Name: Redwood Area Alano Club
Start: 2023-10-01T19:00:00-05:00
End: 2023-10-01T20:00:00-05:00
Location: Alano Club

Daniel Savage, right, senior master instructor for Wrap Technologies, showed Redwood Falls Police Commission member Dan Kates how to launch the BolaWrap during a demonstration at the Redwood Falls Community Center Thursday afternoon.

Since the world witnessed the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis earlier this summer, there’s been a new push for law enforcement to find new non-lethal options for subduing non-cooperative offenders.

As part of that, on Thursday the Redwood Falls Police Department brought to town a demonstration of the BolaWrap 100, a new technology being used by increasing numbers of police departments across the nation.

The BolaWrap works sort of like the bolas used by South American cowboys to catch running cattle. The cowboy twirls a rope with several weights attached, then throws it to tangle the cow’s legs and prevent it from escaping. The BolaWrap is a high tech version of that, a device that shoots a short rope at the suspect’s legs or torso so law enforcement can move in.

Daniel T. Savage, senior master instructor for Wrap Technologies, said the BolaWrap isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for law officers needing to non-violently subdue a suspect. It does give law enforcement another option in addition to devices like tasers, sprays, or if necessary, firearms.

The BolaWrap instantly wound around a volunteer’s legs during the demonstration.

After demonstrating the BolaWrap, Savage asked area law officers and members of the Redwood Falls Police Commission to try using the BolaWrap on a mannikin. Afterward, Redwood Falls Police Chief Jason Cotner discussed the BolaWrap with KLGR News Director Joshua Dixon: