Out with the old, in with the new.

Coeur d’Alene Police officers are receiving new Tasers and ballistic helmets.

Coeur d’Alene City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to budget $19,037.94 for 15 Axon Taser 10 models and $9,497.70 for six ballistic helmets provided by LCEO, LLC — Own The Night.

“It’s imperative that officers have less lethal options and obviously ballistic helmets,” Councilmember Christie Wood said.

Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Greg Yeager told the city in a staff memo that the Tasers in the department’s current stock, some of which are Axon Model 7s or X26s, have been used for 17 years and have a documented fault rate that results in the Tasers failing to deploy.

Yeager said the Model 7s have just a 70% success rate. The new Taser model the police department sought, however, has a maximum range of 45 feet and an increased velocity of 205 feet per second.

“The Taser 10 is an amazing piece of equipment,” he said.

Meanwhile, the ballistic helmets used by Coeur d’Alene’s SWAT Team expire every five years and need to be replaced to “provide life-saving protection in high-risk incidents,” city documents state.  

According to Yeager, the aim is to save taxpayer funds by requesting the equipment now rather than later.

“What we have been trying to do is, these very expensive items need to be on a rotation schedule,” he said. “If we have 15 to 17 people on our SWAT team, rotating those helmets and purchasing them in different intervals at five or six at a time helps us so that the large expense doesn’t come at one time.” 

Yeager said the new equipment will be defrayed using current fiscal year monies from the police department’s existing general fund appropriation.

“While approval of this request would not cause the Police Department to exceed its overall budget, personnel cost savings are typically prioritized to help offset the General Fund deficit,” city documents state. “Approval of this request would redirect those funds to this necessary expenditure.”

The old equipment being replaced, which has no aftermarket value, will go back to the manufacturer and be decommissioned, Yeager said.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Mayor Dan Gookin suggested that Yeager, who has received training on the new Taser model, show its power. 

“Would you like a volunteer to demonstrate the new Taser? Gookin joked.

Yeager responded in spirit.

“Well, I heard, mayor, that you were interested in that,” Yeager said.