Taser Trials

This is a recent article from the NZ Herald...

Constable zaps himself and innocent teen with Taser

Saturday November 18, 2006
By Patrick Gower

A constable who took a Taser to a central Auckland domestic dispute wound up shocking himself and a 16-year-old and later pepper-spraying an innocent 21-year-old woman.

The constable accidentally blasted himself with the Taser's 50,000 volts as he reloaded the weapon while trying to stun a man at the centre of the domestic incident on October 1. One shot accidentally struck the man's teenage son.

After five attempts to hit the man, the officer eventually used pepper spray. This hit the man's 21-year-old daughter, also an unintended target.

The man eventually gave himself up. The constable, who had had Taser training, was not injured.

The weapon is the police's much-vaunted alternative to firearms and is being tested by 170 frontline police in Auckland and Wellington.

Police revealed details of the incident after Weekend Herald inquiries.

Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand of Auckland City police confirmed that the constable fired the Taser five times - three times loaded with cartridges and twice in "contact" mode, where it is used like a cattle prod. The first shot hit the son.

Mr Hollewand said the officer claimed that just as the red laser sight was on the man's chest, he pulled his son across him.

It is believed that at one point the officer received a jolt after putting his hand in the Taser.

"The constable did remove one of the cartridges before a five-second discharge cycle was complete and he did feel in his hand that the device was arcing 50,000 volts."

But an official police update of the Taser trial, published on October 17, makes no mention of the constable firing five times, or missing his target, zapping himself or hitting the boy. It simply says a man was contained after the Taser was fired.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad also did not mention the incident when he appeared before a parliamentary committee, saying frontline officers supported the introduction of the weapon, and yesterday National Party police spokesman Simon Power wanted to know why.

Police media officer Jon Neilson said the fact a Taser had been fired more than once in a single incident was not "relevant".


... Normally I would find this very funny. A cop who has fire shots and nails everyone BUT the person he was aiming at. Questions like... what does DIT stand for (Drunk Incharge of a Taser) come to mind.

However instead it makes me some what concerned. What is concerning is that people are going to rely on the ongoing reporting of the Taser trial to decide whether these guns are going to be introduced. And what we find out is that the reporting is just lies (called spin in the business).

Let's be honest. This does not sound like a wholly successful operation of the gun. The cop shot himself and an innocent person, pepper sprayed another innocent... and this was marked down as a successful use of the weapon. Hmmm. I feel the concept of accurate reporting has been missed.

In case you think I am an anti-Taser nutter... I actually support their introduction. I would much rather pepper spray and Tasers than pistols. I would like to see Tasers replace pistols and fire arms being restricted to special units. I would also like to see a 20% penalty on sentence for Police Officers who abuse their position. If a cop assaults a person, say with a Taser, and the normal sentence would be 2 years... they should have an additional 146 days added to their sentence.

We give the Police the ability to use force... we should expect this power to be used carefully and any misuse of it to be penalised heavily.