Shock to the system

OVERSEAS experience shows that stun-guns can kill, yet they are being introduced in Australia.

THE scrawny young man was sprawled face-down on the cement when the cop shot him three times in the back with a 50,000-volt Taser. Five months later, his torso still shows the scars from the electric shock by the newest hi-tech weapon in Australia's police arsenal.

"It was like having an electric fence wrapped around you 30 times," says X, from Brisbane, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. "It was quite an excruciating pain. I had scabs and welts there for a good 2 1/2 weeks afterwards.

"I couldn't move my arms, it was like the fluid had been zapped out of them. Even my toes were sore to move. For days after I couldn't talk, my voicebox had fried."

The UN has referred to Tasers -- commonly known as stun-guns -- as an instrument of torture.

Amnesty International notes that 300 people are reported to have died after being shot with Tasers in the US, with 20 more deaths in Canada.

Yet the weapons are being introduced to Australia's police forces by stealth, without parliamentary scrutiny or even public debate over their safety or suitability. Police in every state and territory are using the devices, although Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT restrict them to specialist squads.

"Police are using increasingly paramilitary paraphernalia," says Australian Council of Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman. "Capsicum spray is used on a daily routine basis and it won't be long until the same happens with Tasers. It's going to be misused, with no consequence (for police)."

Taser is a brand name for a conducted energy device that uses a high-voltage, low-power charge of electricity to immobilise people. In probe mode it can shoot two metal darts on wires farther than 10m. The darts, which can penetrate clothing 2.5cm thick, deliver a painful 50,000-volt shock that causes uncontrollable muscle contractions. In drive stun mode, it can be used much like a cattle prod to inflict acute pain. Taser International's motto is "Protect life". The American company argues that Tasers save lives because police use them instead of guns.

"It saves a lot of drama, it saves a lot of lives, it saves having to pull out guns," says a spokesman for Western Australia Police, which has issued 1500 of the weapons to itsofficers. "They're not to be used as compliance tools. You use them to prevent injury; it might be someone threatening suicide or hurting someone else or even attacking police. You don't use them to stop people playing up."

The Police Federation of Australia points out that Tasers deliver only 0.0021 amps to the body, significantly less than a 1-amp bulb on a Christmas tree. A defibrillator in an ambulance delivers an electrical charge several hundred times stronger.

"Police may use a Taser when a person is an imminent threat to a police officer or member of the public, but when use of a firearm is not warranted," the union says in a submission to the NSW Ombudsman. "It is generally classed on the same level as capsicum spray. It is effective on people affected by alcohol, drugs, rage or in an unstable mental state."

A big order from the NSW Police Force contributed to $US21 million ($23.7 million) in Taser sales in the three months to June. NSW has spent $1.02 million on 229 Tasers for use by 2000 sergeants and duty officers, in addition to the 50 electro-shock weapons used by riot and specialist squads for the past six years.

The NSW Ombudsman is so concerned by overseas reports of Taser-linked deaths that his office has tracked down the medical records of NSW Taser victims. The findings will be kept under wraps until the 100-page report is tabled in the NSW parliament, possibly by October.

In Queensland, following a secretive 12-month trial that ended in June, the Government is spending $14 million to buy 2070 more Tasers to be used by 5800 police by the end of next year.

The police watchdog, the Crime and Misconduct Commission, has asked police to rewrite their guidelines for Taser use. "We asked the (police) to modify the policy on the drive stun mode to make it very clear how police officers can use it," a CMC spokeswoman says. "We didn't feel the policy was clear enough."

But not even the CMC knows if, or how, it has changed: "We actually haven't seen a final draft of their report."

The Queensland Police Service has refused to release its guidelines, telling The Australian to lodge a freedom of information request. But The Australian has obtained a copy, in the form of a Police Commissioner circular, that sheds a little light on the way police are wielding their new weapons.

A Taser can be used in stun mode or probe mode to "assist officers resolving incidents involving violent or physically aggressive persons", the circular says. It does not spell out how many times a person can be shot with a Taser or for how long.

People can be shot with a Taser if they "actively resist an officer in a manner that may result in injuries to the officer or others, including themselves". Police should verbally warn the subject they are about to be shot with a Taser, "where practicable".

The circular says a Taser should not be used as a crowd-control measure, against people refusing to comply with police orders, as a prod to make someone move, punitively to coerce information, or to rouse unconscious, drugged or drunk people.

Nor should it be used on juveniles, the elderly or women suspected of being pregnant, "except in extreme circumstances where there is no other reasonable option to avoid the imminent risk of injury".

In response to questions from The Australian, the Queensland Police Service confirms that Tasers have been used in such cases.

"The wording reflects the fact that while use in these instances is not ideal, there may still be circumstances where a Taser is still the most appropriate use of force option," a spokeswoman says. "If it is identified that the weapon is being used inappropriately, there are a range of guidance, training and disciplinary options that may be used."

The circular warns that a build-up of static electricity in an officer's body, in "extreme cases", may cause the air cartridge that fires the darts to malfunction when handled.

In the Northern Territory, the weapons were introduced to general police in February although specialist squads have used them since 2003.

In the ACT, only the specialist response and security team carries Tasers.

Police have fired the weapons nine times since their introduction two years ago, "in heightened incidents which are potentially volatile and dangerous", superintendent Brett McCann says.

Tactical teams in the Australian Federal Police carry 62 Tasers, although they are not used by protective service officers at Parliament House, embassies and airports.

Citing safety concerns, Victoria has refused to hand out Tasers to its general police, to the disappointment of the Police Association Victoria. "There continues to be considerable debate about their use and our decision now does not stop us from considering them in the future," Victorian police commissioner Christine Nixon says. "We will continue to look at what the market produces and watch closely the experience of other states that have introduced them."

The US Government's National Institute of Justice reported in June that a "significant number" of people had died after being shot with Tasers, yet concluded there was no conclusive medical evidence that the weapons carried a high risk of serious injury or death.

It cautioned against using multiple firings of a Taser to subdue people, and said police should avoid using the weapons on small children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with heart problems.

Amnesty International says electro-shock weapons are "inherently open to abuse" because they are portable, easy to use and can inflict severe pain at the push of a button without leaving substantial marks.

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland has flagged that the UN Convention Against Torture -- which the federal Government is considering ratifying -- may have an effect on the way Tasers are used.

"Clearly if a Taser is used as an alternative to shooting someone dead, then that is one thing," he says. "If on the other hand a Taser was used to repeatedly fire into someone for the purpose of eliciting information, then obviously that's a different situation."

X worries that Tasers could be used to make suspects talk.

"In interviews where they want information, they will use that Taser as a torture instrument to get what they want to hear out of people," he says.

"It's a silent way of severely maiming someone. I'd much rather they pull a gun on me because you know that unless you've got a weapon, they're not going to shoot."