University police has been upgrading its tools with the goal of
better policing the campus and Westwood area.
Last year, UCPD purchased 16 new stun guns officers could use
before resorting to lethal force.
When the Tasers were purchased, Lt. John Adams said he hoped the
newly acquired handheld devices would help reduce injuries to both
officers and perpetrators.
While Tasers are intended to increase the safety of people, some
political groups, such as Amnesty International, have questioned
the rising prevalence of stun guns carried by law enforcement,
claiming that they have been involved in the deaths of more than
100 people.
On Oct. 20, the Superior Court of Arizona ordered the dismissal
of a lawsuit that alleged Taser International, Inc.’s
liability for a training injury resulting from its product.
No one could be reached to provide information about the use of
Tasers on and around campus, said Nancy Greenstein, spokesperson
for UCPD.
Another area university police have upgraded is the lights on
top of police cars. Six police cars have had their old light bars
replaced with the new light-emitting diode light bars, with plans
to replace the lights on the remainder of the police vehicles.
“The new LED light bars are more expensive than old style
mechanical ones, but they last longer, require less maintenance,
and are much brighter,” Sgt. Jim Vandenberg said.
From saving on the costs associated with the frequent
maintenance that the older-style light bars required, the police
department would save money in the long run, he said.
The LED light bars were the newest step in a long ongoing
process of upgrading police cars since the 1950s, Vandenberg
said.
When UCPD was founded in 1947, the police cars used a light
system commonly known as “lollipop lights,” that looked
like blinking flashes in tin cars, he said.
UCPD changed their “lollipop lights” to
chain-and-pulley-driven light bars, which are currently being
phased out. These rotate to give the light bars the appearance of a
moving beam of light.
The police have since moved from these lights to the new LED
light bars which, while only a few inches in height, provide three
to four times the brightness of what the old light bars emitted,
Vandenberg said.
UCPD also has been upgrading the old “Growler”-style
sirens in police vehicles to electronic sirens, which have improved
the clarity and volume.
Vandenberg said that with the improvements in the light bars and
sirens, UCPD is incorporating mobile computers into all its
vehicles, which allow officers to look up perpetrators in statewide
and nationwide databases and identify stolen goods.
He added that this has allowed officers to do electronically
what had to be done by radio and hand in the past, and it provides
immediate information that is otherwise unavailable.
The upgrades in the police cars have allowed officers to recover
stolen goods in addition to making the campus safer for students,
Vandenberg said.