{Courtesy BolaWrap}
Coconut Creek Police said they used a high-tech restraint tool to save a suicidal man’s life last weekend, marking the department’s first successful use of the technology.
Officers deployed a BolaWrap device to safely take the suicidal man into custody after he ran into traffic near Florida’s Turnpike overpass near Tradewinds Park, police said.
A remote restraint device, the handheld gadget works like a piece of equipment right off of Batman’s utility belt. The technology uses lasers to line up a safe target zone on a person’s body when they are being uncooperative, police said.
An officer then pushes a button to deploy the BolaWrap’s Kevlar cord. The two ends of the cord wrap around the person repeatedly—like a lasso—until they are immobilized and can be safely taken into custody.
A BolaWrap can be used by an officer standing ten to 25 feet away form a target, helping them limit physical contact with the person and reduce the risk of injury for police and civilians, authorities said.
The device can also reduce officers’ use of force with guns, Tasers, pepper spray, and hand-to-hand restraint.
“The BolaWrap device is specifically designed to help de-escalate situations like the one the officers encountered with this man, who was clearly in need of help,” Coconut Creek Police said in a social media post Tuesday.
City police can legally use the BolaWrap when a “situation has risen to the level where the officers can legally detain you, say, for a Baker Act as an example, and you’re not being cooperative,” Coconut Police spokesman Scotty Leamon said in a department video highlighting the technology. “The officers can wrap you.”
The device also emits a loud noise to get the person’s attention.
“By the time they hear the bang and feel the wrap, the backup officers are running in and detaining them in handcuffs,” said Coconut Creek Police Officer Mike Guittari, who is certified to train his fellow officers in using the BolaWrap. “By the time they hear the bang and feel the rap, the backup officers are running in and detaining them in handcuffs.”
According to Wrap Technologies, the device maker, over 1,000 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and 60 countries worldwide are using BolaWrap.
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