Following equipment checks and recertification, Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) officers could be carrying Tasers as early as the middle of the summer, a spokesperson said.
“The Tasers will have to be recertified. We had purchased them in 2007, when we were doing our initial training ... however, they have sat idle over the last six years because the Saskatchewan Police Commission (SPC) had to review the process and use of them,” said Sgt. Cliff Froehlich, with the MJPS.
“They have to be sent back to the manufacturer for testing to be recertified, which is a common practice with police equipment,” he said.
But it’s not only the equipment that will need to be re-evaluated. According to Froehlich, Moose Jaw officers will also have to be trained on the new practices and standards for operating the Taser devices.
“The SPC has come out with new standards and policy,” he said. “We’ll have to have our instructors attend the police college to be retrained, and then they’ll come back and train our members.”
Froehlich said that it was difficult to predict exactly how many Tasers would be in use by police officers at any given time, but did say that the MJPS purchased six Tasers initially.
“That would mean there’s a possibility all six Tasers would be out at once,” he said. “It would be nearly all of the uniformed officers that would be carrying a Taser.”
The sergeant could not give a specific date for when the Tasers would be out, but did have a general idea.
“By the time our members get (to the police college) and then return and we set up and go through our training, I would suspect it will be several months,” Froehlich said. “So, maybe by mid-summer, the people of Moose Jaw may see officers carrying the Taser devices.”
