ARANSAS PASS, Texas — The Aransas Pass Police Department has one more gadget to add to their utility belt with the BolaWrap.
The BolaWrap is a device that shoots out a chord that wraps around whoever it's aimed at.
"It's an eight-foot kevlar chord that has at both ends a small metal hook weight so when fired it wraps around the person," Assistant Chief David said.
BolaWrap looks like a lasso with the process of restraining someone who's in a crisis.
"Safer or less violent way that's less likely to injure the person or give the officer injured in the process," David said. "When the person is not armed with a deadly weapon, but they're violently aggressive. Nonresponsive to commands."
According to David, BolaWrap isn't a replacement in times where they need to use deadly force. BolaWrap is less lethal in situations where officers would use a taser or pepper spray.
"About how severe was it on a scale of one to ten? A one.Okay. How restrained are you? If you needed to fight the police right now, Are you restrained? Yes. Okay, that's what we're looking for. And had you been a person we were arresting we would have already been taking control of your hands to put handcuffs on you," David said.
A lot of times police will get calls about someone hallucinating or having a mental episode.
"Our patrol officers almost daily coming in contact with people in crisis and not every one of them is a severe case, but sometimes they are," David said. "So we can get them the help they need. This offers us another tool to do that more safely and humanely."
Aransas Pass police currently have five BolaWrap out on patrol and will test them for the next 30 days after the test police will re-evaluate and see if they want to add them to their arsenal officially.
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