ORANGE COUNTY, Fla.,None — The Orange County Sheriff's Office is spending $80,000 for new and more powerful Tasers.
The new devices will have longer probes, a greater firing distance and will be able to penetrate thicker clothing.
The Tasers will be able to shoot 25 feet instead of 21 feet.
WFTV asked the Taser company if these new Tasers would be more dangerous, especially to people who are wearing less clothing or are smaller in size.
"If anything, it increases the effectiveness, which actually decrease the danger. Because if it doesn't work, and we don't get a connection because of the short probes, that's when police tend to escalate force and that can get the person killed," Steve Tuttle of Taser said.
Between 2001 and 2008, five people died after Orange County deputies stunned them with Tasers.
In fact, from 2006 to 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice did a lengthy investigation into the Orange County Sheriff's Office's use of Tasers.
In 2010, the Sheriff's office changed its Taser policy as part of an agreement to end that federal investigation.
Dr. Douglas Zipes from Indiana University has studied Taser deaths and recently testified against the company in a lawsuit in Charlotte.
"Longer probes have the potential of being closer to the heart. The Taser unquestionably can contribute to cardiac arrest and provoke sudden death," Zipes said.
WFTV asked the Sheriff's Office for an interview, but our calls were not returned.
Law enforcement officials said Tasers reduce deaths, even though a 2008 report from one watchdog group cited more than 50 cases where medical examiners found a "Taser shock" contributed to deaths.