Police nationwide using high-tech weapon to apprehend suspects without injury: bodycam

Several bodycam videos show police officers ending foot chases and taking down emotionally disturbed gunmen after shots rang out by wrapping them in wires from a distance.

The responding officers immobilize out-of-control suspects, who appear to be going through a mental health crisis or were on drugs, without hurting their targets and de-escalate situations that in the past might have spiraled out of control and ended in deaths.

It’s part of a “High Purpose Police Movement” that coincides with increased police run-ins with erratic suspects, who are 10 times more likely to be involved in a fatal law enforcement confrontation, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Chief Kevin Davis said it “prioritizes safety and emphasizes de-escalation” and it’s “expected to transform our incident resolution capacity, especially in crisis situations.”

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As tools are pulled from law enforcement’s toolbox, including physical restraints like certain choke holds, which are banned in about half the states, they need to be replaced.

That’s where technology, like the hand-held restraint device dubbed “the Bola” comes in. 

In several bodycam videos of police in Mountlake Terrace, Washington state, which were shared with Fox News Digital, responding officers yell commands like “Prepping Bola” before launching the device.

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In each video, the suspect is immobilized and on the ground without hand-to-hand combat or the use of a firearm. In one video, a gunman threatened to open fire.

A couple of shots were heard in the background, but no one was injured, and the video shows the captured suspect wrapped like a Spider-Man villain and taken into custody.

WATCH: Police bring down armed suspect in bodycam footage

Scot Cohen, CEO of WRAP, said the mental health crisis, especially in major cities, is worsening every year, and responding officers are dispatched to tumultuous scenes where anything can happen. 

“Thousands of people who get in violent altercations with police each year are battling a mental health crisis,” Cohen told Fox News Digital. “Our tools don’t hurt people to get them the help they need, whereas other tools that have been used in the past rely on pain-compliance.”

“While there are surely many cases where force is the only way to subdue a suspect, there are many others where force is not necessary.”

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The Fairfax County Police Department, which is near the nation’s capital, is the latest department to implement the new technology after a pilot program that started in November 2022. 

“With a number of positive outcomes achieved, the department determined the deployment of BolaWrap to all patrol officers would be an invaluable asset to our police toolkit,” the Fairfax County Police Department said in a press release. 

Mental health and opioid crisis

Police and WRAP sent Fox News Digital several bodycam videos that showed a variety of situations where the BolaWrap was deployed. 

In one of the videos, a suspect yells at police, “I don’t have control of my body. You’re trying to decapitate me out here.”

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It’s unclear if the subject in the video was going through a mental health crisis or was under the influence, but officers from the Mountlake Terrace grabbed the Bola and went to work.

In the video, a green laser dot appears on his leg. That’s the target. From several feet away, an officer fires the wire, and the subject quickly surrenders without incident.

Watch full bodycam video of the situation

“America is in the midst of a mental health and opioid crisis, and police have never before spent more time dealing with mentally ill suspects,” the company WRAP said in a statement. 

“Their day-to-day job is now less a matter of chasing violent criminals, and more so a matter of pacifying non-compliant individuals who don’t pose a deadly threat.”

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NAMI details a list of obstacles for law enforcement when confronting EDPs – emotionally disturbed persons – or individuals on drugs. 

NAMI said “use of force disproportionately impacts people with mental illness,” making it imperative for law enforcement to revamp training and utilize technology. 

“Interactions between law enforcement and people with mental illness often escalate and can even be deadly,” NAMI says on its website, “often because a person in a mental health crisis may have symptoms that appear threatening or impact their ability to listen to police commands.”

While the advocacy group suggests police shouldn’t be the first on the scene with someone with mental illness, it’s not the reality. 

With that said, “it is critical that law enforcement has the tools, resources and training to reduce the use of force when they do respond,” according to NAMI.

Fox News Digital’s Emily Robertson contributed to this report.