Police chief cites training for ‘drastic’ reduced use of Tasers

Eunice police used their Tasers four or five times in 2015, down from up to 35 times in 2014, Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said at a Board of Aldermen’s meeting Tuesday.
Fontenot said the reduction in the use of the stun gun is related to increased training of police.
“Where I can only count the Tasing on one hand, I’m proud of that fact,” Fontenot said. “That means there is less resisting and that means that officers and our public are getting along a little better.”
Fontenot, who has completed his first year as a police chief, said the Taser use in 2015 was down “drastically” from previous years.
“When I was working in the city court I would see all these reports that would come through and the number of times people had to be Tased because they were resisting an officer or whatever the case may be. Tasings were happening two, three times a month, if not more, which was 25 or 35 times a year or more,” he said.
“I think the better trained our police officers are the better their morale is going to be and the better their interactions with the community,” he said.
The state requires officers receive a minimum of 20 hours of training a year, he said. The Eunice Police Department is averaged about 67 hours of training per officer in 2015, he said.
“I think we are seeing the results of that,” he said. “We still have a long way to go, a lot of work to do.”
Newly hired police officers undergo six months of training, which includes being paired with a training officer in the field, he said. New officers also attend a three-month police academy, he said.
The 20 hours of annual required training includes eight hours on firearms, sexual harassment, radar, pepper spray and Taser.
“In addition to what is required we’ve also had all of our police officers certified in first aid and CPR and cultural diversity,” he said.
“I think in the long run we are going to see some differences in the morale of the police officers because of this training,” Fontenot said. “They will feel more confident in the job they are going to be doing because they will be better educated in how to do their jobs.”
In other police department news, the Board of Aldermen approved retiring the department’s two police dogs and allowing them to go to their current or former trainers or partners; and declared four police vehicles as surplus.
The board also approved the Police Chief Randy Fontenot’s request to promote Michael Dunn from sergeant to lieutenant; Stephanie Myers from patrol officer to sergeant; and Lt. Tony Kennedy to chief of detectives.