Lake Bluff Police Officers Equipped with Tasers

All Lake Bluff police officers are equipped with tasers to reduce the use of lethal force, Daily North Shore reports.

Lake Bluff has equipped its officers with tasers since August, according to Daily North Shore, though it has been more than 30 years since a Lake Bluff police officer discharged a firearm in the course of duty.

“If at any time there is a likelihood we can reduce the need for a serious or lethal injury, we are in favor of the use of that alternative,” Belmonte said to Daily North Shore.

Police Chief Dave Belmonte told Daily North Shore that the taser shoots out a 15-foot cable with a dart at the end that administers an electric shock, temporarily rendering muscles incapable of functioning, giving the officer more than enough time to cuff the person.

“They collapse temporarily,” Belmonte said to the Daily North Shore. “They are not unconscious.”

The tasers are also equipped with a recording device which is activated upon discharge to show exactly what happened, Belmonte said to the Daily North Shore.

Once the department acquired the tasers, two officers were sent to a 40-hour class to serve as trainers for the rest of the police force, Belmonte told Daily North Shore.

“They instructed the rest of the officers in a nine-hour session which they will continue to go through annually,” he said.

The department acquired the 13 tasers for $25,582.95, according to what Village Administrator Drew Irvin told Daily North Shore.

In Lake Forest, officers have a bean bag shot guy in their squad cars as an alternative to lethal force, according to Daily North Shore, but Chief Jim Held said he does not see tasers on the horizon for his department.

“They’re not cheap,” Held said to Daily North Shore. “It is very costly to equip 40 (officers). We have not had the opportunity to put this in our budget.”

Lake Bluff is also discussing acquiring body cameras for each of its officers as part of its budget discussions for the fiscal year starting May 1, Irvin said to Daily North Shore. Belmonte said the discussions are preliminary with a variety of issues still to be resolved.

“They would be very useful,” Belmonte said to Daily North Shore. “We believe our officers are doing the right thing. We’d like to think it’s not necessary but it would be good to have.”

Both Held and Belmonte said a major concern with body cameras is finding space to store all the footage so it is available should there be a request from a prosecutor, defense attorney or the public through the Freedom of Information Act, according to Daily North Shore.

“We could easily use up all our space and have to work with a contractor to safely store it,” Belmonte said to Daily North Shore.

[Photos courtesy of Lake Bluff Police Department via Daily North Shore]