Winston-Salem police officers can stun people with Tasers on their torsos and legs when those people are fighting or resisting them, according to a policy released last week.
Officers should use caution "to avoid firing probes to a subject's head, neck and genital areas," the policy says.
Officers are not allowed to use the devices when people are near flammable or explosive material or have been exposed to them, when people are in water or when people may fall causing a serious injury or death, the policy says. Officers also cannot use Tasers as a coercive measure.
Officers also should be careful when using a Taser on pregnant women, someone running or driving a vehicle, an older or younger person who is frail and someone who is handcuffed.
The policy also outlines the procedures that officers should follow when using Tasers.
The device shoots barbed darts that carry an electrical current, which shocks the central nervous system. It temporarily paralyzes the person who is shot.
Police Chief Scott Cunningham has described Tasers as "humane weapons" that usually prevent injuries to officers and people who receive jolts. People won't be stunned if they obey officers' commands and don't fight with them, he said.
The department is currently training its 518 officers on using Tasers. As part of the training, each officer will receive a jolt from a Taser.
In May, the Winston-Salem City Council approved spending about $550,000 over the next five years to equip each police officer with a Taser.
Officers must complete the training before they are allowed to carry Tasers.
Assistant Chief Kevin Leonard said that about 150 officers have completed the training and nearly 250 more officers are expected to complete the training by the end of September.
No officer has been injured in the training.
Officers who use Tasers also will have to explain why they used it, Cunningham said last week.
"Officers are going to have to do careful thinking before they use it," he said.
Under the policy, officers should try to fire only one five-second shock-cycle on people who are fighting or resisting them.
Officers can fire a second Taser jolt if absolutely necessary to subdue the person.
Officers are trained to fire their Taser from a short distance.
The policy allows officers using the devices to drive stun a person, which means that the Taser is pressed against someone to directly shock them. But they can't do it repeatedly.
A drive stun "causes significant localized pain" but does not affect the central nervous system, the policy says.
Police have used Tasers on two people in the city -- a 16-year-old boy 15 days ago on Cherry Street and recently on a man who was threatening to commit suicide, Cunningham said.
The boy was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer in a melee in downtown Winston-Salem, court records show. The man was treated for mental problems, Cunningham said.
The city's Taser policy coincides with an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation of an inmate's death last week in the Guilford County Jail. The inmate died after a detention officer stunned him with a Taser during a scuffle inside the jail.
Dr. William Bozeman, a medical researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, said he has reviewed the police department's Taser policy. He said it was one of the best policies for using Tasers that he has seen among the police departments across the country that use Tasers.
The policy balances safely using Tasers with the officers' need to subdue unruly suspects by using the devices, Bozeman said. He will review reports from officers who use Tasers.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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