Controversial ‘electric-shock’ Tasers can be used by police of any rank
David Darmanin Internal circulars issued by the Police Commissioner in September last year and January 2009 have authorised any Maltese police officer of any rank to use Taser guns in “exceptional circumstances” such as to avert violence, MaltaToday is informed.
Disliked by the United Nations, Amnesty International and many other civil liberties organisations around the world, Taser guns are weapons that use electric current, resulting in strong and involuntary muscle contractions.
Instead of a bullet, the weapons shoot pointed and barbed electrodes that remain connected by conductive wire to the main unit. Electric shocks are in turn released to affect the suspect’s central nervous system, preventing him or her from resisting arrest.
Although the weapon was originally designed as a non-lethal gun to minimise police shooting, use of baton or empty-handed violence – the use of Taser guns has often been the subject of controversy in many countries. With records documenting 245 deaths after their use, it remains unclear whether Tasers are as non-lethal as they are made out to be.
Several civil rights lobbies are now pushing authorities around the world to place a moratorium on the use of such weapons until research can determine a way for them to be safely used.
The Police Headquarters in Malta have been secretive on when officers are allowed to use the weapon, since “GHQ Circulars are considered to be internal documents and as such, are not made available to third parties.” But a spokesperson for the Police Commissioner said that “the circumstances under which Taser guns are to be used are amply covered in the above-mentioned two GHQ circulars. This includes the use of the Taser gun in situations when it becomes inevitable to preserve the life of the police officer him/herself or of others.”
The spokesperson added that “all members of the force can carry Taser guns since training and awareness lectures on the handling and use of the weapon has been delivered to all ranks.”
So far, only one report exists of a man who was stunned by a taser gun while trying to resist arrest. Joseph Zahra, 56, of Zurrieq was immobilized by a taser gun by two police constables from the mobile squad.
The United Nations Committee against Torture has stated that it “was worried that 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.”
Even Amnesty International reported cases where they believe that their use amounted to “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment which is absolutely prohibited under international law.”
M26 and X26 models, which are designed for army and police force, also have a mode called ‘Drive Stun’, commonly referred to as ‘dry-tasting’. This function is used instead of a stun gun – which causes pain in a localised part of the body where the gun is pressed against. Amnesty International says this function may lead to abuse: “The potential to use tasers in drive-stun mode — where they are used as ‘pain compliance’ tools when individuals are already effectively in custody — and the capacity to inflict multiple and prolonged shocks, renders the weapons inherently open to abuse.”
Both models come with laser vision, along an optional mounted miniature video camera enabling night vision, however, it is not known whether the ones used in Malta come with the latter feature.
Tasers are prohibited in some countries, including Estonia and Iceland. In Ireland and England, the use of Tasers is restricted to specially trained forces. The Greek Police are also allowed to use the weapon. In 2007, Tasers were also made available to the French local police but only a year after, the Council of State reversed the decision. In Poland, both the police and civilians can use a Taser gun and no permission is required to purchase or carry one.
There are conflicting statistics on whether Taser guns decrease incidents of officer involved shootings. Between 2002 and 2003 in Phoenix (U.S.), incidents involving the use of Taser guns more than doubled, while the number of officer-involved shootings decreased by seven times in the same period. In Houston (U.S.) however, after thousands of Taser guns were distributed to the police, shootings did not seem to decline. It has been reported that the Houston Police Department has “shot, wounded, and killed as many people as before the widespread use of the stun guns” and has used Tasers in situations that would not warrant lethal or violent force, such as “traffic stops, disturbance and nuisance complaints, and reports of suspicious people.”
TASER is an acronym for Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle – named after science fiction novel character Tom Swift, the childhood hero of Jack Cover, a NASA researcher who had started developing the weapon in 1969 and completed it in 1974.
In 1991 the LAPD was involved in an incident with African-American Rodney King, who had resisted arrest for overspeeding. Caught after hot-pursuit, the Taser gun was applied on King but he failed to be subdued due to what seemed to be a battery fault in the weapon. Several brutal beatings ensued, with 56 baton blows and six kicks. The officers were initially aquitted by a U.S. court, and this triggered the 1992 LA riots, where 2,383 were injured and 53 died.
In 1993 brothers Rick and Tim Smith began to investigate safer options for Taser, where they worked with the original inventor to develop the Air Taser which was introduced in 1994. This led to the development of Taser as it is known today, which is no longer certified as a firearm.
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