WILMINGTON — Wilmington Police Department is pilot-testing a new non-lethal tool, the BolaWrap. So far, just one officer has undergone full training necessary to use the device on the field.
Below: Watch the BolaWrap used on Deputy Chief Donnie Williams.
Warning ⚠️ loud sound. Assistant Chief Donny Williams volunteered to be captured by WPD’s new, less lethal tool today. It’s called the BolaWrap and it discharges an 8’ Kevlar cord that wraps around your legs and hooks to your clothing. Check it out: pic.twitter.com/Kn775l5TBA
— Wilmington Police (@WilmingtonPD) October 23, 2019
That officer, Lt. Kevin Johnson, is also Wilmington Police Department’s (WPD) lone BolaWrap instructor. Johnson currently has a class of eight officers learning the new technique.
“We’re in what’s called testing evaluation mode,” Johnson said at WPD’s press demonstration. “From there, we’ll put a policy together.”
WPD owns two of the yellow devices, at about $1,000 each, which are refilled by $30 cartridges (about the same price as taser cartridges). Each is loaded with a .38 caliber partially-charged blank which propels an 8-foot string with two anchors at about 600-feet-per-second.
Two anchors with four barbs each (resembling a fishing hook) wrap around the body of the detainee to assist law enforcement officers take individuals into custody without causing them harm.
Once deployed, the speed of the anchors dramatically reduces. “In fact, it decreases so much, it’s not even effective past 25 feet,” Johnson said. The BolaWrap can be effective at a minimum distance of 10 feet.
Wednesday afternoon, Johnson tried the device out on Deputy Chief Donny Williams, who said the best way to describe it is to liken it to getting tangled in string while walking in your yard. Williams added he definitely couldn’t run with the barbs hooked into his clothing, while Johnson said the device works best on stationary targets.
“It’s really not designed for people running,” Johnson said. “Secondary injuries are involved with that.”
According to Johnson, training for the BolaWrap involves about the same amount of preparation as WPD’s bean bag guns, another non-lethal device used by the department.
The department’s SWAT team are the only officers trained to use bean bag guns; about 80% of the department are taser certified.
Willaims said the device causes no pain and no discomfort to detainees. Barbs hook to clothing — not skin.
“It’s not going to be an answer to all situations but it gives us another option,” Williams. “And if you can take someone into custody without causing them any discomfort, it’s a win-win for us and them, especially if you can do it without injuring them.”
WPD pursued the BolaWrap to prioritize arrests with a mental health component. Both criminal and civil arrests of individuals with mental illnesses can unnecessarily escalate, a sensitivity Williams said WPD is considering by adding on another non-lethal option for officers.
“Why utilize pain compliance if you have a way of accomplishing the goal without any discomfort whatsoever?” Williams said.
View a video demonstration of the device in slow-motion from the product’s owner, Wrap Technologies, Inc. below:
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