Police demonstrate Taser ahead of controversial trial

Police today demonstrated the Taser stun gun ahead of a controversial trial of its use as crime fighting tool, due to begin on Friday.

A large media pack turned up at the New Zealand Police College in Porirua to watch someone get "Tasered", and that's what they got. They also got to see someone get pepper sprayed.

Before the demonstration, police spokesman Jon Neilson said some media representatives had volunteered to be Tasered - and some media bosses had volunteered their staff - but the offers had been turned down.

"We didn't think it was appropriate, this is not a game," he said.

The planned use of the Taser, or "electro muscular incapacitation device", is seen by police as an important non-lethal addition to crime fighting, but has got plenty of opponents.

Maori Party police spokeswoman Hone Harawira slammed the decision today.

He said Tasers would put lives at stake and called for the trial to be stopped.

"There are too many unanswered questions," he said.

Keith Locke from the Green Party has taken a similar stance and the lobby group Campaign Against the Taser has also been vocal in their opposition.

But use of the hand-held, prong-firing device was defended by police today and those demonstrating it showed how effective it was at simply scaring people into submission on presentation, or immobilising them if the frightening zapping noise preceding a strike wasn't enough to make them surrender in the first place.

"The subject gets plenty of warning that they are about to get Tasered", Sergeant Paddy Hannon said. "When they're hit most people will fall to the ground and will yell and scream."

The first volunteer (all volunteers were policemen) in today's Taser demonstration already had alligator clips wired to his torso before being zapped, and when the trigger was pulled he fell to the ground as stiff as a board and yelled.

The second volunteer demonstrated how the Taser would be used in a real scenario and had two sharp prongs on wires fired into his thick woollen jacket.

He fell to the ground as stiff as a board and yelled even louder than the first man.

Both officers said the yelling was involuntary and were up walking around and talking only 20 seconds after being zapped.

A third volunteer was pepper sprayed before his colleagues were Tasered and spent the next five minutes in agony sitting on a box with mucus pouring out his nose and mouth.

"It burns your face as well," he said when he had finally recovered.

Both the Tasered officers said they were completely incapacitated during the five-second electric pulse but quickly recovered and said - though they wouldn't want to try it again - it was a less traumatising experience than being pepper sprayed.

Superintendent John Rivers said the use of Tasers would be an absolute last resort for police and that the extra safety to the public far outweighed any perceived medical risks.

People had been killed after being shocked by Tasers in the United States but most deaths were results of contributing factors such as extreme alcohol and drug use.

The threshold for the use of Tasers in the United States was far lower than what would apply to New Zealand police.

Mr Rivers said Britain was one of the countries New Zealand was modelling its use of Tasers on.

He said research involving 400 Taser incidents showed that 60 per cent of the incidents were resolved after the Taser was drawn, but before it was actually used.

About 180 police officers trained in Taser use will be involved in the New Zealand trial, which will be run for a 12-month period in greater Auckland and Wellington.

Every person who gets Tasered will get basic medical treatment at the scene, which includes having the prongs removed, and will be given a mandatory follow-up medical check.

- NZPA