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Youngstown police want to purchase 150 Tasers
YOUNGSTOWN
City council will consider legislation Wednesday to spend up to $185,000 for the purchase of 150 Tasers along with other associated costs for its police department to replace 5-year-old stun guns.
City police officers are using stun guns from Karbon Arms, a Tampa, Fla., firm, purchased in 2009. But the company is out of business after Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., successfully sued Karbon for patent infringement. After a 10-year legal battle, a federal judge in January ordered Karbon to stop selling the company’s stun guns and pay $2.385 million to Taser.
Also, the court decision gave a few months to police departments with Karbon stun guns to stop using them.
That has forced hundreds of police departments to make the move. And now, Youngstown will be joining them.
The proposal calls for Youngstown to buy 150 Tasers by June 30.
The payment of up to $185,000 would be over a five-year period.
Each Taser costs $848 along with $269 for a five-year extended warranty, $60 for a backup battery, $40 for two training cartridges, and $25 for an actual cartridge, said Youngstown Police Chief Robin Lees.
Taser is giving $11,200 to the city in exchange for the 150 Karbon stun guns, he said.
The Karbon stun guns “are serviceable, but so many are to the point of needing to be replaced, and a few of them can’t be used,” Lees said.
As for not using stun guns, Lees said, “We wouldn’t send the guys out without them. People know the officers have them, and it’s a deterrent. There’s a certain level of compliance knowing the officers have them.”