HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is adding a new less-lethal tool to its list of options.
It’s called a BolaWrap and is designed to give law enforcement another option to de-escalate confrontations. Blink your eyes and you might miss it.
In less than a second, BolaWrap, which uses a laser for aim, fires an eight-foot Kevlar cord that instantly wraps around a target’s legs, arms, or torso immobilizing them.
“Our intent with the device is to give officers that early intervention,” said BolaWrap CEO Tom Smith. “There’s never been more pressure on law enforcement than in the last 14 months or so to change.”
Body-cam video released by police agencies already using BolaWrap shows officers peacefully taking people into custody where in the past the same situation might have escalated.
“I think this is a great idea,” said Yvette Lewis, President of the NAACP Hillsborough chapter.
Lewis has been part of a group calling for alternatives to the use of excessive force since last summer’s demonstrations following the death of George Floyd.
“It can help with de-escalating and helping deputies feel that their sense of safety — they don’t have to pull the trigger so fast,” she said.
The BolaWrap is not for use in all situations. For example, it’s discouraged when dealing with someone who is elderly or a pregnant woman who could fall down and harm themselves. Also, it’s not so good near or in the water where an immobilized person could fall down and drown.
Still, BolaWrap is quickly gaining popularity. Invented a little over four years ago, the number of law enforcement agencies using it has doubled to 500 since September of last year.
“And hopefully we won’t have any unnecessary incidents dealing with law-enforcement in Hillsborough County,” said Lewis.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office is not the only agency in the Tampa Bay area to try out the BolaWrap. Officers in Indian River Shores have also been putting it through its paces during a test run.
The units cost $950 each, and the BolaWrap cartridges cost about $30 apiece.