Victoria to issue all frontline police with Tasers

All frontline police officers in Victoria will be armed with Tasers following a major funding announcement from the state government.

Police Minister Lisa Neville said $214 million would be spent on the non-lethal equipment rollout beginning next year to provide 6000 police and Protective Service Officers (PSOs) in metropolitan Melbourne with the devices over the next four years.

The X2 Taser model.

But civil liberties groups say they have serious concerns over the widespread rollout, raising concerns over the use of stun guns on vulnerable people, particularly those in mental distress.

“We are concerned, people can still die as a result of Taser deployment,” Liberty Victoria president Michael Stanton said.

The government has vowed to ensure all officers who carry the 50,000-volt shock devices will receive extensive training with the Tasers to be connected to body-worn cameras to provide an extra level of oversight.

Ms Neville said the announcement would provide a significant uplift in the capability and tactical options of police when faced with dangerous, unpredictable and violent situations.

“It will save lives, keep the community safer,” she said.

The announcement follows the rollout of 3000 Tasers to officers at 24-hour police stations in regional Victoria in 2018.

Currently, conducted energy devices – also known by the brand name Taser – are only carried by members of two elite units, the critical incident response team and the specialist operation group, in metropolitan Melbourne. This means that when a violent or volatile situation arises, these units can be deployed and Tasers used.

But due to the distance of these units from regional Victoria, Tasers were rolled out to officers at 37 stations across regional Victoria in 2018, following trials in Geelong, Bendigo, Morwell, Traralgon, Moe and Ballarat.

On Thursday, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton welcomed the funding boost and said Tasers often proved to be an effective de-escalation tool, bridging the gap between other non-lethal options currently available such as batons and capsicum spray, and firearms.

The chief commissioner said data showed the Tasers already in police hands had been pulled from their holsters at jobs about 1300 times in the past four years. But only 29 per cent of the time had then been fired.

He said arcing a device was often warning enough to resolve a situation.

“Such is the threat of the presence of these, they act as a negotiating tool that de-escalates things,” Mr Patton said.

“Policing is exceptionally dangerous, it’s volatile, it’s unpredictable and no police officer ever wants to discharge their firearm. This is not about more force by police, this is about less force by police.”

Tasers emit red laser dots to show where they are firing.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt assured Victorians that Tasers would not be used as a crowd control measure or on protesters at demonstrations. He said common sense should always be used around which tactical option was most appropriate to the situation confronting police.

“All the Police Association wants for its members and the community is police armed with every single conceivable option that can reduce the need for lethal force and increase the safety of our officers on the street,” Mr Gatt said.

The use of force-issued stun guns haven’t come without controversy in the past.

In 2010, freedom of information records showed Victorian police officers trained to respond to serious incidents used Taser guns in apparent breach of force policy, including on people doused with or near flammable material, according to confidential police records.

The death of Brazilian man Roberto Laudisio Curti made headlines in 2012 after he was shocked 14 times by NSW police officers in central Sydney.

In the same year, NSW Ombudsman inquiry found close to a third of people they Tasered were suffering from mental illness and more than half were affected by alcohol or drugs at the time.

Mr Stanton said Liberty Victoria held serious concerns about the mass rollout, particularly to PSOs who generally patrol train stations and have far less training than general duties police.

“Incidents where weapons are used at a stage earlier than necessary is likely to include cases where people are having mental health issues,” he said.

He said police and PSOs needed more training to deal with mentally unwell people in crisis, so that Tasers aren’t used unnecessarily.

“Since the 1990s there has been a worrying culture in Victoria Police of an over-reliance on weapons as opposed to other tactics such as de-escalation, so we’re concerned about rolling Tasers out so broadly,” he said.

The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association also raised concerns about the rollout. Acting executive officer Scott Drummond said he was concerned Tasers could be used unnecessarily and excessively against people who take drugs and alcohol who already have a complex relationship with law enforcement.

“This policy feels inconsistent with other recent reforms, such as the public intoxication reforms which emphasises a health-based response, not one that may increase harm,” Mr Drummond said.

Police said procurement for the rollout would begin early next year with training scheduled to begin mid-year.

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