The Montgomery County Police Department is pushing back against proposed state legislation to put defibrillators in every county cop car, saying the cash-strapped department can’t afford the $1 million to $3 million price tag.
Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez sponsored the legislation, calling it a necessary public safety measure. She originally linked the need for defibrillators to officers carrying stun guns, but she said she dropped that language from the bill at the request of the company that makes Tasers.
The Montgomery County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has been pushing to link defibrillators, sometimes termed AEDs, with Tasers since 2004, saying the use of the device, designed to incapacitate through shock, increased chances of cardiac arrest in those receiving the electric jolt.
Police and the company that makes the stun gun say there’s no evidence that Tasers cause the heart to stop. But Montgomery County ACLU co-chairman Mike Mage said the there’s “uncertainty” about the dangers associated with Tasers.
Mage said there were several police forces around the country that have instituted policies mandating that police cars carry defibrillators and added that the county needed to be “dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century.”
Gutierrez said she decided to remove the provision calling for the defibrillators after hearing complaints from the company that makes the stun guns. She said that she does not want to “attack” Tasers but thinks it’s good public safety policy for police to carry AEDs.
Montgomery County Police Capt. Alan Goldberg said the police department would be “more than happy” to have AEDs in its cars but said the bill is an “unfunded mandate” the department can’t afford when it has more pressing budget needs.
“Nobody’s talking about funding,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said the county would need to buy specially designed defibrillators like those already used by the county’s fire department. Those would cost about $2,700 each to put in the county’s 1,200 police cars.
Gutierrez said there are defibrillators on the market available for about $800 each.
The Montgomery County delegation was scheduled to discuss Gutierrez’s bill Thursday.
