The Eureka Police Department is making a transition in its use of non-lethal weapons.

Its goal is to have every officer on patrol, and in the field, armed with a new compact X26 Taser — an electroshock weapon — by the end of 2008.

EPD Lt. Tony Zanotti is a Taser trainer for the department. The older model Taser, the M26, has proven to be a useful tool in the field and EPD is expanding on that, he said.

Zanotti said the recent criticism of police brutality did not stimulate the move in this direction. “It’s a normal transition,” he said.

The EPD introduced Tasers into its arsenal in 2002, when it acquired 10 M26 Tasers. They were available on a check-out basis to officers that were trained to use them.

In 2007, the EPD upgraded and purchased 30 X26 Tasers, which are less than half-of-the size of the M26 model. Out of approximately 35 EPD patrol officers, 25 have completed a course certified by Peace Officers Standards and Training to carry them.

When the Taser is fired, two half-inch darts attached to wires shoot out and make contact with the suspect’s clothes or skin — and an electric current flows between them.

They embed about one-quarter inch, Zanotti said.

The muscles between the probes tighten and the subject looses voluntary control. “Basically everything locks up,” Zanotti said.

They are set on a five-second timer that can be reset or stopped. That should be enough time for other officers to swoop in and put the handcuffs on, Zanotti said.

Unlike pepper spray, which takes up to 30 minutes to recover from, there’s no lasting effects of the Taser once it has stopped, Zanotti said.

EPD Chief Garr Nielsen explained where it falls on a scale of danger among other weapons. “You would use the Taser before the baton,” he said.

Though the X26 can be fired from a distance of 21 feet, with 8-to-12 feet being optimal. “The further you are away, the larger chance you have of missing,” Zanotti said.

Both Taser models produce .0021 amperes. Amperes represent the electrical current — or power – and deliver a sensation of pain.

Sticking a finger in an electrical wall outlet releases 16 amperes. In comparison, a Christmas tree light bulb carries one ampere of power, Zanotti said.

Nielsen said he is under the impression that a shock of 50,000 volts is delivered by the Taser.

The X26 Taser produces .36 joules, which is a measurement of energy output.

A heart defibrillator — used to jump start a human heartbeat that has stopped — produces 360 joules per pulse, Zanotti said.

The defibrillator is 1,000 times more powerful, Zanotti said. “If defibrillators are safe, it’s assumed Tasers are,” he said.

Tasers have been extensively researched and medically evaluated.

There are no known medical problems associated with their use, Zanotti said. Nielsen agrees, saying he is unaware of any medical conditions that Tasers cause.

Most health issues associated with Tasers are due to people having no ability to catch themselves when they are falling down, Zanotti said. But these issues are secondary to the importance of apprehending suspects, he said.

To the contrary, Robert Owen lay in a St. Joseph Hospital bed Thursday receiving treatment for heart problems that he said resulted from being shot with a Taser in March.

It is the fifth time he’s been hospitalized since he was tasered in his Crescent City home by an officer from the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office.

“They need to get rid of them (Tasers) — I’m a prime example,” Owen said.

It has effected his entire circulatory system and his body is in pain all the time, he said. “I don’t want to see it happen to other people.”

Owen is a former Marine and a 100 percent disabled veteran. He is concerned that Tasers are not being used in a lawful manner.

The officer made no attempt to subdue him before firing his Taser, he said. “I was just standing there.”

The electric waves were deployed numerous times, Owen said. “You can let up anytime, you Nazi,” Owen said he told the officer.

Crescent City Criminal Defense Attorney Jim Fallman is representing Owen in a lawsuit against Del Norte County and its Sheriff’s office. “He has a serious medical condition,” Fallman said of his client.

Since his service in Vietnam, he has suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, a fatigued mental state associated with combat. He said that being shot with a Taser has “thrown” him right back into a mind-set filled with anxiety.

“My heart was fine before this happened to me,” Owen said, adding he has medical records to prove it. Since March, he has had constant medical and psychiatric visits, he said.

Owen described himself as a medical mess. “The medications are helping, but its stuff I never should have been on,” he said.