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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:22 am
Time: 12:22 am
Results for tasers (australia)
3 results foundAuthor: Nicholson, Sarah Title: Taser Trap: Is Victoria Falling for It? Summary: The Federation of Community Legal Centres has long argued that Tasers are not a panacea for police use of lethal or near lethal force. Death or serious injury in Victoria in connection with Taser use is a real possibility. In particular, there are real risks of death or serious injury associated with Taser use on vulnerable groups or in particular situations. These vulnerable groups include people with mental illness, people with pre-existing health issues and people who are drug and alcohol affected. Evidence from overseas, and increasingly from Australia, suggests that Tasers are prone to misuse and ‘usage creep’ – the term used to describe when the use of a device extends beyond the boundaries for use set by policies and procedures. We have already seen Victoria Police ‘usage creep’ in connection with capsicum spray and there is substantial evidence of ‘usage creep’ in other jurisdictions in relation to police Taser use. We know that use of lethal force by police can be avoided in many instances with tactical communication, non-violent intervention and other lower use of force strategies. This has been emphasised in reports reviewing police shootings in Victoria, including reviews undertaken by the Office of Police Integrity and reviews commissioned by Victoria Police. It is not a simplistic question of whether someone would prefer to be Tased than shot. In many cases, incidents can be resolved without the use of any force whatsoever. Victoria Police was first authorised to use Tasers in 2003. Until recently, Taser use by Victoria Police was limited to two specialist units, the Special Operations Group and Critical Incident Response Teams. On 1 July 2010 however, under a 12-month pilot, Tasers were issued to general duties police in two regional areas of Victoria, Bendigo and Morwell. The decision to extend Taser use to general duties officers was made in the face of comprehensive analyses questioning the safety of Tasers and reports criticising police use of force in Victoria. Victoria Police and the Victorian Government have largely made decisions about use of force issues, including decisions on Taser use, without seeking public input and without providing the public with clear, evidence-based reasoning for decisions. This contrasts with other jurisdictions both overseas and in Australia where police, governments and police oversight bodies have acknowledged the strong public interest in police Taser use and have facilitated public debate through the public release of Taser reviews and relevant police operating procedures. In the absence of transparency and accountability by Victoria Police around these issues, the Federation and its member community legal centres sought to make public key documents around Tasers and the use force, by requesting information from Victoria Police and by using procedures under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic). Over the past three years, we have obtained: · data showing how Tasers have been used by Victoria Police specialist units; · copies of Victoria Police Taser use policies; and · documents relating to Victoria Police’s management of use of force issues and decisions about Taser use by Victoria Police. The first section of this report provides background information on Tasers and issues around their safety and use by police. The second section of this report analyses Victoria Police policies relating to Taser use. Our analysis shows that Victoria Police Taser policies are inconsistent and policies for specialist units do not take into account known risk factors and do not comply with internationally accepted best practice for Taser use and relevant human rights considerations. The third section of this report analyses data showing how Tasers have been used by Victoria Police specialist units. Details: Melbourne: Federation of Community Legal Centres - Victoria, 2010. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 4, 2010 at: http://www.communitylaw.org.au/cb_pages/federation_reports.php Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://www.communitylaw.org.au/cb_pages/federation_reports.php Shelf Number: 120185 Keywords: Police Use of ForceStun GunsTasers (Australia) |
Author: Queensland. Crime and Misconduct Commission Title: Evaluating Taser Reforms: A Review of Queensland Police Service Policy and Practice Summary: Tasers were first introduced by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) in 2002, when they were allocated to the service’s Special Emergency Response Team. Following a trial in 2007–08, the QPS expanded their use into the general policing environment. In June 2009, a 39-year-old man in Brandon, north Queensland, died after being tasered by police. In response, the Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services, the Hon. Neil Roberts MP, initiated a joint QPS–Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) review to ensure that QPS policy, procedures, training and monitoring processes reflected best practice. The review made 27 recommendations intended to improve policy, training and monitoring practices. It was agreed that the recommendations would be treated as interim recommendations for 12 months, subject to continuous monitoring by the QPS and the CMC. Significant policy changes represented in these recommendations included: restricting the use of Tasers to situations where there is a risk of serious injury to a person • prohibiting officers, unless in exceptional circumstances, from deploying Tasers for multiple or prolonged cycles, and against people who are handcuffed or are of particularly small body mass • emphasising the possible link identified in the literature between Taser deployments and death, particularly where multiple and/or prolonged discharges are involved or where the person has underlying health problems, is under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or has already been exposed to oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray. These policy changes were also reflected in new training initiatives. In April 2010, the then Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Cameron Dick MP, asked the CMC to