7 months ago
BANGOR (NEWS CENTER) -- Officials at Eastern Maine Medical Center are reassessing the hospital's security and its plan for dealing with violent patients.
In an attempt to step-up preparedness, the hospital has offered to purchase a taser for the Bangor Police Department.
For the past 9 years, EMMC has paid for a police officer to provide additional security at night.
Those officers help cover a time when there is an increased patient load and psychiatric patients are often brought in from other facilities.
Karen Clements of EMMC says the decision to donate money to buy the taser for the police department was prompted by a recent incident, in which a nurse was nearly stabbed by a patient.
"We'd rather use a less invasive device like a taser instead of having an officer pulling a gun in our emergency department," Clements explained. "We really would like to see security for staff and patients. While it is rare, I don't want to look back and say 'I wish we did things differently', if a staff member or another visitor got hurt."
While Bangor Police already have 8 tasers, Chief Ron Gastia says they don't have enough to give one to every officer on patrol.
If the donation from the hospital is approved by the Bangor City Council, this taser would be kept at the hospital in a locked cabinet, and only police officers would have access to it.
NEWS CENTER
