New Tools Will Give Deputies Some Added Zap
The Pasco (FL) County Sheriff’s Office received 60 of 252 Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) it plans to purchase within the next two years and will use a federal law enforcement grant to purchase 257 Tasers.
The AEDs normalize the heartbeat of heart attack victims via an electric charge.
The devices will be distributed to patrol officers–which are often the first emergency personnel to assist a heart attack victim–in addition to courthouses, sheriff’s buildings, and detention centers.
Pasco sheriff’s Cpl. Dan Dede and Kurt Conover, chairman of the Heart Association’s AED program, helped to raise $117,300 to purchase the defibrillators, including approximately $49,000 for neighboring Hernando County.
The total purchase cost for both counties is $750,000, which the Heart Association plans to cover.
Dede said the devices can prevent brain damage in most heart attack victims by restoring oxygen supply to the brain in the crucial minutes following a heart attack.
The Sheriff’s office will also have enough Tasers to equip all patrol deputies with the devices, at a cost of roughly $140,000.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the St. Petersburg Times (FL) (08/01/03) P. 7; Amrhein, Saundra.