'Talk, don't Taser' worries revealed

Police have said expanding Taser use is not a step towards arming officers with guns, but the Police Association has said it believes that will eventually happen. Photo / NZME.

Giving Tasers to all officers risks the weapons being used when talking could suffice, according to concerns outlined in police documents.

Police bosses ultimately decided that such risks could be minimised and the benefits of giving all officers the weapons outweighed them.

That was their call to make as an operational matter - and Police Minister Michael Woodhouse would likewise not be involved if any future call was made to arm officers with guns.

There is no suggestion that is on the cards, but documents released to the Herald show that a community reference group consulted by police had concerns that expanding Tasers bridged the gap to an eventual arming of police.

Police Commissioner Mike Bush announced at the end of July that all frontline police officers would soon be armed with Tasers while on duty.

Tasers have been used in New Zealand since 2010. One justification for expanding their use was that assaults causing officer injury had dropped by 35 per cent since then.

A "future Taser carriage" briefing to the police executive outlined the reaction of an external reference group made up of community leaders in Auckland to the proposal.

"The reference group commented that the introduction of the Taser was to create a 'less than lethal' option to apprehend suspects, and not introduced to increase officer safety, for which other options could be explored," said the July 20 briefing, released under the Official Information Act.

"The group suggested that quoted statistics on officer injuries could also be a result of a decreased overall crime rate, and more work needs to be done about the disproportionate use of Taser against mental health service users."

The reference group also said routine carriage "bridges the gap to an eventual arming of police".

Police largely dismissed those concerns, writing that they were "not supported by the evidence which is outlined throughout this paper".

That included evidence that for each time a Taser was fired, eight situations were successfully defused, preventing violence and injury to all parties. Offenders are injured less than 1 per cent of the time when hit with a Taser, the paper stated.

Those benefits were judged to outweigh identified risks that included Tasers being "over-relied upon by staff when other tactical options would've been more appropriate, eg, communication".

Marie Dyhrberg, QC, chairwoman of the reference group, said she could see the benefits of Tasers, but it was important that rules around use were not relaxed.

Police have said expanding Taser use is not a step towards arming officers with guns, but the Police Association has said it believes that will eventually happen.

Ms Dyhrberg said she believed many police would be opposed to such a measure, which would be a "huge shift" in policy that should require full public debate and perhaps a referendum.

Mr Woodhouse as Police Minister was told of the Taser expansion once it had been decided by police, and his spokeswoman confirmed any decision to arm police with guns would be the Police Commissioner's call.

Chris Scahill, national manager response and operations for police, said the community reference group was established in 2009 to help ensure public accountability and transparency around the use of force, including Tasers.