The Menomonie Police Department strives to be progressive in the training that our officers receive and the equipment that they use. Our goal is to have every single person involved in an incident to go home safely.
Sometimes officers are not able to reason with someone and we do not want to use deadly force when there may be other options. In order to use a Taser, officers need to be in very close proximity for it to be effective, creating risk for the officer and individual. To this end, the department has purchased less lethal launchers.
These tools are expensive, so we are incredibly grateful to have received a grant from Dunn Energy Cooperative that allowed us to purchase an additional less lethal impact launcher. The less lethal launcher uses Exact Impact sponge or foam rounds to direct a focused strike to an individual so that they voluntarily surrender, or they become stunned in a manner so that they can be safely taken into custody. This particular launcher has the ability to be used at a distance of well over 100 feet. Creating this distance between an officer and someone in crisis is a huge benefit to all involved and has likely led to saving multiple lives in our community already.
