Officers at the Astoria Police Department are the first in Clatsop County to use the newest model of tasers, which have been updated to maximize accuracy and deescalate conflict.

Taser 10, launched last year by Axon, a company based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has an increased distance of up to 45 feet. Axon has marketed the new taser as part of a goal to reduce gun-related deaths between police and the public.

“The more distance we have between the officers and the suspects, the better and safer it is,” said Astoria Police Chief Stacy Kelly, who used to work for Axon. “You know, you have that reactionary gap. If somebody has a knife, you can stay 40 feet back and talk to them, and you have more time to react if they come at you.”

Before their contract expired recently, allowing them to upgrade, Astoria police had been using Taser X26P, a single-shot taser effective up to 25 feet. The taser would send out two darts, but officers were only able to control where one of the darts landed, leaving the second largely up to chance.

“You need two (darts) to have the connection, because you’re getting a positive and a negative,” Kelly explained. “You want at least a 12-inch spread, because the 12 inches is when you get the big muscle groups, and that’s what locks people up.”

Increased accuracy is also helpful during close encounters with volatile subjects, a common situation for police officers. The new taser allows the second dart to be shot manually, as opposed to automatically.

“The problem with our old tasers, you didn’t have any control over the spread,” Kelly said. “So if we’re this close, you’re not getting a good spread. And we’re usually interacting with people this close.”

On Tuesday, instructor Arturo Garcia taught officers to use the new taser through a series of simulations. The first scenario involved reacting to a mental health crisis. Officers kept their distance, offered to call the crisis team at Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare and deployed the taser as a last resort.

Trent Stephens, an intern with the Astoria Fire Department, covered himself head to toe in a velcro suit to act as a suspect and prepared to be shot with velcro-tipped training darts.

Officers then underwent a domestic violence scenario and a bar fight scenario, brushing up on their communication and conflict skills while becoming comfortable with the Taser 10.

Officer Alex Whitney, one of the first to learn to use the new taser, knows firsthand how important the upgraded functions are in a real-life scenario.

“Alex was attacked over at the park … The guy, just out of nowhere, kicks and jumps on him,” Kelly said. “He deployed his taser, and it didn’t work, because they were too close. Whereas this one, Alex could have made his own spread and it would have worked.”

In addition to the enhanced capabilities, the new taser also emits a high-pitched noise that serves as a warning to suspects, and a bright light to let other officers nearby know a taser may be deployed within seconds.

“On the older ones, you have to take the cartridge off and pull the trigger to create that spark, and that’s what we’d call the warning,” said Garcia, an officer with the Sherwood Police Department.

In a potentially dangerous situation that could escalate suddenly, every second counts.

“If you’re facing somebody that’s being aggressive with you, you really don’t want to take the cartridge out that you’re going to use towards them and wait for the electricity to stop,” Kelly added.

The new taser, refitted with a bright yellow color to clearly distinguish it from a firearm, also features rechargeable batteries that record every dart deployment. Once the batteries are loaded into a dock, the number, frequency and duration of deployments are uploaded to an evidence-storing website.

“Little by little, agencies in the U.S., including the Astoria Police Department, are going with the Taser 10,” Garcia said. “Because they’re realizing it’s much better to try and avoid using firearms or getting in a fistfight, which can actually create more damage by punching somebody in the jaw or breaking something.”

Police hope the new taser ultimately provides a greater opportunity for an officer’s gun to remain in its holster during potentially life-threatening situations.

“We have seven officers in training today, and as soon as they’re done, they’ll be certified,” Kelly said. “And then they’ll certify other officers on their days off over the next week. But we’ll have seven on the street today.

“The whole idea is that this is what’s called ‘less-lethal.’ And that’s what we want to use.”