New South Wales Police have rejected calls for the use of Tasers to be suspended after the death of a man in Sydney's CBD over the weekend.

Police are still trying to identify the man who died after officers used capsicum spray and a Taser on him in Sydney's CBD early on Sunday morning, but believe he may have been South American.

The man was initially thought to have been involved in a robbery of a convenience store in The Rocks, but police have since admitted they are not sure they had the right person.

They say the man was tasered after he resisted arrest.

Civil rights groups say the incident shows that Tasers are not a safe substitute for lethal force.

And while police say they will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, Greens state MP David Shoebridge says Taser use should be suspended to allow for an urgent independent inquiry.

"We're seeing an increased use of Tasers here in New South Wales," he said.

"And it was really - with the number of Taser uses here that we've seen in the last few years - almost inevitable that we will see more deaths caused by police Taser use."

Police say they prefer to have a Taser as an option because it is safer than a firearm.

But Mr Shoebridge says statistics do not show that Tasers are displacing firearms as a weapon of choice.

"In fact, firearm use and firearm draws by the New South Wales Police have remained effectively constant since Tasers were rolled out," he said.

"It's just that police are now also using Tasers, and they drew firearms and Tasers some 1,200 times in 2010, which is the last year we had full figures for.

"It's just another whole range of use of force by New South Wales Police."

Assistant Commissioner Alan Clarke has defended the use of Tasers, saying the success of the stun guns has been proven.

"Tasers are introduced in situations where police are under direct threat," he said.

And he rejected the calls for a moratorium on the use of stun guns.

"If we did that we would just introduce a whole range of risks that existed before Tasers were introduced and those risks would relate to police and public safety," he said.

Mr Shoebridge says he is not satisfied that the internal police inquiry will get to the bottom of the matter.

"There's a real concern when you have police investigating police on critical incidents involving the death of a citizen," he said.

"There are already a large number of question marks over this incident, and again it's proof of the fact that we need to have independent investigators on the ground within that golden hour after a death and after a serious incident.

"There are many people here in New South Wales who don't have confidence in the history and the record of police investigating police."

Mr Shoebridge says an urgent review into Taser use is needed.

"We need the review to look at how to minimise the number of Taser uses here in NSW," he said.

"Every time a Taser is fired, that's 50,000 volts being sent to a citizen courtesy of the NSW Police and there is a reasonable likelihood that if you do that repeatedly there will be more deaths."

Statistics from the United States show that in the last decade there have been 500 law enforcement-related Taser deaths in the United States.

There will be an autopsy on the man's body today.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-19/taser-debate-resurfaces-after-death-of-man...

A taser used on me indiscriminately would kill me instantly.  Police feel much less constrained about using this as a weapon, but for some it is just as lethal as a pistol and the Police are more entitled to use it freely.

Tasers are essentially instruments of torture, and should NEVER have been allowed.

adelcrow wrote on Mar 19^th, 2012 at 7:48am:


They'd be better suited as Greens MPs......?

Swagman wrote on Mar 19^th, 2012 at 7:51am:


or forum trolls 

Swagman wrote on Mar 19^th, 2012 at 7:57am:

Do you agree that if a trigger happy Police Officer kills an innocent person by negligently and deliberately discharging a lethal weapon that he should be hung?  Do you believe Police have the right to use tasers on innocent citizens for defiance and non cooperation?  The guidelines on the use of these lethal weapons are not even defined its a farce.

Swagman wrote on Mar 19^th, 2012 at 8:15am:

I believe a Police officer has not got the right to carry a weapon in self defense any more than the rest of us do.  If Police have the right to carry weapons for self defense everybody should.  If someone drew a gun or taser and shot at me just because I walked off and would not show him my ID, I would at least want to be able to return fire to defend myself if I could from such an unlawful attempt to kill me.  Or we could just admit the argument of self defense for carrying lethal weapons is not a legitimate one.

We where told tasers would only be used for life and death situations where the only alternative was the use of deadly force......We where told tasers would not be used to gain compliance from difficult individuals.....We where lied to as usual!!!



Spratt tasered up to 41 times

Kevin Spratt was tasered up to 41 times in a week and went to hospital with fractures, a collapsed lung and a dislocated shoulder after being taken out of his cell by a special ‘cell extraction’ team, a Corruption and Crime Commission inquiry has been told.

Mr Spratt’s fiancée broke down in tears today as the CCC was shown confronting footage of him being repeatedly tasered by prison officers in riot gear.

The tasering of Mr Spratt by WA Police and specialist DCS emergency support group officers during his arrest, detention and investigation is the subject of the public hearings.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/8483554/spratt-tasered-up-to-41-ti...