The Buffalo Police Department is considering a lasso-type restraining device called the BolaWrap as a nonlethal means of capturing suspects.
In a demonstration in Police Headquarters on Monday, the BolaWrap was fired once around a subject’s legs and again around the torso to show how it works, with the Kevlar cord wrapping around the suspect and tiny hooks embedding in the clothing to secure the wrap. Officers then can move in quickly and safely to make the arrest.
The demonstration came a little over a week after an officer shot a mentally unstable homeless man who struck another officer with a metal baseball bat as police were trying to get him to put down the weapon. The incident sparked protests and criticism that police should have been able to respond to such a situation without shooting the man, who was hospitalized.
However, when introducing the demonstration Monday, Mayor Byron W. Brown said the discussion about BolaWrap is not tied to any particular situation.
People are also reading…
“When we present this demonstration, some people will ask the question, why now? What is this demonstration connected to? Is it tied to some other incident that occurred? The answer to that question is no,” he said.
“The Buffalo Police Department is looking at a number of things,” Brown said. “And at some later point we will announce – working with the Common Council – a menu of items for nonlethal use for restraint purposes that the Buffalo Police Department will incorporate.”
BolaWrap is a Kevlar cord with tethered fish hooks at each end, said Capt. Jeffrey Rinaldo. It is fired from a gunlike device from 10 to 20 feet away at such speed that when the chord strikes the body, it immediately wraps several times and the little hooks imbed in the clothing the person is wearing, Rinaldo said.
“It’s a distraction device. It restrains a person’s movements and allows police officers to then more quickly move in with handcuffs so that they can take custody safely and effectively,” Rinaldo said.
Ideally a police officer would try to avoid aiming for an area of exposed skin; but if it did strike exposed skin, the hooks are so small that they would go into the outer layer of the skin and “not really have a chance to cause a great injury,” Rinaldo said. And unlike the Taser, which delivers a shock, there is no force involved.
The devices cost about $1,000 each and about $30 for each cartridge that is fired. The device has been deployed by more than 200 police departments in the country, including Lockport – which earlier this year held a demonstration for area police agencies – Rinaldo said.
However, Buffalo officials said no decision has been made about purchasing them, nor has a pilot project been started.
“This is not a done deal,” Brown said. “This is just something that we are looking at and we wanted to make the public aware before any decisions were made that this is a device that we are looking at and just another tool that we are looking at in the Buffalo Police Department to make our policing model safer for the community and for our police officers.”
Brown said the city has been looking at using Tasers, as well.
“We do have some Tasers in the department, and we did in the last budget do a pilot project. So that is another device that we are looking at,” Brown said.
South Common Council Member Christopher P. Scanlon and Council President Darius G. Pridgen attended Monday’s demonstration.
Nearly a year before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the Council had approved Brown’s 2019-20 budget proposal in May 2019 with an amendment to include $417,000 for Buffalo police to fully implement the department’s program to arm officers with Tasers.
But after an officer shot Willie Henley, the bat-wielding man who was having a mental health crisis more than a week ago, most police officers still don’t have them, and the city does not have the money to buy them this year, city and police officials said last week.
Now Council members want to know what happened to the $417,000 that was allocated more than a year ago. They also want the department to purchase the Tasers and train officers on them immediately. And they’re asking for an update on the Taser program by the Council’s next meeting on Sept. 29.
“I have been informed – as the media has – there were budget cuts,” Pridgen told The Buffalo News earlier Monday. “Where and why those budget cuts occurred is what the Council is trying to understand now and why we are requesting the Police Department to appear before the Council.”
Pridgen introduced a resolution calling for the update and the immediate purchase and training of officers on Tasers. The Council will discuss the resolutions Tuesday during the 10 a.m. Finance Committee meeting, which will be streamed live on the Council’s Facebook page.
