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Seven of the eight people stunned by taser guns suffered no lasting harm, MPs were told today.
Police today briefed Parliament's law and order select committee on its controversial 12-month trial of taser stun guns, begun on September 1 last year.
Police medical adviser Dr Peter Robinson told the committee he had seen reports from seven of the eight people tasered and aside from puncture wounds and burn marks caused by the impact none of them had suffered any ill effects.
He wasn't aware of what happened to the eighth taser shooting victim.
Since the trial began police have drawn a taser 64 times with eight offenders being shot, the commmittee was told.
Most of the incidents involved men, aged between 25 and 29. Only one involved a woman.
The taser shoots 50,000 volts of electricity via two probes with a range of 6.40m.
Police deputy commissioner Rob Pope said the taser gun was providing an effective non-lethal option for police, which was safer for the officer, the public and the offender.
Officers followed steps when they used a taser by first warning offenders, laser painting them and then firing.
The amount of times offenders had been laser painted and not tasered, illustrated its effectiveness as a warning, Mr Pope said.
Green Party MP Keith Locke said police were downplaying negative effects.
He said overseas studies had shown people had been killed by a taser, among them people who suffered from mental illness.
He questioned whether police should be using tasers when the people who were most likely to suffer bad health effects were the people the tasers were most likely to be used against, as police statistics showed many offenders tasers had been used against were behaving erratically.
Dr Robinson said it was theoretically possible tasers could harm people, but to date there had been only one death confirmed to be caused by a taser, which was when the victim fell and died of a head injury.
He said there was also no evidence a pre-existing heart condition would put a person at risk when they were tasered.
It was police procedure for all people tasered to be given a medical check up afterwards.
Mr Locke also questioned whether tasers were used to make offenders comply with police, citing one case where the offender had been tasered after he had been pepper sprayed.
Mr Pope said tasers were being monitored to make sure they were used in an appropriate and responsible manner.
Tasers were kept in a locked box in a locked cupboard, and were only taken out when situations were likely to involve violent offenders.
To alleviate public fears the taser might be misused, police were being "very, very transparent" and would attempt to respond to all public requests for information or criticism, Mr Pope said.
Mr Locke asked if because two thirds of people the taser had been used against were Maori or Pacific Islanders they were being targeted.
Mr Pope said police responded to "incidents not to ethnicity" with, any taser use based on the violence and aggressiveness of the offender.
Inspector Terry O'Neill said the only holes the trial had shown so far, which would need to be rectified if tasers were approved nationwide, were the police policy on accidental discharges and current restriction about carrying a taser in vehicle.
Sergeant Paddy Hannon said tasers had been misfired four times by officers, but no one had been injured.
The taser trial is being run in Waitemata, Auckland, Counties Manukau and Wellington.
- NZPA
