When Purdue senior Sandeep Singh hears the word Taser, he associates the weapon with the cops he sees chasing down bad guys on television.

“You always see someone trying to run away from the police on a crime show and catching a Taser in the back or something,” he said. “I don’t know if they work as good as they do on TV, but on ’24′ and ‘CSI’ they always seem to drop the guy right away.”

Although Singh views Tasers as a tool for fictional cops, law enforcement officials in Greater Lafayette say the weapons are becoming a viable option for officers dealing with potentially dangerous suspects.

West Lafayette Police Chief Jason Dombkowski said the department recently purchased 16 Tasers with the help of a second round of federal economic stimulus funding, bringing their total to 32 devices.

Dombkowski said each Taser costs about $800 to $900.

“Before, officers would have to share and trade Tasers back and forth at the end of shifts,” he said. “Now all of our officers outside of administrators and detectives have their own. It just makes things a lot easier for us.”

West Lafayette Sgt. Art Choate said through extensive training and mandatory, annual re-certifications, officers learn to use Tasers when appropriate.

“Tasers are typically used when a suspect is actively resisting and they have the potential to hurt an officer, themselves or someone else,” he said. “It’s a lot safer for the suspect when compared to having to use a nightstick or getting into a physical altercation.”

Capt. Steven Hartman of the Lafayette Police Department said safety is the primary reason officers carry Tasers. Lafayette police have 108 available.

“It’s a tremendous tool for these guys on patrol,” said Hartman, a 32-year police veteran. “We’ve only had the Tasers since 2006. Back when I worked the streets, there was a lot more fighting going on and it took its toll.”

According to Hartman, Tasers were used 30 times by Lafayette police in 2009.

Hartman said after an officer uses a Taser or any other type of force, that action is internally reviewed to ensure proper use.

“It’s not just Tasers,” he said. “We review every (use of force) case. Even if it’s something like an officer having to use a takedown.”

Choate said although he did not have exact numbers, he noticed more Taser deployments in 2009 when compared to previous years.

Hartman said that all officers carry, in addition to Tasers, batons and pepper spray to safely diffuse incidents.

“We just want to make sure that our guys have everything they need when they are on patrol, and we want to make sure no one gets hurt,” he said.

An independent study funded by the National Institute of Justice also found that Tasers were an acceptable way to deal with violent suspects.

The study, conducted in 2007 by emergency medicine researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, showed that in a review of nearly 1,000 cases, 99.7 percent of those Tasered had mild injuries.

Three subjects suffered injuries that required medical attention. Two had head injuries suffered in falls after Taser use. A third subject was admitted to a hospital two days after the arrest with a medical condition of unclear relationship to the Taser.

Two subjects died, but autopsy reports indicate that neither death was related to the Taser.

Regardless of the study’s results, Omar Delgado of West Lafayette still has his doubts about Tasers.

“It just looks painful,” he said. “Anytime you get shocked like that, it can’t be good for you long-term.”

Hartman said police are not the only ones with access to the devices. Much like obtaining a handgun license, Hartman said citizens can purchase Tasers by going through the necessary steps.

Lafayette’s Amanda Weatherford said she thinks allowing people to buy Tasers is a great idea.

“I’m not big on guns,” she said, “but if I know I can protect myself from a distance without killing anyone, then I’m all for it.”