Greens Probe Police Minister Over Taser Roll Out

The parliamentary attack was led by the Greens Police Spokesperson Sylvia Hale who criticised the Police Minister for refusing to heed a recent report by the NSW Ombudsman that recommended that the Taser roll out be delayed pending a change to standard operating procedures and improvements in training of officers and monitoring of Taser use.

“Given the recent fatal incident in Queensland and the manufacturer’s advice regarding limiting the number of times a Taser is used on a person, will the NSW standard operating procedures be amended to ensure a person is not Tasered more than once?” Ms Hale asked the Minister.

Ms Hale’s question was followed by a question from Greens MPs Lee Rhiannon focussing attention on the standard operating and monitoring procedures for Taser use, the two issues highlighted by the Ombudsman.

Greens MP John Kaye asked why general duties police were more likely to use a Taser than specialist squad police.

The Police Minister Tony Kelly would only answer the questions in general terms and would not give an undertaking to amend the standard operating procedures to ensure no person is Tasered more than once.

“The Minister has ignored the advice of the Ombudsman and is now ignoring the on-the-ground experience from interstate and overseas. The Minister is risking the safety of both police officers and the general public,” said Ms Hale.

The Greens have called for the roll out of Tasers to general duties police officers to be suspended pending a further detailed review of the dangers associated with their use and the operating and monitoring procedures in place in NSW.

Contact: Chris Holley on 02 9230 3030 or 0437 779 546