Farmers Weekly Review

Crete Police Chief Scott Pieritz is looking into a non-invasive remote device made to subdue resistant individuals in emotion-charged situations.

Not exactly a household word yet, it’s called the BolaWrap Remote Restraint device.

Pieritz told the Crete Board of Trustees device piqued his interest after a presentation recently at the police department.

“For those unfamiliar, BolaWrap is an innovative, de-escalation, non-lethal police tool which deploys a Kevlar tether around a person’s legs or arms.

“The purpose is to safely, and without injuring, immobilize a combative or resistive person. This is a great tool for restraining individuals dealing with a mental health crisis or others where use of minimum force is needed.

“Trustee Holly Milburn attended the demonstration and she volunteered to be ‘wrapped,’” he said, adding that she was a very good sport.

“I am just exploring the product at this time, doing research and seeing if it would be a good fit for our department,” he explained.

“I was impressed by the demonstration. It seems to be a great tool to assist us in de-escalating incidents and using minimum force in mental health crises and other calls. It greatly reduces risk of injury to subjects and officers and greatly reduces likelihood of litigation.

“It does not hurt or cause pain compliance, like Taser does — I know, it was used on me.

“Only thing I don’t (like), it is one more item officers would need to carry on their duty belt or on their vest. And the initial cost of buying several units is expensive.

“Each unit cost about $1,800. We would be looking at getting six units. Each cartridge costs around $50. You need a new cartridge every time you fire it. You also need extra cartridges to train each officer on the department.”

All in all, though, the chief likes it.

“I think it’s a great option,” he said.

According to the Wrap Technologies website, more than 120 police agencies throughout the United States now carry the BolaWrap, with more agencies currently in the process of training and writing policies for their department.

Since the beginning of 2018, more than 1600 police agencies have reached out directly to the company requesting BolaWrap demonstrations, training and quotes.

The website characterizes the device as “Remote Handcuffs”.

“The BolaWrap® is a hand-held remote restraint device that discharges an 8-foot bola- style Kevlar® tether at 513 feet per second to wrap a subject’s legs or arms at an effective range of 10-25 feet.

“Each tether has a 4-pronged hook on either end. The tether and its hooks are contained in a cartridge. Each cartridge contains and is powered by a partial charge .380 blank.

“To deploy the tether, the officer loads a cartridge into the device, a safety is turned to the off position which then automatically illuminates a green line laser for accuracy. The officer then manually moves the slide handle to the rear, and the activation button is pressed to deploy the tether.”

When deployed, the cartridge creates the sound of a gun shot.

“Each cartridge can only be used once, and a new cartridge can be reloaded into the device in approximately 3 seconds.

“Created for law enforcement and the military,” the website continues, “BolaWrap is the only remote response to resistance tool that ensures a safe space between the subject and officer. It does not rely on pain compliance and is specifically designed to be deployed early in an encounter to decrease the potential for injury to the subject, bystanders or the officer.

“Inflicting pain often escalates encounters, BolaWrap’s non-threatening form allows time to de-escalate and provide needed support for the person in crisis.

“Ultimately, each law enforcement or military agency creates their own policy and procedures for their agency to determine when the BolaWrap should be used by their agency. Wrap suggests the following scenarios for when BolaWrap deployment should be used:

The website notes that the company receives requests from private security, bail bondsman, fugitive recovery agents, mental health institutions, places of worship, and schoolteachers and others to purchase the device. But BolaWrap is currently only available to law enforcement and military agencies.

However, the company does anticipate making the BolaWrap available to other professionals in the future. BolaWrap is considered a firearm by the ATF, making it more complex to sell devices to sectors outside of law enforcement and the military.

The company is also working on a version of the BolaWrap not powered by gunpowder to make the device more consumer friendly.

Wrap Technologies is headquartered in Arizona, with offices in California, Las Vegas and New York. BolaWrap is their flagship product.