Police to roll out new long-range Tasers but without body cameras to record their use

Police plan to introduce the new Taser 10s from December. Photo / RNZ

By Phil Pennington of RNZ

Police are buying $30 million of new, longer-range Tasers – without the body-worn cameras that keep a check on their use.

They have won approval from the Government, without being sure where the law sits on using the cameras that attach to an officer’s chest and are operated wirelessly.

When the new Taser 10s are rolled out from December, it will be the first time Tasers will have been used in New Zealand without an assured way of recording all footage of any conflicts.

Officers told Police Minister Ginny Andersen two external legal experts were “comfortable” with the move, as long as bodycams were looked at in time.

But “there will be differing views on whether police should be operating Tasers without the camera technology”, they said.

“There also needs to be consideration of whether the current legislative framework would adequately support the use of BWC technology by police.”

Police have been debating the use of body-worn cameras (BWC) since at least 2019.

They warned the minister in late July that they had just days to order the new Taser 10s from US maker Axon before a replacement deadline of August 4.

The Taser 10 was more effective at incapacitating people, they told her.

It can fire a distance of 13 metres, compared with the current Taser X2′s 7.5m, and has 10 prongs.

The ministerial briefing shows police bought the entire global supply of the old, out-of-production Taser X2 and their inbuilt cameras in 2022 as a stopgap, but these were now running out. The Tasers rely on cartridges.

“The police executive’s decision to progress with procuring the Taser 10 product without BWCs is likely to generate interest across some communities and in media,” the briefing said.

Police had discussed the rollout without cameras with the minister previously “to ensure that frontline staff continued to have the appropriate tools for the job”.

Bringing in cameras needed “careful consideration”.

An inconclusive report on that was done by police in 2020.