Area law enforcement will alter Taser training after the stun gun maker issued an advisory urging police to avoid shooting suspects in the chest.

Taser International released a training bulletin Oct. 12 advising officers against discharging the Taser’s electronic control device, which can deliver up to 50,000 volts of electricity, in a person’s chest.

Critics have claimed that the device can cause cardiac arrest, and several dozen wrongful death and personal injury suits have been filed in connection with incidents in which people died shortly after having been shot with a Taser.

The memo issued by Taser International claims that researchers have concluded that the risk of ventricular fibrillation, which can cause sudden cardiac arrest as a result of deploying the Taser, is “extremely low.”

That assessment still marks a reversal of Taser’s previous claims of no risk of cardiac arrest, and the memo advises officers to avoid a chest shot when possible.

The advisory urges officers to lower the target area for a frontal Taser shot to the lower torso, and the major muscle areas of the pelvic and thigh region.

Officer Barry Pruitt, spokesman for the Bowling Green Police Department, said the department was made aware last week of the updated memo from Taser International.

“We have been training according to Taser International standards, so the training staff has gotten involved and what they’re doing is modifying their training according to the updated recommendations and standards,” Pruitt said. “With current personnel, the training staff will go over (the updates) with them and will train new officers under the updated recommendations.”

The BGPD was first equipped with Tasers in 2006.

Capt. Tim Meyer of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office heads the department’s training with regard to Taser use.

Meyer said that he follows Taser International guidelines when training deputies, and will accordingly lower the placement of an ECD from what officers and Taser International describe as “center mass” – the area below the neck and above the abdomen – to “below center mass.”

“The preferred target location is the back and we try to teach our officers that’s the best place to do their placement,” Meyer said. “Sometimes you don’t have time to actually point and shoot in those situations, but we’ll be taking what Taser puts out and evaluating what they do and retraining all our officers.”

Taser International states in the memo that a shot aimed at the back is still the ideal placement of an ECD, and that most injuries and deaths of suspects shot with a Taser result from falls.

The memo says that officers can still shoot the guns at a person’s chest if needed.