Tasers may soon be an additional weapon for metro police.
|||Tasers may soon be an additional weapon for metro police. On Thursday the city’s safety and security portfolio committee discussed the use of a Taser device after stun guns were removed from the belts of metro police several years ago.
In a report by metro police chief Wayne le Roux, he said stun guns were originally part of the equipment issued to metro police when the force was established in 2001.
Le Roux said the challenge with stun guns was that they could only be used in close proximity and that this allowed encroachment into the officer’s safety zone, putting them in more danger.
“The piece of equipment also proved challenging due to the fact that there was no control over (its) use... and it was decided to remove it,” the report said.
The city is now looking at introducing Taser devices as an alternative because it has “recently become the norm for members of the public to taunt officers during an arrest”. Le Roux said this led to unnecessary force that may lead to unintentional injuries to both parties.
He said there were risk factors when using a firearm where a metro police officer could be disarmed or shot.
The matter of deadly force had come under the spotlight during a recent safety and security portfolio committee meeting where it was decided that alternative methods be researched.
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said the introduction of the Taser device was to arm metro police officers with the “least violent or less than lethal option”.
Smith said he also wanted to reintroduce pepper spray as one of the means used by metro officers when trying to apprehend suspects.
Currently officers are armed only with guns.
“All of these will help the officer with more options and avoid using lethal force. The reason we chose the Taser is because it has a cartridge and allows you to count how many times it has been used, and an officer must account for every instance he used it so there is no indiscriminate use of it,” Smith said.
“With the stun gun there was no record of how many times it had been used, so they could have been indiscriminately used.”
Le Roux said Tasers were a good device for self-defence and could be used from 5m away with laser accuracy and the most powerful takedown power available.
It will cost the city R3 500 for each device with the necessary accessories.
Smith said the directorate was still finalising a budget for Tasers and would only provide them to officers who worked in dangerous areas. - Cape Times
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