La Paz County Sheriff’s Office tests new device as Taser, gun alternative
Feb 23, 2019, 4:45 AM | Updated: Nov 22, 2019, 9:12 am
PHOENIX — La Paz County Sheriff’s Office has tested a new device that is intended to be an alternative to using a Taser or a gun.
The new device is called the BolaWrap.
It is like a high-tech version of roping cattle, but on steroids.
The BolaWrap can be used to harmlessly stop a fleeing or uncooperative suspect.
According to Wrap Technologies, the BolaWrap is a hand-held remote restraint device that discharges an 8-foot bola style Kevlar tether at 640 feet per second to entangle a subject at a range of 10-25 feet.
“It is a rectangular device that would be held like a Taser or a gun in its own holster on either the officer’s belt or external vest,” La Paz County Captain Curtis Bagby told KTAR News 92.3 FM.
“The device shoots out projectiles that come out like a cord with little hooks on the end at a very, very high rate of speed and it will wrap around the subject’s either arms and upper torso or lower body, legs or you could even shoot them twice and shoot them with both.”
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Bagby said that the BolaWrap could be extremely useful with taking subjects into custody that suffer from mental health or behavior disorders without having to escalate up the “use of force continuum.”
“In a situation like that it would be perfect because you could hopefully take them into custody without injuring them at all and not having to use a Taser,” Bagby said.
“But there are several instances where a Taser is still going to be effective and needed and necessary, so it’s not meant to replace it at all.”
He said it would help officers patrolling the 72-mile stretch of Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles.
“We have a lot of issues along the interstate, a lot of officers by themselves in what is considered one of the most dangerous corridors in the state,” Bagby said.
Bagby is hoping to acquire a BolaWrap for each officer, which he projects will cost approximately $40,000.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Nailea Leon contributed to this report.
