Police deny using Tasers outside trial conditions

Police have rubbished claims they have repeatedly breached the conditions governing how they draw and carry Taser stun guns.

Taser opponents have listed five instances where they believe police officers have used the weapon outside the conditions for its use.

However, police spokesman Jon Neilson said every time officers drew their new weapons they had good reason.

"It has all been according to the book. In every case, the person was armed and there has been the threat of violence or aggression," he said.

The deterrent factor of a 50,000-volt jolt was enough to make most people do as they were told, he said.

"You will see that in 16 instances Tasers have been drawn, they have only been fired twice," Mr Neilson said.

Lawyer and Campaign Against The Taser spokeswoman Marie Dyhrberg told the Herald police regularly breached the conditions of the Taser trial.

"Tasers are only meant to be used in 'assaultive' situations, yet a man fleeing the scene of a burglary in Waitakere was stopped by police and had a Taser aimed at him," she said.

The man was carrying a screwdriver, "the sort of tool any burglar might have".

Former Gisborne police sergeant Nigel Hendrikse was in hospital for two months and left partially paralysed in 1993, after a screwdriver-wielding gang member stabbed him.

Two of 16 reported Taser incidents took place in service stations, Ms Dyhrberg said. The weapon was not meant to be used in those situations, in case the electricity caused a fire.

Two other occasions involved reports of firearms, she said. "The operating procedures state the Taser should not be normally considered in such situations, with police firearms remaining the most appropriate response."

Her group had sent a letter to Police Minister Annette King.

One hundred and seventy police officers are taking part in a year-long trial of Tasers as a non-lethal means of subduing violent offenders.

- NZPA