South Heidelberg police to get Tasers; public shooting-range questioned

by Steve Reinbrecht

South Heidelberg police officers are set to get Tasers soon.

And at their meeting Thursday, July 11, township supervisors tabled a decision that would permit a proposed shooting range off Penn Avenue.

Regarding the Tasers, Police Chief Barry Whitmoyer said he was surprised when he took the job July 1 to discover his officers haven’t been equipped with the weapons.

He said officers in adjacent municipalities have them.

Tasers and similar weapons fire tiny darts that are connected by thin wires to a battery in the gun. They deliver electricity to disrupt muscle control, dropping victims to the ground and leaving them unable to move for a moment.

Critics note rare injuries and deaths and the risk of abuse. Supporters say that such weapons reduce police injuries because they give officers an option between a wrestling match and shooting somebody.

In fact, Whitmoyer said, a township officer might have escaped injury if he had been able to use a Taser when two people attacked him this week.

According to the Reading Eagle, on Monday evening, Aug. 8, Officer Benjamin Shaner went to a house in the 200 block of North Sandy Lane to investigate a domestic dispute. When he tried to prevent Ariel Jimenez, 22, from leaving, Jimenez and his mother, Zenaida Altagracia Bisono, 51, attacked him, according to reports. Shaner, who was treated in an emergency room, has been cleared to return to duty, Whitmoyer said.

At the meeting, supervisors Thomas Bryne and David Schaeffer authorized Whitmoyer to get prices for the devices. Supervisor Richard E. Hummel was absent. Byrne said donations would cover some of the cost of providing a Taser for each of the township's 11 officers.

As for the shooting range, resident Sal Franco asked if township officials were aware of any studies that connected public shooting ranges with violence.

“I’m not against guns. I’m just thinking of the safety of the community.”

Chief Whitmoyer said he had no worries about the proposed business.

The planning commission had unanimously recommended the ordinance be approved.

CP Tactical Solutions filed a sketch plan for the shooting range and gun and ammunition shop on Caramist Drive, off Krick Road, behind the former Shurfine market. It would have room for eight to 10 shooters at a time and need to comply with noise requirements.

The use is not permitted in that zone. The proposal is for officials in Lower Heidelberg, South Heidelberg and Sinking Spring -- who share a zoning plan -- to allow the use in the C3 zone.

Whitmoyer and Gombar, the township’s lawyer, said restrictions by the township could run into Second Amendment challenges.

Supervisors also approved a design for a new sign to replace the one destroyed by a drunken driver in April. And they named office manager Shelly B. Keehn as interim township manager while they search for a replacement for Ron Seaman, who has taken a job as Berks County’s top administrator.