Taser Trial Results Under Scrutiny in New Zealand

Following a year long trial period during which Tasers, their usage and the results are drawing fire from several quarters.

Beverly Wakem, Chief ombudsman, is among those who believe law enforcement was not forthcoming about the Taser trials.

Marie Dyhrberg, Campaign Against the Taser (CATT) spokeswoman is busy demanding that the police disclose “large amounts” of material which she claims were not included in the reports.

The year-long trial in Auckland and Wellington was followed by the Police Association’s request for Tasers. They “desperately” need Tasers because they could “stop offenders without killing them.”

Meanwhile, Taser opponents claim that the weapons had been implicated in the deaths of several people in the United States. However, Tasers used during the trial and those being considered are not as powerful as the ones used in the United States.

Wakem wrote a letter to the Human Rights Foundation, which is the umbrella organization for CATT. In it she stated that she had received feedback “from the commissioner but not from the police.” Wakem said that after details identifying officers, witnesses, and subjects of Taser usage “it is not necessary to withhold the residual information under any of the withholding grounds raised by police during the course of this investigation.” She objects to the “sanitizing” of the original reports when they were summarized. “I have read the summaries and compared them with the tactical options report accounts.” She said the summaries were extremely brief.

Wakem is also waiting for feedback from Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff.