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Council to consider leasing stun guns for city officers
The Youngstown police chief and mayor say they’re comfortable providing 160 stun guns for officers.
YOUNGSTOWN — City council will consider legislation Wednesday to allow the Youngstown police department to lease 160 stun guns for its officers.
Leasing the 160 stun guns, for a $25,000 annual fee, is significantly less expensive than buying them, a $160,000 purchase, Police Chief Jimmy Hughes said.
The city will use federal grant money for equipment to lease the stun guns, Mayor Jay Williams said.
The expense is particularly important because of the city’s financial struggles, Hughes said.
The city’s 2009 general fund budget includes $655,000 in personnel cuts from the police department. That would mean about 25 police officers would be laid off. But the city administration is negotiating a buyout package with officers that could reduce and possibly eliminate the number of layoffs.
“Two things don’t make any sense to me: to have equipment with no officers and to have officers and not the proper equipment,” Hughes said. “The goal of the stun guns is to take dangerous and combative suspects into custody.”
The legislation, sponsored by the mayor, will be in front of council Wednesday. It authorizes the police department to seek written proposals to lease and to buy the guns. Hughes said the department will lease.
The city’s board of control also needs to approve the stun gun lease.
The department would also spend about $2,000 to buy equipment — such as holsters, stun cartridges, training cartridges and manuals — associated with the stun guns, Hughes said.
Each officer would also receive training on the stun guns before using them, Hughes said.
Officers now carry a .40-caliber handgun, pepper spray and a baton, Hughes said. They can also carry another handgun if they choose, he said.
City council rejected a plan in October 2007 to buy 50 stun guns for about $50,000 because of financial problems.
As for concerns about the safety of stun guns, Hughes said, “I’m very comfortable the device is appropriate when appropriately used. That will come with proper training.”
Hughes also points out that officers are armed with handguns and there aren’t complaints about the use of those weapons.
“It’s another option with nonlethal force” for police officers, Williams said of the stun guns.
skolnick@vindy.com