone in the head area, we are worried about them coming in and potentially hitting an eye which would be something we are trying to avoid. But other than that risk, those are kind of the biggest risks out there is around the fish hooks penetrating the skin and again it is no different than a fisherman getting it into their thumb." BOLAWRAP DEVICE BEING FIRED VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS LISTENING TO PRESENTATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOLAWRAP'S CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER AND FORMER MIAMI POLICE CHIEF, DON DE LUCCA, SAYING: "The problem in policing I think in the last 30 years is the optics of what we do and the tools we have given our police officers. So, now we have an opportunity to give a tool to police officers they can use early on to secure an individual who needs help or needs to be put into compliance and we can step in without causing any pain."
- Embargoed: 1st October 2019 13:47
- Keywords: BolaWrap Spider-man Kevlar Taser bola style tether Wrap Technologies Axon Enterprises
- Location: LAGUNA NIGUEL AND BELL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/ UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- City: LAGUNA NIGUEL AND BELL, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES/ UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA001AX1R6U3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: With 49 people killed last year after being shocked by police with Tasers, the makers of a new hand-held restraining device are hoping to change policing by providing what they say is a safe and pain free alternative to electroshocking and other techniques used by police restrain or stun would-be suspects.
Called Bolawrap, the device fires an eight-foot (2.4 meters) bola style tether at a would-be suspect which entangles them to prevent them from getting away. It works at a range of 10-25 ft. (3-7.6 meters).
"Whether it is a Taser, pepper spray, baton ... there's been this gap created by the courts requiring a higher level of force be used at the appropriate time so this tool fits perfectly into that gap giving the officers another option to use before having to use that high level of force to end that conversation very early, very safely," explained Tom Smith, the President of Wrap Industries, which manufactures the Bolawrap device.
Smith, who founded TASER International, now Axon Enterprises, and made the Taser with his brother before leaving to join Wrap Technologies, said he saw the success of the Taser as proof there was an appetite for more non-lethal tools in policing.
"We are not putting anything into the body, no electricity, we are not working on pain compliance, simply remote restraint, giving the officers the opportunity to take that person into custody without it requiring a higher level of force."
Smith says The Bolawrap was designed to be a small as possible, so that it could fit easily onto a police belt.
"It is a hand-held device, it is a little bit larger than a cell phone, it's a little bit thicker and it's got an internal mechanical system that basically has an integrated safety that when you take it off of safe it automatically turns on a green laser that is activated at all times. It also vibrates the unit so tactically you feel that it is on, in addition to seeing the laser. At that point, with the cartridge installed you would cock the system with our cocking levers and there is an activation button that actually will deploy the cartridge and deploy the eight ft. kevlar tether out to the subject. And it is coming out at about 640 ft. per second, almost 200 meters per second. And that is ... you won't see it," said Smith.
In the city of Bell, southeast of Los Angeles, where the local police department are trying out the Bolawrap, Police Chief Carlos Islas was eager to put himself in the line of fire and try out the device.
"I personally went ahead and took the opportunity to get wrapped myself and reason I did that it is important for me to understand what an individual who is going to get wrapped is going to feel and to me it's very negligible, I mean there was no pain," he said.
"I can envision if a person is still resisting that the wrap is going to tighten up and maybe the fish hook ends may pierce the skin but the option of doing that and taking them into custody without escalating to force I think it is negligible and I am really excited to try this. We are going to try to put this out in the field as soon as possible," he said.
Don De Lucca, a former Miami police chief who has been in policing for three decades and now serves as Bolawrap's Chief Strategy Officer, said with U.S. policing making headlines for the wrong reasons, the device provided a chance for improved "optics."
"The problem in policing I think in the last 30 years is the optics of what we do and the tools we have given our police officers. So, now we have an opportunity to give a tool to police officers they can use early on to secure an individual who needs help or needs to be put into compliance and we can step in without causing any pain," he said.
Bolawrap has been presented to more than 100 agencies and is being trialed by police departments across the country. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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