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Official: Taser guns can and do kill
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So it’s official. Taser guns can and do kill. Today a joint Queensland Criminal Justice Commission and Queensland Police review into the death of 39-year-old Antonio Galeano, who was shot 28 times by police with a Taser gun and who subsequently died of a heart attack, confirms what the critics of Taser guns have said all along — that these are lethal weapons and that their use should be strictly controlled or banned. According to The Australian this morning, the CJC/Police review notes that the “possibility of Taser use causing or contributing to death is possible and cannot be ruled out”. Such a finding is not earth-shattering in itself; Amnesty International released a report in December last year that linked almost 350 deaths in the US to the use of Taser guns, but it is the first official statement in any Australian jurisdiction about the lethal capacity of Taser guns. Taser guns are used more often than the media and law enforcement agencies report. They are, for example, used in prison systems around Australia. I am personally aware of their use in the Tasmanian prison system, and they are also used in Western Australian prisons. The UN Committee Against Torture, in a statement in November 2007, said: ”The use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use.” In 1989 Australia became a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture and in July this year the Rudd government signed the Optional Protocol that allows for UN inspections of prisons and detention centres. Attorney-General Robert McClelland is under pressure now to create a crime of torture to ensure Australian compliance with the convention. If he does so, might the use of Taser guns by law enforcement and prison officials be outlawed? There is an urgent need for the Rudd government to take national leadership on the issue of Taser guns. At the moment each state and territory has different rules, prisons are a black hole and people are dying or suffering long-term injury as a result of this weapon being too readily available to too many. |
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13 Comments
I’ve yet to figure out why this confected debate is taking place. Tasers, when used against miscreants, may result in death. Guns &c &c Until such time as I see robust figures on deaths per use by police for both tasers and firearms, I’ll remain firm in my belief that there are a lot of circumstances where someone getting a 50,000 volt jolt is preferable to a 9mm drilling.
Good Article.
I think it is vitally important that, if police continue using these machines, police guidelines are changed to treat them as potentially leathal force.
If police officers were properly educated about the effects of Tasers and they also had to treat drawing their Taser the same as drawing their gun in terms of paperwork etc, we would see them being used a lot less.
More on my blog:
http://www.civiltonguesaustralia.com/
If I shot you 28 times with a potato gun or a tennis ball launcher I’m sure I’d do some damage too. What a ridiculous finding. What the hell were the cops doing shooting someone 28 times? Surely after one or two they’d be able to put the handcuffs on and that would be it.
In the wrong hands a lead pencil could be lethal. I still believe tazers are the best non lethal (and yes, I still say non lethal) force a cop can provide.
And on a side note now that the forces are allowing in anyone, and I mean anyone, even 5’1 45kg young blonde things nowadays, anything that is going to help is something we need.
Agree Adam.
And in other news, water was found to be acutely toxic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyponatremia
Surely the police officers who shot the man 28 times ahave been charged with manslaughter. No reasonablt person could expect that doing that would pose the risk of death to the victim.
I personally have no problem with police having Tasers. But they should be require to justify each use of them in the same fashion as they do with their firearms. There is a lot of incentive to overuse generally non-lethal devices such as Tasers in apprehending and controling people.
Agree Adam and Jos.
If ever there was a case of “tasers don’t kill people, people kill people” this would be it. This was poor policing and that needs to adressed above all else.
I disagree. I believe that there’s enough evidence both here and particularly overseas, not to use them. I listened to an interview earlier this year, when a law enforcement person from the US gave all the stats on the use and effects etc. Taser guns were only used ‘as a last resort’ and the circumstances were quite rare - actual fear of violent injury, not like the poor bloke at the airport earlier in the year(who looked overweight, so his heart may not have been crash hot either?) and there’s been others. I haven’t heard of the person who used it 28 times being arrested? Now why doesn’t that surprise me? I’ve seen enough cop bashers in my day, and I don’t trust them one bit. Too many thugs become police officers, sadly!
There was the very young man in Victoria(a boy of 14? 15?) who was shot dead - his was not warranted. The police need more training with people who have a mental illness - there’s been evidence in the past, that they won’t spend the time getting a qualified psychiatrist or other suitable person - just zap or shoot. Not good enough. Mental illness is not a crime, and police are not psychiatrists, so the appropriate people, perhaps a trusted family member also should be on the scene; and the means of sedating a person is preferable to death or 50,000 or however many volts. I find this barbaric in 2009.
We hear all the time of the high numbers of people who are overweight and/or obese. These people could have other health problems such as diabetes, heart conditions etc. We either act as though human life is valuable or we throw out the whole legal system, and just use our ‘instincts’ only. Training is essential, and only senior (suitable) police should have these weapons - I’d prefer them not to be used at all! In Britain, the ordinary police person doesn’t even carry a revolver, pistol etc. They call in the weapons people if required. If a person who feels agrieved is treated by a qualified person who knows what NOT to do, like shout or threaten, they’d probably have a better chance of a positive outcome. There’s too much of the ‘quick fix’ mind set - let’s shoot some weapon - it’s less hassle? Unless you were the person who’s mentally ill or highly distressed over a marriage break up or something. They’re not criminals, but disturbed/ill people.
