Luck of the Irish - PSNI rethink taser guns

June 14, 2007
Press Association, Ireland

"We are concerned that none of the official bodies charged with considering the use of Taser have publicly addressed the legal and human rights frameworks within which Taser can or should be used," the report said. "... with a number of sudden deaths after the guns are used, the direct links to being hit is disputed. Less debated are the groups most vulnerable to Tasers: those suffering from mental illness, drunk or on drugs. The full effects on children and pregnant women are not known ... Human rights advisors added: "In our view, before the PSNI proposal to introduce Taser is progressed, the Policing Board should satisfy itself that the PSNI has properly addressed the legal and human rights framework within which Taser can be used." Given these requirements, it appears unlikely that Tasers could be in use in Northern Ireland this year."

SDLP Policing Board member Dolores Kelly reiterated her opposition to Tasers. "The fact is that these weapons have killed at least 15 people in the US and Canada," she said. "There is also a dearth of proper research about their safety - especially their effects on children. The consultation process so far has been fundamentally flawed. There is a real need for an equality impact assessment which, to date, the police have failed to undertake. I hope that the Equality Commission will make the point clearly to the PSNI that a full assessment on equality impact is required."

I'm off now to send an e-mail Delores Kelly. She has obviously not been fully apprised of the situation and needs to know that the fifteen deaths she cited are only those which have occurred in Canada. To say nothing of the 256 Americans who have died.