BUDA, Texas — Twenty years ago, pepper spray was considered the newest innovation in police technology. Now leaders with the Buda Police Department say they have a new way to restrain someone in a non-lethal and painless way.
It’s called the BolaWrap.
“It's a cutting edge piece of technology for the 21st century, and it's meeting the needs of our current society and meeting the needs of our community,” Freddy Erdman, a community affairs officer with Buda PD, said.
He said Buda's city council approved buying BolaWraps in the 2024 budget.
"The BolaWrap is a restraint tool,” Erdman said. “It's meant to be used as something in the de-escalation of force strategy."
He said any situation can be unpredictable and can escalate in a second. Whether it's someone dealing with a mental health crisis or someone under the influence of drugs, Buda police want to make sure they can get those individuals to comply without escalating the situation.
“In general, 80% of law enforcement contact and use of force spectrum don’t involve higher levels of force,” Erdman said.
But if verbal commands don't work, he said the next step often involves pepper spray or a Taser.
“Those are not compliance tools. So, we had a gap there. If we ran out of options, we didn't have anything else but to go hands-on and risk potentially escalating the situation,” Erdman said.
Police officials say the BolaWrap fills that gap.
“It has an activation button, it has a gas-propelled cartridge, and inside that cartridge is a Kevlar cord with two anchors. Once activated, it deploys the Kevlar cord, which wraps you at the elbows and the arms or around the legs, and it temporarily detains the person,” Erdman said.
He said the device is non-lethal and painless. Buda police have already successfully used a BolaWrap on May 5.
“That situation was a mental health call, and we were able to successfully take that, detain that person and get them to the hospital and get them the help they needed,” he said.
RELATED: Family, community members demand answers after man shot, killed by San Marcos police officers
Erdman said the BolaWrap didn’t deploy successfully, but it was enough to stun the person without using other means.
He said using the device is a way for the police department to evolve with the times and make its police work better for everyone.
“The BolaWrap is not a fix-all for use of force. It just creates the opportunity to reduce force and avoid force when possible, and to] achieve compliance without causing pain or injury,” Erdman said. “We want to do our job as professionally as we can, and technology affords us that opportunity.”
Erdman said the Buda Police Department is one of the first departments to use the device. The San Marcos Police Department is also using BolaWraps, and the Hays County Sheriff's Office will get theirs soon.