New Tasers with no cameras rolled out in Southern District

By RNZ

New, more powerful Tasers - which do not have a camera - are now in use in the Southern District and are being rolled out in Tasman.

Police are spending $30 million replacing their old Tasers - which do have an on-board cameras - with new Taser 10s, which do not have a camera.

Police chose not to roll them out with body-worn cameras for officers, which were common among police in other countries.

Police say their position on body-worn cameras remains unchanged. They have been considering whether to introduce them for years.

In a statement, police said they would not release details of the precise numbers of the new Tasers being released for “operational reasons”.

“A small number of the previous X2 Taser will remain in each district until transition is complete.”

The new Tasers do not have an on-board camera. Photo / File

The feedback from local iwi, health professionals and local councils, and the wider public was that this was an operational decision and “an interest in seeing whether the implementation would affect current rates of use of force compared to [the] previous Taser model”.

The programme to replace the Tasers was one of four aimed at improving frontline safety that were under way in 2022-23.

A second was introducing a ‘Tactical Armour System’ for the 17 armed offenders squads - $6.4 million was being spent on new body armour in 2022-23.