JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
The most important decision a Military Police Soldier, Security Forces Airman or civilian police officer can make is whether or not to engage deadly force upon a person. The 221st Military Police Detachment and 733rd Security Forces Squadron conducted TASER training Feb. 17-23, in order to certify their personnel on the X26 TASER.
The 733rd SFS is in the process of fielding this equipment to be used by personnel performing law enforcement on Join Base Langley-Eustis. With the new, remarkable advances in technology, the MPs and SFS can now serve and protect the JBLE communities with less-than-lethal means.
"We now have the technology to stop that individual who is combat trained, mentally deranged, or under the influence of drugs and alcohol," said U.S. Army Capt. Samantha Hoxha, 221st MPD commander, commenting on the importance of the use of this new technology.
Hoxha, Mark Webb, 733rd Security Force Squadron detective, and U.S. Army Sgt. Nathan Lesperance, 221st MPD policeman, enlightened their students on the details and operations of the TASER.
Training consisted of classroom instruction, practical-application exercises and voluntary exposure where volunteers were afforded the opportunity to experience the effects of the TASER first hand.
The X26 TASER, Electro-Muscular Disruptor is a commercial device used to fire two barbed projectiles into a target with the purpose of delivering an electrical shock to subdue the target without harm to the target or the operator. The EMD weapons stun and override the central nervous system causing uncontrollable contractions of the muscle tissue.