Sweetwater County Officers Testing New, Less Lethal Restraints

This story originally appeared on Cowboy State Daily

By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office is testing out a new, less lethal type of restraint after the string of officer-related deaths across the country.

The sheriff’s officers will now be testing and evaluating a restraint called the BolaWrap, a handheld remote device that uses a partially charged .380 caliber blank cartridge to discharge an 8-ft. long Kevlar cord with four pronged hooks, according to a post on the department’s Facebook account.

The restraint is designed to wrap around a person’s torso or legs from up to 25-ft. away.

The tether restricts the use of someone’s arms or legs, immobilizing them and allowing deputies to safely handle them without inflicting pain to achieve compliance.

There are more than 230 law enforcement agencies in 46 states using the BolaWrap as a restraint.

“We owe it to our deputies and the community we serve to explore and pursue the latest in public safety technology,” Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle said.

The wrap won’t work in every situation, Grossnickle likes the minimal use of force and that it doesn’t rely on pain compliance.

“It gives our deputies another option in safely dealing with someone who is noncompliant, without having to resort to using higher levels of force and while reducing the chance of injury to everyone involved,” the sheriff said.

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