The Department of Public Safety may face two major changes in order to better serve the ISU community, officials said.

Members of Iowa State’s Critical Incident Response Team have made recommendations to President Gregory Geoffroy to include the advanced taser stun device as a part of the equipment carried by DPS officers.

The second part of the recommendation is to change the name of the department’s “Law Enforcement Division” to the “Police Division.”

The recommendation for the advanced taser system comes just weeks after the University of Iowa’s Faculty Senate made a recommendation to University President Mary Sue Coleman to arm their public safety officers with stun guns.

The advanced taser stun device would help officers respond to more dangerous situations with a less-than-lethal option. A stun gun uses compressed nitrogen to shoot two darts with insulated wires up to 21 feet.

When the darts make contact with the targeted person, the taser transmits an electrical shock along the wires into the person’s body.

“This weapon causes loss of neuromuscular control,” said Capt. Gene Deisinger, special operations unit for DPS. “We found that most people react to the weapons by falling to the ground.”

Deisinger said this weapon is more humane than other options.

“In our research, there have been very few serious injuries caused by this weapon,” Deisinger said.

“This is a very effective and humane tool, but still doesn’t take the place of a gun. I believe it is more humane than the weapons we have now.”

Officers are currently armed with pepper spray and a baton.

“You spray somebody with pepper spray, the discomfort can last for up to 30 minutes,” Deisinger said. “You hit somebody with an expandable baton, and it could cause serious injury.

With this weapon, the discomfort lasts long enough for the officer to safely apprehend the person, and bring them into custody.”

Geoffroy will be seeking comments from the public until Dec. 1, then will make his final recommendation.

Chuck Cychosz, program manager for DPS, said if the recommendation does pass, it would take some time to implement the change.

“It would . take time to buy the devices, and a training period for officers to learn how to use the devices,” Cychosz said.

“Officers would have to go through training that is specific to these devices.”

The name change would be put into place in order to help the public better understand the role of DPS in the community. DPS personnel would be “police officers” rather than “public safety officers.”

“There have been times when people have been arrested because they want to speak with a police officer, and don’t realize that DPS officers are trained just like police officers,” Cychosz said.

“By the time they realize that, it is already too late.”