A firm date has not been set, but the Estevan Police Service will be supplying its officers with conducted energy devices in the near future.
Chief Del Block said the provincial government approved the usage of the devices, which are better known as Tasers in January of 2013. A budget request to outfit EPS officers with Tasers was included in the 2014 City budget, and Block said he believes they were approved.
The next step for the EPS is to send an officer to receive training to instruct other officers on how to use Tasers. Once that is complete, they will be permitted to carry the weapons, something Block estimates could take place in 2014 or early 2015.
Although the officers will be allowed to carry the Tasers once training is complete, Block was quick to note they will not be using them unless the situation is a dire one.
"There isn't a lot of cases where we would use them because there is such a high threshold before we can use them," he said. "There isn't a lot of cases, but if that one case does present itself, and you don't have that tool, then you have to go to the next level, which is lethal force.
"There are situations that will occur that are lethal force situations but there are times that a conducted energy device could be used and you want to have to have that tool."
Block admitted that he initially wasn't a fan of adding Tasers to the department, something he chalked up to a lack of knowledge on the matter and the bad press the devices had received.
However, his feelings aside, now that the Saskatchewan Police Commission has approved them for use, the EPS would be open to legal action if they didn't employ Tasers and then came across a scenario in which the devices would have prevented a potentially lethal situation.
"It becomes a huge liability concern," he said. "Once it's an approved use of force in the province, it's standard."
Block added the EPS was also required to create a usage policy for its officers. That policy has been approved and will work in concert with the provincial policy.