undertake this independent evaluation. To address our terms of reference, we sought to determine: • whether each of the 27 recommendations from the QPS–CMC review has been implemented • what effects the revised policy and training have had on Taser use • how QPS officers used Tasers in the 10 months after the introduction of the revised policy, particularly in relation to risk factors identified in the literature • whether there are any emerging trends in use, including ‘mission creep’ (the tendency for police to, over time, use Tasers in situations for which they were not intended) • what monitoring and continuous improvement processes are in place in the QPS with respect to Tasers • what recent advances have been made in international best practice, and whether there are any gaps in QPS policy and practices. As the first formal review of QPS Taser use since the introduction of the revised policy and training, the CMC regarded this evaluation as a starting point that would provide baseline data for further monitoring and review. Since the QPS would necessarily be the primary source of data in the first instance, we relied mostly on information from a range of QPS sources, including a formal submission, policies, procedures and training materials, consultations with officers, and QPS Taser usage data. We will consult more widely in future reviews of Taser use in the QPS. Possible limitations of the data used in this evaluation include the potential for inaccuracies and incompleteness in the Taser usage data. The recommendations resulting from the evaluation cover a range of areas including: improving aftercare for people subjected to Taser deployment; decreasing Taser use against Indigenous people and individuals from at-risk groups; and enhancing decision making by QPS review panels ensuring QPS policy, training and procedures fully reflect best practice. Details: Brisbane: Crime and Misconduct Commission, 2011. 186p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 29, 2011 at: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/data/portal/00000005/content/51149001303357290759.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/data/portal/00000005/content/51149001303357290759.pdf Shelf Number: 121576 Keywords: Nonlethal WeaponsPolice DiscretionPolice Use of ForceStun GunsTasers (Australia) |
Author: Queensland. Crime and Misconduct Commission Title: An Update on Taser Use in Queensland Summary: The current Taser policy was introduced by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) in September 2009. In April 2011, the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) published Evaluating Taser reforms: a review of Queensland Police Service policy and practice, which evaluated the effects of the current policy, comparing Taser use in the eight months prior to, and 10 months after, its introduction. Overall, the introduction of the current policy seemed to have improved how QPS officers were using Tasers. Nevertheless, the CMC was concerned about some aspects of Taser use and committed to further examining these areas, including: • multiple and prolonged Taser discharges • use of Tasers against people from potentially ‘medically vulnerable’ or ‘at-risk’ groups1 • use of Tasers against Indigenous people • injuries sustained to people who are the subject of a Taser use. Since that report, the CMC has continued to monitor Taser use by the QPS, focusing in particular on the key areas noted above. Using information primarily obtained from QPS Taser Usage Reports (TURs), this paper compares the most recent data available (the two-year period between 22 July 2010 and 30 June 2012) with data from the period following the introduction of the current policy (the 10-month period between 22 September 2009 and 21 July 2010, also reported in Evaluating Taser reforms). Summary of findings • The frequency of Taser use has increased compared to the period after the introduction of the current Taser policy. In fact, Tasers are being used more frequently now than they were before the current Taser policy was introduced. • The way Tasers are being used has largely remained the same. The majority of operational Taser uses continue to involve the presentation of the Taser without actual deployment. • Uses where the Taser was deployed in both probe and drive stun modes by a single police officer during the same incident have decreased slightly. • The proportion of people that were the target of multiple and/or prolonged deployments has decreased. • Although the proportion of multiple and/or prolonged Taser discharges has decreased, more than one-quarter of people who were the target of a Taser deployment were still subjected to multiple and/or prolonged discharges. • Indigenous Queenslanders are still overrepresented among people who were the subjects of Taser use, although they remain less likely than people described as Caucasian to have the Taser actually deployed against them. • A large proportion of people who were the target of a Taser use continue to be substance-affected, and most multiple and/or prolonged Taser deployments involved people believed to be under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. • The proportion of people who were suspected of having a mental health condition remains high and has increased slightly over time; however, the proportion of these people who were the target of an actual Taser deployment has remained stable. • There was a slight decrease in the proportion of people who were the target of a Taser deployment that sustained an injury or medical complication. • Although there was some reduction in the proportion of injuries and medical complications associated with Taser deployments, the majority of Taser-related injuries are still caused by people falling on hard surfaces while incapacitated by the Taser. Details: Brisbane: Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission, 2012. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Research & Issues Paper Series, No. 9: Accessed January 24, 2013 at: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/topics/police-and-the-cmc/police-powers-and-practice/taser-use/2011-evaluation-of-taser-reforms Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/topics/police-and-the-cmc/police-powers-and-practice/taser-use/2011-evaluation-of-taser-reforms Shelf Number: 127380 Keywords: Nonlethal WeaponsStun GundTasers (Australia) |