Coconut Creek police test non-lethal, pain-free way to restrain individuals
MIAMI - Coconut Creek Police are testing out new equipment to limit the use of force and de-escalate conflicts.
It's called a BolaWrap. A remote restraint device that launches a cord to restrain individuals.
"You have officers that want to do things differently than how they've always been done," said Coconut Creek Mayor Josh Rydell. "You have a tool to allow them to do it differently."
Rydell offered to demonstrate as a test subject for the device. His family and police staff watch from a safe distance as training officer Michael Giuttari prepares to deploy the device.
"Instead of us going physically hands-on and physically restraining them, we deploy this," said Giuttari. "It will wrap them. Disorientate them. Hopefully, they won't know what just happened."
He lines up his target area with the laser on the BolaWrap. In this case, it's the Mayor's legs, then issues the warning.
"Bola! Bola! Bola!" He shouts Bola as he would in the field to alert fellow officers that he's about to deploy the device. Once he does, it makes a loud noise as if he fired a gun.
"The more you struggle or try to move, the hooks will dig in deeper," Giuttari explained once the cord wrapped around Rydell.
A 2020 study released in November of 2022 by the Bureau of Justice showed 46% of U.S. residents involved in a police-initiated or traffic accident-related contact view police's threat or use of force as excessive. The Bolawrap, city leaders say, improves efforts to de-escalate certain situations before they become physically combative.
"Nationally, you see those videos that go viral and see those terrible things," added Rydell. "It's important to highlight when law enforcement has the right tools, so those viral videos never happen in your backyard."
CBS4's Joe Gorchow also stepped in to see how pain-free it was.
"Oh my lord, the sound was much worse than the wrap," described Gorchow. "I have a ringing in my left ear."
"We need the ability to control the situation," Giuttari explained to Gorchow. "If we can achieve that with the least amount of force or injuries to any party involved, that's the goal."
The Coconut Creek pilot BolaWrap program has been in place since October. However, it has yet to be used in the field. During that same period, no Tasers were used.
Coconut Creek police say they have eight Bolawraps in circulation. Two were issued to each of the four patrol teams in the pilot program. They say Law Enforcement Trust funds were used, not taxpayer dollars, to add this equipment to the police force.