Next week, Joint Base Lewis-McChord security and law enforcement personnel will begin carrying the latest, most effective means to subdue suspects who are combative or pose an immediate physical threat.

Starting Monday, most will be equipped with Thompson A. Swift Electric Rifles, known better by their acronym - TASERs.

"It's important that the community knows that in addition to other standard equipment, the law enforcement officers here have this item available to them," said Matt Toth, JBLM director of law enforcement. "The officers can quickly gain control of this person, so the arrest takes place with a lot less physical (force). You're not having to use other non-lethal methods, such as a baton."

TASER technology was developed in 1973 and began proliferating 20 years later among police forces with Air TASER seven-watt stun weapons. Today, TASERs are common tools to most police officers, though military installations have been slower to adopt them.

At JBLM, law enforcement officials wanted their personnel to become thoroughly familiar with TASERs and versed in their safe employment. As a result, TASERs were first used by its security personnel in confinement settings during operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. JBLM law enforcement officers also undergo double the TASER training of most off-post counterparts. The Army required 16 hours of TASER training, much of it hands-on and situation-based.

Law enforcement officials have exercised an abundance of caution in fielding TASERs; the technology is actually safer than directly physical apprehension techniques.

"It's important for the community to realize is that this is a system that greatly protects the law enforcement officer," Toth said, "because they now can get a little stand-off whereby they can get a little control without (resorting to) the hands-on physical restraint of a combative suspect."

Statistics have also shown that injuries to suspects have dropped dramatically in communities where its police officers carry TASERs. Mike Hayes, chief of training in JBLM law enforcement, said according to the instructor's manual from TASER International, injuries to suspects have plummeted by 80 percent in Austin, Texas, for example, after fielding TASERs. Cincinnati reports 40 percent and Phoenix claims 67 percent reductions.

"The main point behind this is that other law enforcement agencies have shown an actual decrease in injuries to officers and suspects through use of TASERs," said Maj. Lawerence Grant, JBLM provost marshal operations officer. "We always hear the horror stories, but (considering) the number of times they've been deployed, you actually see a drop in the number of injuries because you're not using an impact weapon to strike someone hands-on."

Horror stories about TASERs are more myth than reality. Nobody gets electrocuted; the shock is brief and the amperage minuscule.

"It's not the volts that are dangerous; it's the amps," Hayes said. "A wall (outlet) has 16 amps. The amps you receive from a TASER are roughly one-quarter of what you'd get from a Christmas tree bulb, (approximately) .0021."

"It's nowhere near the same as plugging your hand into a domestic wall socket," Grant said. "It's a lot lower amps, which is why it's safer and more effective for personnel."

The relative safety of the technology combined with the scenario-based certification and recertification training completed by JBLM police personnel make law enforcement officials confident in equipping them with TASERs.

"All of us have been TASed," Grant said. "It takes five seconds and it's over. It's a training requirement on (JBLM). It's a lot safer for officers and civilians and subjects involved if we have those TASERs out there."

TASER timeline

1974: Original TASER less-lethal 7-watt firearm

1993: Air-TASER, Inc. founded

1994: Air TASER No. 34000 (7-watt)

Non-firearm stun weapon

Smaller, automatic timing

1998: Changed name to TASER International, Inc.

1999: Advanced TASER M26

NMI - Sensory and motor nervous system override

Dataport function and integrated laser

2003: TASER X26 Shaped Pulse Technology 5 percent more effective

60 percent smaller and lighter

Digital pulse controller

Improved dataport functions

Source: TASER International, Inc.