Taser is a success - even when it doesn't fire a shot

The sight of the Taser is proving a deterrent, police have found. Below: The Taser gun and its cartridge, cables and darts. Picture / Mark Mitchell

It's Wednesday night outside Fergs Kayaks on Wellington's waterfront, and a police officer is sliding a weapon that packs a 50,000-volt punch into his holster.

Inside the building. a 28-year-old has climbed his way into the rafters and is detaching items such as kayaks from the walls and ceiling, sending them crashing to the ground.

The man, showing no signs of aggression, starts chanting "Taser, Taser" and making light-hearted threats to jump. Five hours later, he climbs down and is arrested.

The Taser gun remained holstered.

It has been a fortnight since the start of the 12-month Taser trial, and the stun gun is becoming visible on the streets of Auckland and Wellington.

Police say the man in Fergs had a history of behavioural problems, and although he posed no real threat to anyone but himself, the Taser was authorised to be carried as a precaution.

They have not compiled figures on how many times officers have requested to carry a Taser in the past two weeks, but have given details of the times they have been drawn:

* September 3, in Orewa when a 29-year-old man threatened to kill himself and his mother with a knife.

* September 4, in Auckland, when a man armed with a screwdriver was fleeing a burglary.

* September 6, in Courtenay Place, central Wellington, when a man brandished a knife at bystanders at 2.20am.

* September 8, in Western Springs, Auckland, when an 18-year-old brandished a weed-eater outside a block of flats. He was surrounded by adults and children, and refused to drop the machine.

On the first three occasions, the offenders surrendered when threatened with the Taser.

The distinction of being the first Taser victim belongs to the teen with the weed-eater.

His aunt said he deserved it; police told him several times to drop the weed-eater.

When he was hit, a five-second electrical surge through his body froze his muscles and he collapsed. He had no lasting injuries.

Investigations are incomplete, but police say it appears the the Taser use followed police guidelines.

"The first three occasions were particularly positive because they show what a strong deterrent the Taser is," said Taser project manager Superintendent John Rivers.

The past two weeks had highlighted the situations police had to deal with and where Tasers might be used, he said.

"The New Zealand environment justified the trial, and one of the purposes is to find not only the relevance of the Taser but the level of need.

"But so far it's much less than pepper-spray, which is used 2000 times a year, and so it should be. It's not meant to be used like pepper-spray."

Police say the Taser fills a gap in ways of approaching violent offenders. It is a "less-lethal" option, which is a deterrent but has safety benefits for police, offenders and the public.

Opponents - including the Green Party, the Maori Party, human rights groups, unions, and community groups - say it is a dangerous and largely untested weapon that has been linked to deaths.

They have criticised the lack of a formal submissions process on the issue.

But the greatest concern has been over whether police can be trusted.

Marie Dyhrberg, spokeswoman for the Campaign Against the Taser group, has said using a Taser would sometimes be appropriate, but the risk from trigger-happy cops was too great.

Police admit that officers are not immune to making poor decisions, and there is a potential danger that Taser victims could suffer a fatal fall.

"I'm sure that in some cases people will receive secondary injuries," Mr Rivers said.

In any police use of force, he says, "there may be consequences that are unintended but are unavoidable. Our frontline people have to assess a whole range of situational factors.

"In hindsight, there are aspects of decision-making that may be found to be deficient. That's the nature of the duty they're performing."

But he said the safety benefits outweighed those risks.

Each incident would be reviewed to see if alternatives should have been used.

"Using a baton or spray in those four occasions would have inevitably ended in police having to physically restrain them, introducing a strong possibility of injury to the offender and police, Mr Rivers said.

"Pepper-spray contributes very little to subduing them."

When asked about the Tasered teenager, whose uncle suggested police dogs would have been a better option, Mr Rivers said: "That would have inevitably resulted in greater injury.

"Any use of force has got to be necessary, reasonable and proportionate. That's what citizens would demand of us."

Ms Dyhrberg said whether police stick to the rules remained to be seen.

"It's only been two weeks - it's early days."

Putting a price on the zap

Thirty-two Tasers are available for 170 frontline police in Auckland and Wellington. They are kept in police vehicles, and a supervisor must give permission for officers to carry them.

Every time a Taser is fired, it costs police about $525, including:

* $44.50 for a replacement cartridge and battery.

* $5 for a kit containing gloves and plasters, used to remove the Taser probes and cover the holes they make in the skin.

* $250 for a medical examination of the victim.

* $225 to cover about an hour of work for a police constable, scene examiner and district liaison officer.

These costs do not include monitoring and review of the incident, and are on top of the $203,620 set-up costs, which include the Tasers, cartridges, dataports and training.

Black Box

Each Taser has a "black box" that records each use of the weapon. That information is later downloaded into the tactical options report database.

The database is new, and police plan to widen its use in November to include all uses of force, from pepper-spray to batons to Taser guns.

"It will provide us with a comprehensive picture of how often and why we use what kinds of force, when, and the consequences," said Superintendent John Rivers.

"So, in 12 months, if you ask how many times on a Friday in downtown Wellington between 3am and 4am does something happen, we'll be able to answer that."

It would also make analysing the Taser trial a much easier process, he said.