Tasers could soon be made available for Chevy Chase Village police officers after a public hearing on the matter next month.

The devices are being considered as a $30,000 budget item that would be paid for through revenue generated by the village's four speed cameras on Connecticut Avenue. The village's Board of Managers will hear a presentation from police Chief Roy Gordon about Tasers at a public hearing on Oct. 12 at the village hall. The managers will also take public comment from residents about Tasers at that time.

Both Gordon and the Board of Managers Chairman Dr. Douglas Kamerow declined to comment on the matter in detail until Oct. 12. Kamerow did state in an e-mail message that he recognized that the topic was "controversial" and wanted to wait until Gordon's presentation to discuss the issue further.

Saul Goodman, chairman of the village's Public Safety Committee, also declined to comment until Gordon made public remarks about the issue.

Stun guns such as Tasers generally shoot a pair of darts that can deliver a 50,000-volt, five-second charge of electricity to a person's body. In most cases the targeted person is quickly subdued. Officers with Montgomery County police must undergo training and be shot with a Taser themselves before being allowed to carry them. Not all county officers carry Tasers.

In November 2007, 20-year-old Jarrel Gray died shortly after Cpl. Rudy Torres with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office shot him with a Taser in order to subdue him. In May 2008, Frederick County Grand Jury found Torres was justified in using the Taser on Gray. The same month, a $145 million wrongful death civil suit was filed last year by Gray's family against Torres, the county's Sheriff's Office, and the Frederick Board of Commissioners.

Susie Eig, a member of the village's Board of Managers from 1998 until she resigned in May, questioned the board about the proposed budget item for Tasers at its Sept. 14 meeting. Eig said to her knowledge Tasers have never been discussed before as an option for village police, and that she had never seen or heard a need for Tasers articulated.

"I have an objection to the devices, just in general," she said in a Sept. 22 interview.