Tasers: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

Should Australian Police use Tasers?

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Is the Taser the right non lethal option to a gun?

They've been issued to frontline officers in tactical response groups in some states since 2000. (see timeline).

This episode of INSIGHT will examine the use and abuse of Tasers.

Revelations that a Perth man was Tasered 13 times in a police watchhouse has brought condemnation from the WA Police Commissioner. As a result of this WA case the Crime and Corruption Commission has recommended that Tasers be used only when there is an "imminent threat of serious injury".

And this " imminent threat" can be very murky territory. How does a police officer gauge the level of threat in a highly charged situation?

There was strong criticism in the recent West Australian CCC report that "Taser weapons are being used for compliance, including against indigenous people and those suffering mental illness."

It is still grey territory that Tasers have been the direct cause of death, but there is evidence that if you suffer from heart disease or have taken stimulant drugs, you are more likely to die from a Taser shock.

That's INSIGHT this week, just who is being protected by the use of Tasers? The police or the public?

Meet the Guests

Karl O’Callaghan

Karl O’Callaghan is the Commissioner of the Western Australian Police. Taser weapons were introduced for general use by WA Police in June 2007. Earlier this month the WA Corruption and Crime Commission released footage of indigenous man Kevin Spratt being Tasered 13 times by WA Police while in custody. Commissioner O'Callaghan has been critical of some of the officers in the case, saying, "The response by some of the officers responsible for the watchhouse incident in 2008 was a gross over-reaction and serious breach of Taser useage policy".

Alan Clarke

Alan Clarke is the Assistant Commissioner of the NSW Police. Tasers have been in use by general duties police officers in NSW since October 2008. Investigations are continuing into an incident two weeks ago when a man died shortly after being Tasered by police in Sydney’s western suburbs.

George Hateley

George Hateley is the Director of Breon Enterprises which distributes the Tasers that are used by police in Australia. A former policeman, he claims that there is no medical evidence that the Taser can cause death.

Julian Bondy

Julian Bondy is a Criminologist and an Associate Professor at RMIT in Melbourne. Julian is concerned about police using Tasers for compliance. He also believes that the increased weaponisation of the police sends the wrong message.

Dr Mike Cadogan

Mike Cadogan is an emergency doctor who consults at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Swan Districts Hospital in Western Australia. Mike supports the use of Tasers but believes they could be fatal for people in certain risk categories.

Richard Jenkins

Richie Jenkins was Tasered by Queensland Police during an altercation on Australia Day in 2009. He was charged for assaulting a police officer but a magistrate threw out the charge saying that the use of the Taser in his case was completely unjustified.