More police weaponry

The NSW government’s decision in May 2008 to stage a roll-out of Tasers to general duties police before the July release of an Ombudsman’s report on their safety is based on flawed thinking and endangers those who come into contact with the police.

On May 18, the state government announced it would spend more than $1 million on the new Tasers, with a target of two per police station, before wider distribution. That wider distribution will come at a cost of $4,000 for each device and, given the state’s 15,200 police officers, at a total cost of $60 million.

Tasers are a type of stun-gun that fire two metal probes, 50,000 volts for five seconds. Victims typically fall to the ground, wet themselves and lose control of major motor functions. A 2006 Amnesty International report found 156 deaths linked to the police use of Tasers. Taser International denies that being stunned can result in death or permanent injury, saying that trials on dogs and pigs have been satisfactory.

NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, cited the shooting of Roni Levi at Bondi Beach in 1997 as one death which could have been avoided if Tasers had been available. Mr Levi was suffering a severe mental illness and was holding a kitchen knife when he was shot dead by police.

The use of this example by Mr Scipione seems odd, as it is well known that there was a lot of controversy surrounding the incident. Some of the officers were suspected of being under the influence of cocaine, and none of them were drug or alcohol tested. Drunk, drugged or disturbed police officers with Tasers are not a trivial matter, with media reports in the last month alone showing that 26 detectives and trainee police officers failed a breakfast alcohol test at the Goulbourn police academy, and that 12% of working police officers have a continuing serious psychological problem.

The NSW Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, told the Sydney Morning Herald that he had not been told of the state government’s decision and that he read about it for the first time in the media.

Never happy with existing police powers and resources, the President of the Police Association (the police’s "trade union") said that the proposed measures did not go far enough. Bob Pritchard said he wanted even more Tasers to be made immediately available.

NSW police say that there are few, if any, reports of the weapon "causing" death. The Taser International website says that Tasers have been used "without causing a single death."

This is spin. Tasers rarely "cause" death in the sense of the instant termination of life, but people die from the subsequent injuries, such as choking on their own vomit, falling down stairs, hitting hard objects when the person collapses, or in combination with drug or heart conditions.

A foreign object lodged in the windpipe of a person may lead them to asphyxiate in the ambulance following a car accident and so death is "caused" by asphyxiation, but any sensible person can see that if it were not for the car accident in the first place, the person would not have died.

The second argument that is used in favour of Tasers is that they are a "less-lethal" option for police and are to be preferred to the use of guns. Most gun-shots are not lethal, and the introduction of Tasers does not lead to a decline in shootings. Rather, the number of people shot by police remains about the same, while the Tasers are used as an extra weapon. Unlike guns, however, there is far less accountability with the use of Taser. A suspect who is shot is taken to hospital and reviews into the incident are held: after a Tasering, any injuries are less visible and receive less scrutiny. Additionally, Tasers can be used without firing the metal prongs, which has the potential of making them a hand-held torture weapon to be used on incapacitated people.

Clips of Tasers being abused by police officers, mainly in the USA, receive numerous hits on websites such as You Tube.

Tasers in NSW have been trialled by the Public Order and Riot Squad since 2006 and are also used by the Tactical Operations Unit. They have used the weapons about 50 times in the last six years, with little or no public feedback on their use.

Referring to the riot squad, Premier Morris Iemma said at the time, "We are giving this specialist squad the equipment they need to crack down on criminals and troublemakers" as well as against individuals "committing serious civil disobedience or serious criminality." Being a "troublemaker" in NSW is not a criminal offence, and the use of Tasers would be a disproportionate and violent response to the actions normally associated with civil disobedience.

A 2004 CBS News report counted more than 40 deaths related to the use of Tasers in the United States. Many of those who died following the use of Tasers had been electrocuted several times. Since 2000, at least five US medical examiners have listed Tasers as a factor in the cause of death.

A 2005 report by Amnesty International found 103 Taser-related deaths in the US and Canada in the previous four-year period. Amnesty was also able to examine reports provided by Taser International, which manufactures the weapon, showing that Tasers were used by police officers against children, people who were already restrained and physically disabled individuals. They were also used against distressed individuals, who received a Tasering instead of assistance from mental health professionals.

The Tasering of a 40 year old Polish arrival at Vancouver International Airport in September 2007, Robert Dzieka?ski, received world-wide TV coverage. An investigation into that incident and the use of Tasers generally in Canada is still being conducted by Thomas R. Braidwood, QC.

The Taser International website promotes Tasers for personal defence with built-in MP3 players, including design colours women are said to find attractive (pink, mauve and leopard skin).

More information can be found at the Braidwood Inquiry at http://www.braidwoodinquiry.ca and at the USA Amnesty website at http://www.amnestyusa.org (search under "Taser").

- Dale Mills 28 May, 2008