NSW officer suspended over tasering

SYDNEY: The police officer who tasered a 95yearold greatgrandmother in a New South Wales nursing home has been suspended from duty as the disturbing incident prompts calls for a parliamentary inquiry.

Clare Nowland was using a walking frame when police hit her with a Taser at Yallambee Lodge agedcare facility in Cooma on Wednesday, after allegedly failing to drop a steak knife.

The dementia patient and mother of eight is now receiving endoflife care in Cooma District Hospital, having been critically injured after falling and hitting her head when she was tasered.

After releasing scant details on the circumstances surrounding the incident, NSW Police issued a statement yesterday confirming the senior constable involved had been suspended.

‘‘Today a 33yearold senior constable attached to Monaro Police District was suspended from duty with pay,’’ the statement said.

The officer who fired the Taser joined the force 12 years ago and was removed from active duty on Friday.

Police commissioner Karen Webb said yesterday she had not viewed footage of the incident, nor had she spoken to the suspended officer.

‘‘I will probably speak to him at some point,’’ she said.

‘‘My concern at the moment is with the Nowland family.

‘‘This is a terrible time for them.’’

She had ordered a review of police training, particularly focused on how to deal with people with dementia.

‘‘The role of a police officer seems to be growing wider and wider and we are expected to know everything about everything — and we are not experts on everything,’’ she said.

The NSW Greens are calling on the government to establish a parliamentary inquiry into NSW Police.

Greens MP Sue Higginson yesterday said she would demand a fully independent investigation and bring the issue to the floor of the NSW parliament.

The motion would also call for the bodycamera footage of Nowland’s tasering to be publicly released.

The incident revealed ‘‘how desperately we need police reform’’ and the government needed to ensure there was not a ‘‘culture of impunity’’ in the police force, Higginson said.

‘‘People are coming forward with alarming examples of ways the NSW Police have acted out of turn and rarely faced consequences — I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the extent of the issue,’’ she said in a statement yesterday.

An investigation of the incident is being led by the homicide squad and the Professional Standards Committee of NSW Police, and overseen by the independent police watchdog.

Nearly half of all NSW Police critical incidents involve a person experiencing a mental health crisis but officers receive ‘‘extremely limited’’ training on how to respond, the state’s police watchdog said this week, after a widescale review of 157 death or serious injury incidents involving officers in the past five years.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report found 43% of police critical incidents have involved an interaction with a person in mental health crisis.

While the force had introduced a fourday mental health intervention programme for officers, only 300 of the 16,000 sworn officers were trained each year. — AAP