”I believe the overwhelming evidence is that Taser are being used appropriately by NSW Police.” The trial showed numerous examples of the weapon’s usefulness. – Alan Clarke, Assistant Police Commissioner
How does this align with a report obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald that reports such inappropriate uses as:
- Stunning a handcuffed child at a juvenile detention centre.
- Stunning two suicidal people covered in fuel, which can be ignited by a Taser blast.
- The repeated stunning of a compliant man who presented no threat and was surrounded by members of the riot squad.
- There were cases of people being hit by a Taser as many as six times, and others where police appeared to use the weapon to make argumentative but non-threatening people comply with directions.
- In one case a sergeant drew his Taser when he encountered two young men spray painting. He drew the weapon, he later said, because one of the vandals was carrying an extendable paint roller and he was ”unsure what their reaction would be to his presence”. He did not fire the weapon.
- A mother was accidentally hit when police fired at her son in one incident and a police officer was accidentally stunned in another.
- Police also pointed Tasers at groups of people, including protesters inside the Villawood Detention Centre, despite Tasers being acknowledged as an ”inappropriate” weapon for use against crowds.
- Police also appeared habitually to misuse the weapon in its ”drive-stun” mode, in which the Taser is held against the target’s body and causes pain without incapacitation.
Although they are quite controversial Tasers are a much better alternative to lethal weapons in maintaining law and order. However, they are a weapon much like, if not more threatening and damaging than, a baton. If you substituted the word Taser for the word baton in the above examples then it is more than likely that police offers would be in court facing assault charges.
It is the role of the police to keep the peace, but they need to do so in a way that shows respect for people, all people, and not jump to conclusions about people and abuse the power entrusted in them. I doubt many people dispute that policing is a dangerous and sometimes life-threatening job, but there is never a justified reason to abuse power. Describing the misuse as “numerous examples of weapon’s usefulness” is some of the best doublespeak I have seen.
