Police to get more Tasers

The announcement that NSW Police will be getting an additional 1962 Tasers for front-line officers will clearly be controversial.  The news that $10M for this will be announced in the State Budget on Tuesday (funny how so many leaks get out - surely the Government wouldn't be manipulating the media?) will be welcomed by police and condemned by civil libertarians.  I agree that there needs to be caution about such changes but I also think that we need to keep a balance in the debate.  

Tasers at face-value provide an option for police where given limited options in a life threatening situation, might be placed in the unenviable position of needing to use their firearm. A Taser can defuse a situation just by its being drawn, and if fired, is highly likely to produce a non-lethal end to the situation.

The risk is, and the one that civil libertarians fear, is that some police may be inclined to deploy a Taser in situations that could have been handled with less force.  While this is a risk and one that will no doubt occur, I believe that we should defer to the good sense of most officers faced with this decision. It is all very well for sideline commentators to argue what is best but those commentators are not the ones who are too frequently exposed to risk of grievous harm including death whilst carrying out their responsibility to protect the community at large.

Police armed with Tasers will need to exercise appropriate restraint and exercise maturity in making a decision to use a weapon which while described as being non-lethal, can still cause serious injury including death.  Eight hours training and an 80 percent pass on a written test doesn't sound to be adequate training for such a weapon and I would predict that there will be changes to that in future.  Lets hope that the police don't follow the NSW Government and lose the ability to negotiate first.  But on balance, Tasers are a valid option for the men and women of the NSW Police who are frequently required to place themselves in positions of danger that most of us would not choose to do.