Suburban police officers test new restraint technology

It looks like something from Batman's utility belt, but it could be a new tool for police.

A demonstration on Friday of a new restraint weapon designed for situations where deadly force is not warranted.

In the gun range at the Buffalo Grove Police Department, officers from a half dozen suburban police departments were testing a new restraint technology called the “Bola Wrap.”

Wrap technologies, a company of Las Vegas, is showing off its hand-held remote restraint device that fires an eight-foot-long kevlar tether at a range of up to 25 feet. The company says it's designed to restrain people who are unruly or uncooperative, without having to resort to deadly force.

"I think it's just another tool in the toolbox for officers when they're confronting perhaps a mentally ill person or a subject who wants to commit suicide. This might be a tool to help the officer control the subject,” said Steve Casstevens, Buffalo Grove Police Chief.

The “Bola Wrap” costs $800-dollars and each tether cartridge is $30 bucks. It's just gone into production and is being used by a couple law enforcement agency in California.

"First impressions are good,” said Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman.

Ziman says her only concerns about the technology are the danger of the tether wrapping around the target's neck.

"But there are some times where we are dealing with subjects who are going to resist arrest, and so we have to move into that force continuum. And this is an appropriate tool,” Ziman said.