Would those who think taser guns are OK like it to be used on them or a loved one who may be ill. If we took proper care of those suffering a mental illness, there mightn’t be the types of people who brandish knives etc. There’s still a lot of people in the community who are ignorant about mental illness - too many can’t be bothered to educate themselves about it either. I was a sympathetic person to mental illness, and thought I had a reasonable knowledge of what happens etc - how wrong I was! I read Ann Deversen’s book, ‘Tell me I’m Here’ about her beautiful 21 yr old son suffering from Schizophrenia, who sadly killed himself, and I was shocked by the appalling lack of services for both the ill person and their families. Taser guns shouldn’t be used as a solution to govt’s abrogating their responsibilities re mental health. Proper hospital facilities; follow up supervision by suitable trained community workers etc and some decent laws that give parents an avenue to seek assistance, and have the person held and treated in hospital - not thrown out in 24 hrs or less!
Finally, I think every police officer who’s given one of these tasar guns, should have it used on them at least 6 times in a row, with a 10 minute gap, and then used 6 more times - to be repeated until at least 24 ‘shots’ is used. Then we’ll see who wants to use them. I don’t trust the police to make the rules, too much room for abuse. Too much negative history - it’s too late when someone is lying dead!
ADAM - “young blonde things”? I think the word you were looking for was ‘women’? Now, that wasn’t too hard to think of was it?
Truly! I despair! Will the sexist crap ever cease?
Greg - good comment and properly highlighting the inherent dangers which the politicians ignore let alone the manic view of the police who, sadly, have no intention of involving themselves in a considered assessment of the effects of tasers, or more importantly, of their members indiscriminate use of them. LIZ 45, some great ideas!
You never know Liz, he may have been referring to young blonde (albeit slightly effeminate) men. I think your gender bias is showing…
Anyway, Police already carry batons which if struck against the head 28 times have a better than average chance of causing death. As would a jar of Vegemite or tin of baked beans.
Are there very serious questions to be asked over the police firing a Taser 28 times to disable a single person, of course.
But death could result from the misuse of the other weapons they carry too, and more readily than with the Taser.
A good discussion. My bias is to NOT have them available at all. Liz raised a lot of valid points. The stories in the US where they have been used in a nursing home against an unruly pensioner; used against children who were wagging school; used for all sorts of ridiculous reasons…. reveals the sad reality that us humans cant be trusted with them.
Maybe strict rules will help. Maybe as strict as every time a gun is shot by a policeman or policewoman.
Sadly the weakest link (in the force) will give the whole force a bad name. I use to be an ambulance officer in NSW when I was a y0ung man (a few decades ago now). We could see how the worst ambulance officer (doing sloppy first aid, or having poor people skills with the grieving public) gave the service a bad image. Same with the police. There are a lot of good people in the police force, and there are some weak characters as well. Some will use tasers because it is quick, easy, relatively effective, and saves bothering with time consuming negotiation or people skills.
Tasers do kill. And the original article is right: they are a form of torture.
EDWARD THOMPSON - The only males I know of that are 5’1’ and 45 kg are about 10-13 yrs old? When police officers use a conventional weapon(revolver or pistol) they have to justify it. They’re also trained to shoot to kill - aim for the head. There’s too much information around re the use and misuse of taser guns, and we’ve also agreed to international treaties on the use of torture - that we won’t use torture. How can these agreements be broken by individual states via their police force/s on their own citizens? I can still see that man in the US dying at the air terminal - it was awful. I shudder to think what agony the man who was struck 28 times endured?
I’ve also seen documentaries on civil rights in the US (or lack of under the PATRIOT Act)when known CIA people posed as demonstrators at anti war rallies, and used capsicum sprays on people to cause a negative response and ruin the whole purpose of the rally by demonising the protestors. Imagine if Queensland had taser guns while Bjelke Petersen was Premier - my sons, their wives and one set of parents couldn’t meet without a permit, or we’d be arrested. I’m just horrified by the whole idea of them. I recall the comment of the last NSW Police Commissioner re water cannon and taser guns - ‘over my dead body’ or words to that effect. He obviously knew something, as he retired prior to the water cannon being delivered. It’s be interesting if his opinion was sought now. We all know what happened during the APEC fiasco in Sydney while Howard was still PM? Interesting that Qld may be the state to ban their use!
LIZ45,
1. I was joking about the gender-bias.
2. Police are trained to shoot at the centre of mass, not the head.
3. I have no problem with improving the guidelines for the use and the reporting of the use of tasers for police. I just don’t have a problem with their being an intermediate step of force between capsicum spray and a .38special or 9mm slug to the chest.
If there is misuse that must be addressed, but overtly emotive language and claims of torture are ridiculous if they are being used correctly.
While we maintain lethal force as an option for police, correct use of tasers should not be a big issue.