Tasers increasingly used in charged situations

SOUTHERN police are increasingly using the threat of Tasers to defuse charged situations.

Meanwhile, police data shows nearly 90% of sworn officers in Otago and Southland have been trained to use the electroshock weapons, now routinely carried by frontline officers.

When the weapons were introduced in 2010, officers in the Southern District drew Tasers 21 times, but used them just twice, according to figures released by police under the Official Information Act.

By last year, the number of Taser ‘‘shows’’ jumped to 65 across the South, but the weapons were fired only five times.

A ‘‘show’’ starts with the officer drawing the weapon from their holster and aiming it, before the device is turned on and its laser sighting system trained on the offender.

Electrical arcing of the device is a lastresort visual deterrent before the Taser is fired.

Each escalating stage is accompanied by a verbal warning.

Tasers fire two highvoltage electrode darts connected by conductors to the weapon, leaving the subject convulsing and incapacitated.

Police national response and operations manager Superintendent Chris Scahill, of Wellington, said the mere sight of a Taser frequently stopped offenders in their tracks.

‘‘Often simply presenting the Taser is enough to subdue an offender or person in distress enough for police to restrain them’’.

In the past eight years, Tasers have been fired most frequently in the Otago Coastal policing area (27 uses between 2010 and June this year) followed by Southland (20) and Otago Lakes Central (4).

Tasers were presented most frequently in Southland (180), followed by Otago Coastal (147) and Otago Lakes Central (40).

Since 2014, the Police Profes sional Conduct Group has investigated five allegations of improper Taser use, including two in Otago Coastal and three in Southland

One allegation was upheld, in Southland in August last year.

Earlier this year, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) confirmed an Otago officer would not be prosecuted for Tasering a feral goat 13 times near Oamaru in 2016 before it was euthanised.

❛ Often simply presenting the Taser is enough to subdue an offender or person in distress enough for police to restrain them