Macon Council Committee Learns Only SWAT Have Tasers
NewsCentral Staff
Story Created:
Jan 14, 2013 at 10:45 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Jan 15, 2013 at 12:41 AM EDT
"Had that been one of the resources that the officer could have reverted to in this last shooting, we would have a person alive." -Henry Gibson/Macon Council
Former Macon Police Captain and now current city councilman Henry Gibson and others on council are looking for explanations in the wake of the fatal, officer involved shooting of Sammie "Junebug" Davis.
The Council's Public Safety Committee met with Captain Jimmy Barbee of the Macon Police Internal Affairs Division. They were discussing the police department's discipline policy when the topic of tasers came to light.
Captain Barbee explained that only SWAT team members have tasers. The reason? They're too expensive to outfit the entire force. But that explanation didn't sit well with some on the committee.
" I believe the last time the tasers were addressed by the Police Department in their budget request, it was a request for about 30 tasers, I believe that was in the 2011 budget. I am not certain as to why there hadn't been a more aggressive push for tasers from within the department." -Virgil Watkins/Public Safety Chairman
"We can't afford it? But that hasn't come before council. And I think somewhere in a $20 million budget, you know, when its gonna save a life...and that's not an excuse to the public." -Henry Gibson/Macon City Council
Gibson says he wants to ensure that all officers have non-lethal tools like tasers at their disposal.
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